Strategy Development
Balancing Global and Local Objectives
Whether your position sits in your company's headquarters, regional office, local office, or individual business unit, you've probably experienced the little battles that sometimes occur between headquarters and the rest of the company over sponsorship-related issues. Sometimes the main office dictates the company's global, regional and business-specific sponsorship portfolios, so the perception exists within the company that headquarters feels that it knows what's best for regional offices or business units. The results are feelings of resentment and cynicism outside the home office. If you found yourself in a sponsorship decision-making role at headquarters, how would you remedy such a situation? Consider the following:
Regional Empowerment: It really can't be questioned that local personnel know their markets better than the folks at headquarters. They (hopefully!) know their customers better, are intimately familiar with the competitive landscape, and recognize what products are moving off the shelf. If regional and local marketing personnel have the proper sponsorship training, they should have the autonomy to make local market sponsorship decisions. If the budget for local sponsorship originates locally, then the local offices should certainly have the ability to decide what fits their needs. Still, questions must be answered regarding approval mechanisms, budget contributions from corporate, etc.
Internal Consensus: Before buying any global or pan-regional sponsorship, corporate headquarters should always request input from all geographies and business units (or retailers, field sales, etc.) on their interest in an association with the property in question. In every case, a global or pan-regional sponsorship should fulfill objectives for, and be useful to, the entire company. You will especially want to gain buy-in across the company if you require geographies and/or business units to contribute funds to hospitality, promotions or other supporting sponsorship activities within their territory.
Inclusive Environment: Corporate headquarters should position itself as a rich resource for sponsorship information, education and training, and guidance. Once or twice annually, sponsorship decision makers from geographies and business units should convene with headquarters personnel for joint planning, sharing of best practices, and training. Such events help to break down adversarial relationships.
Follow the Old Idiom: You know the saying, "Think globally, act locally." Well, it applies to sponsorship as well. Your customers in Austria, Chile and the U.S. might all enjoy snowboarding for example, but that doesn't mean they all like riding in the halfpipe. Once you've found a global property or a global platform, think of it as an empty canvas. Give local decision makers the flexibility and autonomy (with some controls in place) to paint the picture that appeals to their individual markets.
