MIAMI: Sponsorship and event marketing activities are growing in importance but a significant proportion of US marketers are not happy that they are able to prove effectiveness, according to the Association of National Advertisers.

The ANA surveyed 78 client-side marketers from companies involved in specific initiatives for sponsorship and/or event marketing, including those measuring the return from these initiatives. A majority (70%) said their need to validate results had increased.

HispanicAd reported, however, that 38% of respondents were not satisfied with their company's ability to measure return on investment (ROI) for sponsorship initiatives, while a similar proportion (33%) expressed the same sentiment as regards return on objective (ROO).

Only 20% said they were completely or very satisfied with the ability to measure ROI with 18% the equivalent figure for ROO. The majority, around two thirds, were at least somewhat satisfied on both metrics.

The report put forward several reasons for the existence of this state of affairs. Only half those surveyed said they tried to assess the impact of sponsorship in isolation from other ongoing marketing activities, while less than half had a standardised process for measuring sponsorship and evening marketing investments.

In addition, one-quarter suggested they failed to gather, analyse or use data in their decision-making related to sponsorship and/or event marketing.

Those marketers who were measuring the effectiveness of their sponsorship and/or event marketing used three main metrics, including the amount of media exposure generated (70%), social media (70%) and brand awareness (69%).

"Organisations seeking sponsorship should know the importance of not just offering a menu of benefits, but becoming a true partner with their sponsors and working with them to establish, achieve and measure clear business objectives," said Bob Liodice, president and CEO of ANA.

"The ability to measure better will fuel growth and bring more opportunities to the table," he added.

In a related Warc posting, Jenny Powell, chief marketing officer at US Bank, explained how the financial services firm conducted an ROI analysis for each sponsorship in the portfolio at inception and at renewal while also requiring a sponsor-produced annual benefits valuation or recap.

For larger professional sports sponsorships, it would also consult with a third-party firm to independently measure external media exposure.

Data sourced from HispanicAd; additional content by Warc staff