December 13, 2002
True Sponsorship

By Andrew Susman

Many of you are aware of the flap caused by Sony's online "A Sony Feature" advertising campaign a few months ago. The crux of the controversy was an apparent blurring of the line between editorial and advertising content. Unfortunately, "A Sony Feature," could have been, and still can be, a "wow" of a campaign. Had Sony kept its content association "pure" instead of "product sell," it would have had a hit on its hands.

Why didn't Sony's agency label the copy, even in mouse type, "Advertisement?" Because they are aware that consumers tend to discount content labeled advertising, be it print or broadcast.

To avoid such embarrassment and still reap the interest reward of editorial content, many advertisers are joining the revived trend of program sponsorship, a special kind of content association. Sponsorships were the original form of advertising on radio and television. In the 1940s and 1950s, advertisers presented entire programs to national audiences and their products dominated their categories. Jack Benny was "sponsored" by Jell-O. Bob Hope was "brought to you" by Pepsodent; Lucky Strike "presented" Your Hit Parade.

Effective sponsorship is different from effective advertising; good advertising improves the consumer's perception of how well a brand performs for the money, while sponsorship improves the perception of the people behind a brand and improves the consumer's willingness to buy from those people.

"True Sponsorship" is information or entertainment presented by the sponsor "as a gift" to the consumer. The gift is not tainted by the intrusion of sales pitches, or biased reporting, but presents the highest quality content possible and associates it with a sponsor. When a target audience perceives real information value in "the gift," the gratitude of a consumer is expressed through loyalty to the sponsor's brands.

The principles of True Sponsorship are based on facts, not feelings. Research documenting the persuasion effect of True Sponsorship exists both for TV and the Internet. As far back as the 1960s C.E. Hooper showed the positive effects of sponsorship on consumer perception of Ralston Purina. His findings were endorsed repeatedly by others, such as Norman Hecht Research which showed its effectiveness for the image of CBS, PepsiCo, and Anheuser Busch.

To measure the effects of online sponsorship, a measurement standard known as the Sponsorship Effectiveness Index, is taking center stage. A joint undertaking of American Demographics, Next Century Media and Studio One Networks, the SEI has shown repeatedly that sponsored content online is even more effective than it is in the broadcast venues. SEI was specifically designed to meet the guidelines established by the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) New Media Model. Preliminary results reported in The Journal of Advertising Research (Jan.-Feb. 2001) indicate that the best use of the Internet for marketing is through True Sponsorship. Brand perception of targeted consumers groups improved in every instance, consumer satisfaction scores were high, and "Intent to Purchase" more than doubled.

To address and define True Sponsorship, a select group of executives from companies including AOL Time Warner, Yahoo, Primedia, Microsoft, Forbes, Lycos/Terra, Studio One Networks, The Washington Post.com and CondeNet have joined forces to form a Sponsorship Committee under the auspices of the Interactive Advertising Bureau. We invite dialogue from our colleagues in the industry.

What does this all mean? That if used correctly, marketers have a new and dynamic selling tool. It may be the new kid on the Interactive block, but just watch it grow. All in all, Sony's on the right track.

Andrew Susman is President of Studio One Networks, the creator and syndicator of sponsored content on the Internet.