Ranting on my mind

As I am wont, I have a rant. I've sat on it for 2 or 3 days to see if I would change my mind after a bit. But I am still a tad irked. I share it with you because it is a sponsor side irk that I believe you can learn from.

Axley Sport Optics works very very hard to support events. A recent event, not located here, asked if we would donate product. We had wanted to bring a booth but were unable to but thought that it would be good to support the event nevertheless.

Until I got a call the otherday from one of the events volunteers. Who had recieved *all* 5 vouchers we sent as prizes.

1st off, I don't know what anyone is going to do with 5 pairs of the same model of Cat eyewear. So in terms of rewarding the volunteer it seems a waste. And second, where's the goodwill I am supposed to collect from that? I mean part of the point is that people know you support athletics. If the promoter gives all the vouchers to 1 person after the event, how does anyone learn about Axley Sport Optics?

As Axley has grown I have noticed that people pay lip service to sponsorship a lot, but don't seem to understand what they need to do to build a healthy relationship. I am going to give both Joe B. and Gina a lot of credit for really really being able to articulate sponsorship from a sponsors point of view.

At the end of the day, your sponsor needs to make money and teams/individuals/etc need to be able to articulate and then act in ways that will drive up sales. There are many ways to achieve that.

But giving away all my promotional investment to one person so no one else knows about it is not the way. Essentially I invested $500 in retail value to ensure I have 1 guys who probably won't need another pair of eyewear for 5 years.