You are in the increasingly familiar position of doing more with less, but what do you do when you step into a new role, have a whole bunch of assets that seem unrelatable, and are not sure as to what to do with them?
Your first step is to take inventory
Do this by understanding exactly what is contracted to you across your various properties. In our experience, this can be more difficult than it sounds and is not always clear cut in contractual-type language. Look for frequencies (4 appearances per year), durations (up to 2-hours) and locations (in-market, out-of-market, at-event). When the market shifts, generally the assets available will shift as well. This could lead to more virtual engagements and more flexibility but will require more creativity to extract maximum value,
Document the matrix of all of those variables for each asset you have been promised across your various relationships and see where you have overlaps - a convenient place to start creating ideas.
Another challenge to consider is that it is quite unlikely that you will be the only sponsor of a given team or driver. Their time and schedule are as pre-defined as all of ours, but they have multiple sponsors vying for the same appearance slot. How do you ensure you get what you need when you need it? Having some expertise on your side around what these types of contracts usually say is valuable to have.
Shifts in market dynamics will likely bring about unique assets like virtual meetups.
Prioritize scarcity
Some assets are far more rare to use and thus require special planning to activate. When you look at the inventory you have documented, highlight the scarcest assets as specifically as you can. Usually, these are the big-ticket items such as production days and driver appearances. With these types of assets and the right planning, you should be able to derive a solid few different activations throughout the year around content generated in one morning.
Other asset activation opportunities happen almost every weekend through the year and you will need a different strategy to maximize ROI with that particular set. Often you can plan the scarce assets to coincide with the more common assets and in so doing create an entirely different "asset" for you to activate with.
Not all assets are meant to target the same audience
The best activation and marketing happens when you take your diverse assets, identify similarities, engage personalities and activate each one toward the most effective audience. These audiences range from the more traditional targeting of marketing, such as prospective and existing customers, all the way to your own high-flying employees. This diagram demonstrates the various levels of key stakeholders you have access to.
The most efficient way to the center of this diagram is through strategic activation.
Updated for added value.
