Sponsorship proposal development with a touch of Magic

By Jacqui Gage-Brown, Mar 15 2018

When the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic netball team needed a new sponsorship proposal developed to attract new corporate partners, HGB worked their magic on creating winning material.

The background

Kiwis are united by sport. We come together for games, we celebrate wins, and we lament losses. Though sometimes we don’t fully appreciate the mammoth effort that goes on behind the scenes to keep our favourite teams running.

Across all sports, teams rely on corporate sponsorship to enable them to train and compete. However, with so many teams and other groups vying for sponsorship, finding and securing funding can be a challenge.

The problem

The Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic netball team approached HGB for help to develop a winning sponsorship proposal. The team had their sights set on some new corporate partnerships, and they wanted a polished design presentation to help them get it over the line (or in the net!)

Up until now, the team had written and designed their presentations in-house. This had served them well, but knowing how difficult it was becoming to make a connection with potential partners, sponsorship manager Grant Metcalfe decided it was time for a new approach.

By working with HGB, Grant had certainly picked the right people for his bench. HGB has helped other groups such as True Colours Children’s Health Trust and the Taranaki Rescue Helicopter Trust secure sponsorship from corporate partners.

The process

From the moment the first whistle blew, HGB felt they were part of the Magic team, working with the team to create the sponsorship document. This team approach continued throughout the project.

HGB strategic director, Jacqui Gage-Brown worked with Grant and the team’s CEO Rohan West to develop the content for the document. This involved digging deep to uncover the team’s core purpose and values. The team knew what made them magic – HGB simply asked some different questions and shined a different light on their responses to help communicate it in a new way.

With content in hand, the proposal moved through to design. “We wanted the reader to form an emotional connection with the proposal and therefore the team,” explains Jacqui. “We chose striking imagery of the players in action, and made this imagery the hero of the document. Infographics were used to break up the text and highlight key messages and stats.”

The result

Grant, Rohan and the Magic team were so happy with the finished document. After presenting the document to a potential sponsor, Rohan sent an email to HGB to express his thanks. In it he said:

“Thank you for your outstanding work on the proposal. It was very, very well received today, created a lot of talking points and left them impressed with us as a legitimate, professional potential partner.

“Today was a very positive first step, and it wouldn’t have been nearly as good without your work.

“I showed the document to the team and they were blown away. ‘The most professional sponsorship document we have ever produced’ was one of the comments. We look forward to the next step in the process with prospective partners.”