MUNICIPAL MARKETING contractual agreement, such as an arrangement that only one brand of alcohol or soft drink will be sold in a particular municipal venue.
“ I would say we’ re behind America generally, because it is a bit of corporate creep into municipalities and who knows how comfortable we are with that?” says Hagey.“ It’ s generally not a norm yet, whereas down in the States it’ s becoming a little more normal.”
Lest Ontarians recoil in horror as they imagine children’ s playgrounds plastered with endorsements of sugary snacks, Hagey points out that some types of corporate sponsorship are already taken for granted, from littleleague uniforms carrying the name of a neighbourhood hardware store to sidewalk benches paid for by a local real estate agent or advertising on the boards at the community hockey rink.
“ I grew up in a small town and we were the Legion team, because the Legion ponied up the money to buy our uniforms,” he says.“ People are already okay with advertising on buses; I don’ t think it’ s a huge leap to put it on snow ploughs. You see ads on the rink boards when little Billy is playing hockey – why not when he’ s at the swimming pool?”
Before starting to envision specific sponsorship situations, Hagey says, municipalities should go through“ a bit of a needs assessment” to determine what the community is ready for. He breaks this stage down into five specific questions to answer. 1. Are your council and community on board? 2. Do you already have a policy covering this area? 3. Should you approach municipal entrepreneurism comprehensively, or simply open the door to consider opportunities as they arise?
4. Will advertising and sponsorship opportunities be sought out and negotiated by city staff or an outside firm?
5. Where will the potential revenue be spent?
Breaking down these questions, a municipality’ s responses and their importance is key to the future success of a municipal marketing plan, according to Hagey.
Council and community support When the City of Kitchener carried out a community survey, 84 per cent of respondents“ somewhat” or“ strongly” supported generating revenues through sponsorship, which
“ People are already okay with advertising on buses; I don’ t think it’ s a huge leap to put it on snow ploughs. You see ads on the rink boards when little Billy is playing hockey – why not when he’ s at the swimming pool?”
– Ryan Hagey, Director of Financial Planning, City of Kitchener
Many popular restaurants have purchased floor decals in local venues like the Don McLaren Arena under Kitchener’ s new marketing initiative
MUNICIPAL MONITOR 19