Sponsorship

I was interested to read this chapter, as I believe that sponsorship is a concept that a lot of people, both within and outside of the industry, associate strongly with the profession of public relations. I must admit, in entering this course I was one of those people. So this chapter promised to be helpful in my education no matter how it swayed my judgement.

The chapter begins with an introduction and a general overview of what sponsorship is and means in public relations. Although this information was interesting, it was all things i had heard before. The sub title, "Types of sponsorship," is where I became genuinely interested in what i was reading.

It only seems natural that there be more than one type of sponsorship within the realm of public relations, however I had never really considered where the divisions may lie until reading this chapter. From my comprehension of this week's readings, that the most common and recognisable form of sponsorship is marketing sponsorship. This is the type of sponsorship we all encounter frequently in our everyday lives. It is the signs on the sides of biuldings, the glossy pictures in magezines, and the witty advertisements on television. Marketing sponsorship seems to act as a kind of middle man between the corporation and their publics, and is usually used to sell good or services from the first to the latter. I found it extremely interesting that this industry is worth an estimated $35 to $40 million dollars globally. That is a lot of money!

In my opinion, philanthropic sponsorship is the type we see the least, with corporate sponsorship sitting comfortably in between this and its multi-million dollar counter-part.

Sponsorship is all around us everyday. It is weird to think how often it goes unnoticed by the public. I know i often take it for granted as a normal part of my day. How much money has been mae off people like me, who are being thrown a marketing pitch day after day without realising? I guess that's why sponsorship is such a significant part of the global economy.

This week I commented on Felicity Threadgate's Blog:
http://cmns1290felicitythreadgate.blogspot.com