Reenactment2

I had been involved in gaining major sponsorships and contingency money in the Off-Road racing business, so I learned a lot about how to get corporations and sometimes their ad agencies to partner in a project. I knew that the Schneider Cup Re-Enactment was new and would be a tough sell. I also knew that I needed to start laying the ground work for the long term goals. The following proposals are to serve as examples of how to go about approaching a company for sponsorship. The goal is to succeed, however, even in failure you learn and maybe get some interest for next time. Remember, If you do not ask, the answer is always NO!

COKE: Coke had been losing market share to Pepsi for some time. Pepsi was the "New Generation" and Coke needed to do something to protect their greater market share. A new CEO at Coke decided that if Coke tasted more like Pepsi, they would do better in the market, so they changed their age old formula. Big mistake. It was a disaster! Almost immediately their customer base rebelled and they brought back the original formula and called it "Coca-Cola Classic".

This seemed to be a possible opening and I offered Coke a multi-year progressive event sponsorship. It would start out inexpensive and as the event grew so would the sponsorship amount. The Coca-Cola Classic Schneider Cup Re-Enactment. The world wide exposure would benefit Coca-Cola far in excess of the cost of the sponsorship. I was unable to convince them of the benefits.

FORD Motor Company: I was looking for a car to award to the winner of the event. The first event poster featured the1925 race and the Curtiss R3C-2. In 1925 Ford was the #1 auto manufacturer in the world. What if we could produce a TV commercial that highlighted our hobby and promoted Ford. It is a proven fact that if men see an airplane in a TV commercial, they are more likely to watch than to switch channels. If we could pull this off, even if we did not get the car, but Ford would run the commercial, millions of people would be exposed to RC.

I put together a storyboard for a 30 second TV commercial.

The commercial would go like this: Opening scene: in black and white you see the Curtiss R3C-2 flying sort of away from you. In the foreground you see a young couple in period clothing standing beside a 1925 Ford Model T and watching the airplane. The camera begins to zoom in on the aircraft as it slowly banks and turns towards the camera. As the aircraft is coming straight for the camera, we zoom out and transition to full color. Once again in the foreground is the young couple now in modern clothing standing by a new Ford car and the young man with a RC transmitter in his hands, lands the aircraft and taxies it up to the shore.

The voice over announcer or screen script states, Ford #1 in 1925 and still is! Or something like that

What about the event, the SCHNEIDER CUP RE-ENACTMENT?

Take me to the story of the event