Are Event Sponsors Missing Online Opportunities?

"By their very nature, sports events (as well as music or cultural events) bring together like-minded people at a specific time and place around a shared interest. As such they offer marketers an ideal opportunity to communicate and build brand with an engaged, captive audience -- whether in the real world, on TV, or in cyberspace. This can be particularly useful within an environment of increasingly fragmented media consumption. Sponsors should look to the Internet to expand the benefits of their event association and consider setting aside up to 10 percent of their sponsorship budget for online activity. This will allow them to not only extend the reach of their campaign but also engage more deeply and actively with their audience, thus augmenting the branding impact of their deal."