2. “I live in Exeter, and the new office was already in progress, so ‘go large’ it was”
Optimising IT
Sport it backs: Football
Number of official participants in England: 2 million (Statista)
Interviewee: Managing Director Todd Gifford
Hi Todd. You became a stand sponsor of Exeter City in June. How did the partnership come about?
We first spoke to the team at Exeter City in July 2022. We had been planning on expanding into the Exeter area as part of our overall business strategy, and we had seen brand awareness benefits from sponsoring other sports teams previously.
As we were also on our B Corp journey by then as well, we wanted a partner that reflected our values, and no better way to do that than with the first fan-owned football club in England. It’s also fair to say that our initial conversations escalated quickly from just getting involved to ‘how big is that sign?’ – but ‘go large or go home’ as they say. I live in Exeter, and the new office was already in progress, so, ‘go large’ it was.
You also sponsor another football team and a rugby club, as well as Red Roses international Alex Matthews. Why did you choose to back rugby and football, as opposed to other sports?
Rugby and football are firm favourites with the team at Optimising IT, but we also found opportunities with clubs and players that aligned with what we wanted to do around community and diversity in those sports, so the alignment just made sense.
Do you ever look at sponsorship partnerships like these from an RoI perspective?
There is always the business case to justify the investment in the first place and get board agreement. Are we actually measuring the RoI on this level of partnership? No – it’s not about marketing to our ideal customers or generating income, it’s about being part of the local community and giving back.
Are we actually measuring the RoI on this level of partnership? No – it’s not about marketing to our ideal customers or generating income, it’s about being part of the local community and giving back
How would you assess the corporate hospitality benefits?
It’s actually really difficult to get people to go and engage at the level we are at strangely enough, mostly because local businesses that are already interested in Exeter City already have season tickets, or hospitality of their own – the local business community really does get involved, as the club and the foundation give back to the community as well.
What advice would you have to other firms in the IT industry weighing up signing a sponsorship deal in the realm of sport, and which sport to choose?
I would focus on the business reasons for doing so, in particular what is the objective you are trying to achieve, and how does the sponsorship help you do that.
“I’d ridden Ride Across Britain 8 times, and the idea grew from there”. See final page to discover which cycling-mad partner CEO said this…
