How To Evaluate Events and Sponsorships

Measuring Events and Sponsorships

Practical guides and online resources

A year and a half after it was posted, one of the most popular articles on The Measurement Standard Blog Edition continues to be "How to Evaluate Events and Sponsorships: Six basic steps, five final lessons and four additional resources." So we thought we'd play to this obvious demand by gathering together a few articles and references on measuring ROI of events and sponsorships.

That blog post, by the way, is still state-of-the-art, and, of all the resources listed below, is the only one that provides very practical instructions and explains the use of Grunig and Hon's relationship measurement theory. (It is also the basis of the chapter on event measurement in Katie Delahaye Paine's book Measuring Public Relationships.)

Here are more resources on measuring events and sponsorships:

Articles previously published in The Measurement Standard:

• (mentioned above) How to Evaluate Events and Sponsorships: Six basic steps, five final lessons and four additional resources
• Two Keys to Better Sponsorship Measurement: Be clear on your objectives, and measure outputs, outtakes and outcomes by Jim Macnamara
• Sponsorship Evaluation Services, including the Six Basic Rules of Sponsorship Measurement, and reviews of three sponsorship measuring companies. From back in 2002, but still full of good stuff.
• Roger Roesser's article, How to Make the Most of Your Sponsorships: Pick the right opportunity, leverage your exposure, and aim for 8 to 1 ROI (from January, 2003)

Articles from the IPR website:

• A Guide to Measuring Event Sponsorships by Bruce Jeffries-Fox
• Measuring the Effectiveness of Speakers Programs by Marianne Eisenmann and Katie Paine

A comprehensive and practical program for small non-profits, now somewhat dated, but with a solid approach and logic: Basic Guide to Outcomes-Based Evaluation for Nonprofit Organizations with Very Limited Resources

Some odds and ends found on the Web, mostly to do with sports sponsorships:

• Here is an excellent discussion about measuring ROI of NASCAR sponsorships on the Marketing Research Roundtable.
• SponsorMap is a company that measures sponsorships. Their site includes some interesting papers and case studies, like Calculating Sponsorship's Financial ROI.
• At MediaPost Blogs, Larry Albus has some savvy things to say about sports marketing and sponsorship measurement.
• Here's a brief article on old-school approaches to measuring sports sponsorships: Sports News You Can Use: Issue 13--Measuring Sponsorship