Sponsorship & Experiential Marketing Committee

Open to Client-Side Marketer members and Platinum/Gold members (MSP or Nonprofit) only

Sponsorship and Experiential Marketing initiatives are important elements in the marketing mix, and growth for both have recently outpaced traditional advertising and promotion. Marketers understand the importance of an “experience” and its ability to create a relevant bond with the consumer.  Today, these efforts include events and more individual experiences, such as a demonstrations of product’s performance, extra care / personal connection, and grassroots affinity events. The key is creating an experience that stimulates an emotional connection and reinforces the essence of the brand. An entertainment, cause, or celebrity aspect may also be present.

The Sponsorship and Experiential Marketing Committee is for members who are responsible for their organization’s sponsorships, corporate partnerships and experiential marketing initiatives.  Members of this committee benefit from a forum where marketers share case studies, best practices, and network, ultimately elevating each other's expertise while helping to effectively support their organization’s overall marketing efforts.

Committee Co-Chairs:

Dee Hall, President - Sunflower Group, Advantage Solutions

Dee began her career at Leo Burnett where her lifelong passion with advertising, albeit with a twist, was born. Her 30 plus-year career has spanned media, retailtainment, promotions, sports and experiential marketing. Combined with her 13-year stint at agency ownership, she leverages her multi-disciplinary expertise to consistently deliver integrated marketing best practices and solutions.

When her agency launched Coca Cola's Fruitopia beverage in the mid 90’s, her boutique shop was lauded in the industry as being pioneers of experiential marketing. She then landed her agency at FCB Chicago, to enhance their more traditional advertising offerings. While there, Dee launched FCBX and was instrumental in the development of multiple award-winning experiential marketing campaigns.

More recently, Dee is President of Sunflower Group, an award-winning brand activation agency of Advantage Solutions. Her agency spearheads a diverse client portfolio including, consumer package goods, entertainment, retail, beverage, adult beverage, TELCO, and QSR. She also directly manages the Field Sales & Marketing assisted selling and associate training division for Advantage Solutions.

Dee brings an entrepreneurial and collaborative spirit to everything she does. She embraces building agency culture, teams, and people—all while retaining her zealous belief in the power of creating human experiences.

Cliff Rigano, Creative Director / Head of Culture, Content & Experiential Marketing - Mast Jägermeister U.S.

Cliff is the Creative Director and Head of Culture, Content & Experiential Marketing at Mast Jägermeister US. As part of the brands’ Marketing and Commercial Leadership teams, Cliff is responsible for driving conceptual thinking, vision and interpretation of brand strategy, creative, content and design through internal teams and agency partners. His creative oversight includes Brand Marketing, ATL Advertising, Innovation, Social and Digital Marketing, Commercial Programming and Distributor engagement.

In addition, Cliff is also responsible for delivering a global brand strategy focused on entertainment, lifestyle & pop culture content & conversation. This comes to life through strategy development, talent relations, sports partnerships, content creation & experiential marketing.

Prior to joining Jägermeister in 2012, Cliff was Director of Marketing for Universal Motown Records and Republic Records, leading the marketing campaigns which broke some of today's largest artists including Lil Wayne, Drake, Nicki Minaj, Black Sabbath and many more. In addition, Cliff ran label partnerships for some of the largest songwriters in the industry including Linda Perry, Thurston Moore, Pete Wentz and many others.

ANA staff managing the Sponsorship & Experiential Marketing Committee are Gena M. Casciano and Ashley Hughes.

Discussion Topics may include:

• Navigating the challenges that persist from the Covid-19 pandemic
• Measurement/ROI & property evaluation
• Social & digital integration
• Future trends in sponsorships (VR, AR, AI, Drones, etc.)
• Virtual events
• Sponsorship and on-site event activation
• Best practices for connecting the right sponsorship or event with the right brand
• Contract management
• Maximizing overall marketing/advertising integration
• Internal organization: how marketers are organized internally to manage events
• Hospitality best practices
• Cause-related marketing

Committee Locations and Eligibility
In 2023, the committee will convene both virtually and in-person at select locations in New York, Chicago and Atlanta. Meetings outside of the ANA headquarters will occasionally be hybrid, but may not have a virtual component. All meetings are free for ANA client-side and MSP Gold/Platinum members to attend.

Opportunities for Involvement
To join the committee or to submit a brand case study for committee presentation consideration, please email Gena M. Casciano or Ashley Hughes. Attendance and participation in committee meetings are free of charge for ANA members and Gold/Platinum Level Marketing Solutions Provider Members.

Leadership Initiatives

Improving Sponsorship Accountability Metrics
The ANA and MASB (Marketing Accountability Standards Board) have partnered on a project to provide greater insight and guidance into sponsorship measurement. As an important first step, a survey was fielded to ANA members to better understand current practices in sponsorship measurement. Marketing expenditures on sponsorship have increased considerably over the past several years, but progress in measuring and assessing sponsorship's business impact has been marginal, according to the study. (July 2018)

Other

Resource List for Sponsorship & Event Marketing Measurement
The ANA compiled this list of measurement resources based on feedback from members of the Sponsorship & Event Marketing Committee. This list is current as of April 2019. Please contact Gena M. Casciano with any updates.

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