Sponsorship boom prompts Partner Z launch

UK— The boom in sport, media and event sponsorship has lead Millward Brown to develop a new research tool called Partner Z to help advertisers evaluate opportunities and plan their spend.

The project has been funded by WPP sister agencies Group M, Hill & Knowlton and OgilvyAction, and sets out to identify which sponsorship vehicles are the best match to any particular brand.

David Muir, head of WPP’s media knowledge community The Channel, said: “The reason we’re doing this is that we’re seeing global sponsorship spend grow at around 20-30 per cent per annum.

“As more and more money is spent chasing these opportunities, clients are looking for a more scientific evaluation. They want to know the equities of these properties, and to compare their audiences with that of a brand.”

Partner Z is built around interviews with 51,000 consumers across Europe, the US and Asia, with brand equity data sourced from the WPP Brand Z study.

China, which is gearing up to host the Olympics in Beijing this summer, is among the countries included in the research. Russia and India are also present, allowing sponsorship opportunities for the 2014 Winter Games in Soichi and those in the Bollywood film industry to be evaluated.

Author: Brian Tarran

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