First rule of Sponsorship

Here’s a hypothetical situation for you.

You own a big box electronics retailer, and you’re looking to sponsor a Major League Soccer team. You already have a close relationship with the Fire from Chicago, so you decide to put your logo on the front of their jerseys (common in the soccer world).

The Fire have had a red stripe across the front of their away jerseys with the word “FIRE” in it for the past 9 years, so you decide to stick with the standard format, and enter into a multi-million dollar contract to replace the word “FIRE” with “best buy.” Sounds great.

One thing I wouldn’t do, however, would make the logo so small that TV cameras and people more then two rows back in the stadium can’t read it or know what it says, unless you come within ten feet of them, while still leaving plenty of the alternative colored stripe empty. It would make sense, at least to me.

Not best buy, however. I went to a Real Salt Lake vs. Chicago Fire game, and I spent the first 45 minutes trying to figure out who on earth was sponsoring the Chicago Fire. I was five rows up.

Check it out – You can look through the photo gallery and see that the words become difficult to read when the camera is 10-15 feet away.