• by Aaron Baar , July 6, 2010

It's summertime, which means many people will be spending their leisure hours on outdoor activities, leaving them in prime position for marketers' sponsorship and event marketing programs. 

According to Scarborough Research, the top events attended by adults in the past year include: professional sporting events (attended by 35% of adults), zoos (25%), live theater (20%), high school sporting events (16%), art museums (13%), rock concerts (11%), New York's Times Square (8%), and amusement parks such as Six Flags or Disney World (7%).

Among the top personal activities, gardening topped the list, with 45% having participated in the past year. Nearly a third (32%) went swimming, and more than a quarter (26%) performed some sort of volunteer work.

"We know there's a lot of different events and activities," Howard Goldberg, senior vice president of radio, sports marketing and agency services, at Scarborough tells Marketing Daily. "What's important when it comes to trying to tie a[n event marketing] campaign together is to try and touch customers on an emotional level. And more and more companies are trying to do this through event and sponsorship."

Marketers looking to connect with consumers should think about matching the popular events and activities in ways that draw a deeper connection. "When you can engage someone with a product and a message about that product, that makes a big difference," Goldberg says. "It's one thing to see a sign in the outfield; it's another thing to have something on site so you can get a feel for the company."

Understanding these interests and activities can be particularly important as marketers look to move their national events and sponsorships to the local level. "National is going to come into play; there's going to be points where you want to be sponsoring NASCAR," Goldberg says. "What you're going to miss [with those programs] is the emotional connection with consumers on a local level. Maybe you want to create a supplementary road show and give fans more of a taste about what the product is.

"Yes, national is important," Goldberg says. "But you should also mine down into local markets and activation."