Anecdote: Taking lessons from a failed sponsorship deal.

Anecdote #

February 2016

“Paytm?” I hesitantly asked the security personnel at the entrance of Paytm’s old headquarters, the logo emblazoned on the building. For readers outside India, Paytm is one of the largest fintech companies in the country. In 2015-16, Paytm was the front-runner among all payment apps and was gaining incredible traction.

That day, my classmate Utkarsh and I were on the ground, seeking sponsors for our college’s annual cultural festival. It was a challenging time, as many top institutions, including IITs, were holding their festivals around the same time. We faced stiff competition, making it unlikely for companies to invest in multiple events in the same geography simultaneously.

After some initial missteps, the security staff directed us to a nearby office that appeared bustling with activity. Unfortunately, our unprofessional approach backfired; we hadn’t made any appointments or contacted anyone in advance, assuming we could simply walk in, as we had done with Times Internet and Kent Systems in Noida. Our lack of preparation led to disappointment, as the security staff denied us entry. After traveling 40 kilometers to pitch our sponsorship proposal, we left feeling defeated. Looking back, I now realize we deserved that rejection.

Nearby, we noticed a smoking area frequented by Paytm employees. In a last-ditch effort, Utkarsh and I decided to engage with the employees there, hoping to connect with the right team at Paytm. Our first conversation was with a gentleman who seemed to hold a higher position within the company. Instead of pitching for sponsorship directly, we proposed a brand association—selling tickets for our event through the Paytm app. To our surprise, he handed us his business card and asked us to follow up. Only later did we discover he was the DGM of Brands at Paytm—an unexpected stroke of luck! Although we were denied office access, we had connected with the right person.

Unfortunately, the joy was short-lived. The following day, our sponsorship team secretary spoke with the same individual, but the deal fell through for various reasons, most of which were our team’s fault.

Having spent some time in the corporate world since then, I now understand why our proposal didn’t materialize. It wasn’t just Paytm that eluded us; we missed out on several sponsorship opportunities that year.

Our pitch primarily focused on visibility for brands—offering title space, category partnerships (like a payments partner), and physical space for marketing collateral (facepalm). But we were not the Aston Martin of a Formula One race that attracts a massive audience. Most brands we targeted were already well-known to our audience, and more than they needed us, we desperately needed them. Lastly, there were too many brands on display already! Brands needed more than just visibility. Even if there were brands that wanted to be promoted during the event, we probably didn’t pitch to them. We were busy chasing the big business that already had a good brand recall among the fest attendees.

Why would brands not want publicity or visibility? Let me put it in another way - “Why were brands not excited about the space or visibility we offered?”. The answer boils down to one word: price. We were eager for sponsorship money, but our valuation was unconvincing. Marketing is a costly endeavor, and companies have quarterly budgets to allocate. If given a choice between two marketing avenues, they would select the one that appears more promising and justifies the expense. OOur event statistics were flawed, and we pitched them without proper justification. Even worse, we approached brands just a month before the festival—far too late to allow for any serious consideration.

Despite our festival’s success that year, our team learned hard lessons. Every year, new secretaries and club heads were designated for the student council. In August 2016, I had the opportunity to lead the sponsorship team, with Satyam as my co-head. Our team expanded to over 40 members, and armed with the lessons from our past failures, we knew we needed to change our approach.

Our festival was rebranded as Unifest (previously known as G-Quasar), giving us nearly six months to plan and execute. We adjusted our strategy in several key ways:

Build relations, create value for the brand, and money will follow. #

We recognized that creating long-term relationships and providing value to brands would lead to sponsorship. While money was essential, our focus shifted to establishing trust and offering brands more than just title visibility. To manage relations with the brands and vendors, each team member was assigned 2-3 brands to manage, allowing us to cultivate these relationships. The results of the efforts could not be judged in the short term, it was a long-term bet.

Get the math right. #

In our attempt to get sponsors, we had been over-glorifying the stats about the event. Be it the footfall, participation from other colleges, or social media engagement stats. We learned the hard way that exaggerating our statistics only hurt us. This time, we critically reviewed our data and corrected the following aspects → Footfall: 3-year mean and absolute year-on-year increase in footfall, vendor participation: honest split of digital and on-campus participation, participants from other colleges: 3-year mean, number of colleges participated: 3-year mean and year-on-year repeat participation. We presented honest numbers that held up under scrutiny, eliminating the need for overinflation.

Junk unprofessionalism, define standards. #

While in the past, we had been able to get sponsors by going door-to-door, we decided to give up on this approach. We will not walk to any vendor without an appointment. Discuss over email/chat (no spam, strictly) and get an appointment if an in-person meeting is required. Nobody wants to be spammed, we decided not to follow up too many times and give some time to the respondent.

The brochure and sponsorship proposal that we sent to brands was exquisite, always. We didn’t make changes to both except adding a comparison view of various sponsorship value brackets. Earlier, when we onboarded a sponsor, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was established between the sponsor and us. The MoU was drafted as per the agreed terms and deliverables and varied for every sponsor. We decided to make a standard MoU for each value bracket of sponsorship.

Start Early #

Time is the best teacher; We have had an experience the previous year. We didn’t want to get ourselves in the same situation because we had learned that proposal, negotiation, and onboarding take time. Companies have their own bureaucratic processes and diligence checks, which they adhere to, so, any bargain of time won’t help. That year, we started earlier than the usual timeline. Did it make any difference? A lot! Starting early helped both - brands and us.

Luck #

While luck can’t be quantified, it plays a crucial role in success. No matter how much effort our team had put in for each sponsorship deal, luck was a crucial vector of the overall success. Having said that, the team did an excellent job in all spheres. We were students, with no professional exposure, and for many of us, this was our first experience dealing with businesses.

Through these experiences, I learned that success in sponsorship isn’t just about selling visibility; it’s about understanding the needs of brands, building genuine relationships, and maintaining professionalism throughout the process. Each interaction provided valuable insights that extended far beyond that single festival.