ASSOCIATIONS that target firms from Asia-Pacific stand a better chance of gaining sponsorship than those relying on support from companies headquartered in the US or Europe, according to practitioners.
Therese Lauriola, CEO of the Master Painters Association New South Wales, has seen its sponsorship revenue, which is derived mainly from Australian sources, treble in the last five years.
“Australia’s economy is thriving, and naturally, companies are more willing to sponsor events that they believe can deliver a lot of value for them. We’re fortunate in a sense as we are linked to industries in Australia that are expected to continue to flourish despite the uncertain global economic conditions,” she said.
Kellen Company’s group vice president, Alfons Westgeest, believes that Asia-Pacific’s economic resilience will continue to motivate companies in the region to sponsor events that align with their strategic and marketing goals.
“This is especially true when it comes to events held in China, a market which many firms are trying hard to infiltrate or expand their influence in,” he added.
Conversely, it is getting harder to secure sponsorships from European and US companies, according to Cheam Gim Chng, marketing and sponsorship manager for the Singapore Infocomm Technology Federation.
She said: “Not only are there more associations competing for the same sponsor dollars, budgets are tightening and (European and US) firms are looking more closely at how much value our events transmit to their organisation, particularly in terms of ROI. We see no let up in this for the time being.
“So far, we’ve never cancelled an event because of a lack of sponsorship, but we’ve had to scale back or trim costs to make our events viable.”
