• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, April 8, 2014

MediaCom is rolling out a new proprietary software package that the agency says will help clients measure the value and ROI for sponsorships. It was developed by a team of experts across the agency, led by specialists within Mediacom Sport.

The agency has launched the sponsorship analytics and evaluation package, which has been branded “Connected Sponsorship” in the UK, where several clients are already working with it, including Audi, Subway, Skoda, and Green Flag.

Now it’s being rolled out to MediaCom offices worldwide.

Sponsorship evaluation has always been a challenge for marketers. A survey conducted by the Association of National Advertisers last year found that more than one-third of marketers are unhappy with techniques for measuring the return on investment (ROI) for sponsorship and event marketing activities.

The ANA report found that 38% of those surveyed are dissatisfied with their firms’ ability to measure sponsorship/event marketing ROI, and about one-third (32%) said they were dissatisfied with their ability to measure Return on Objectives (ROO).

“As brands now recognize sponsorship as a legitimate marketing investment, it has become increasingly important to provide a more sophisticated quality of analysis” said James Hough, managing director of MediaCom Sport UK. Both brands and rights-holders, Hough added, “have always wanted a new level of credibility and accountability for assessing sponsorship value and impact.”

According to the agency, the software helps clients determine whether the sponsorships they consider are closely aligned with client brand objectives. It also calculates the value of the marketing benefits provided by a sponsorship package and helps focus negotiations on the most valuable elements, per the shop.

Plus, the new offering calculates an index of the overall return on investment, taking into account the strategic strength, the value of the benefits and the price. It provides a process for measuring and analyzing the impact of sponsorship activity on a brand.