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SIBMAS - Winds of Change - New Technology
21st International Congress Helsinki,
31 August - 6 September 1996

How to Sell Your Products and Raise Additional Funds?
Lecture & case-study; Hype the Musical by Tom Merilahti
 

Sponsorship is to hire an image of an activity, among others, and to use it in marketing

• Communicating with the target audience at a different level than television, press or poster advertising
   
• Communication in a audiovisual language (musical) over the cultural borders
   
• An ideal way of communicating an identical image which both the activity and the sponsor wish to be associated with
   
• The right activity allows the activity and it's sponsor to touch people's emotions, hopes and aspirations  

Understanding the Problems & Objectives of Both Parties

A. Why search for sponsorship - bilateral co-operation  

1. The reduction of public money
    
2. The difficulty of raising additional funds
    
3. PR & marketing communication costs always come before income
    
4. The need for external money for the production and public marketing  

B. The key notes  

1. To understand the basic marketing objectives and strategies of organisations
    
2. To analyse and understand the basic values, target audiences and venues of your activity
    
3. To find the perfect match between your activity and the sponsor
    
4. Planning and doing product development work of your activity from the sponsor's point-of-view  

Hype The Musical  

Hype the Musical was the most succesful youth musical and theatre production ever in Finland ( Swedish Theatre, Helsinki ). The multidimensional, bilateral marketing and sponsorship concept and the effects were something nobody had experienced before. It was ' The Production within Culture ', which broak down the boarder between culture and commercialism in Finland.

THE STARTING POINT

• to create and produce an entirely new youth-musical of an international scale
   
• The knowledge of the high production costs and reduction of public money
   
• The knowledge of the high marketing communication costs and a difficult target group
   
• The need of a new, interactive marketing concept to fulfil the financial and the marketing needs of the production
   
• To create an extensive, interactive network between the worlds of business, Hype and its target audience
   
• The need of wide publicity and visibility in the media

THE KEY QUESTIONS IN THE PLANNING PHASE

• Which are the key values of Hype?
• Which and how big is the target audience?
• How to reach the target audience?
• Research - how does the interst gropus of theatre, culture and target audience feel about advertising and commercial activities
• Which are the interest areas of the target audience?
• Which are the main problems organisations meet in youth marketing?
• What can Hype offer the organisations to solve the problems?
• How much external money do we need to put together the production?
• Can we promise enough value for the invested money and time of the sponsor?  

THE BASIC MARKETING CONCEPT 

1. To create an entirely new set of alternatives which Hype sponsors can use as a part of their marketing communication
    
2. Not only a to collect sponsorship money, but to create an interactive, bilateral marketing mix between the parties
    
3. To market the Hype name, logo and the cast to be combined in the marketing communication of the sponsor
    
4. To make the name and image of the production familiar to the target group of the theatre and its sponsors in good time before the first show
    
5. To achieve the best possible sponsor mix which, aside from providing financial support, would work for Hype marketing and for each other
    
6. Effective PR-activities for finding and creating media contacts for better public marketing  

THE MARKETING ELEMENTS OF THE HYPE SPONSORSHIP PROGRAMS 

1. The right to participate in all Hype PR-events and press conferences
    
2. The right to use the name Hype in the marketing and products of the sponsors
    
3. The right to use the Hype music and dances of Hype in the marketing of the sponsors
    
4. The rights to use the cast and its members of the Hype cast in the marketing and of the sponsors
    
5. The right to utilize parts of the musical to be used in PR-events of the sponsors
    
6. Corporate visibilty on the outside walls and inside elements of the Swedish theatre
    
7. The right of using the lounges of the theatre for PR-use of the sponsors
    
8. The right to do PR and sell sponsor products in the theatre
    
9. The right for sponsor visibility in the marketing and materials of Hype
    
10. Special rights for utilizing parts of the Hype performance in own PR-events  

WHAT WE OFFERED OUR SPONSORS

1. The opportunity to name sponsor products by Hype
    
2. The opportunity to use the name of Hype in sponsor advertising, marketing, products and services
    
3. The opportunity to use pictures of the cast members in advertising, PR, promotions…
    
4. The opportunity to buy own special Hype performances in the theatre
    
5. The opportunity to use the Hype music and parts of the performances in own PR-events
    
6. The opportunity to use the facilities of the theatre in special sponsor events
    
7. The opportunity to sell sponsor products and to do promotions in the lobbies
    
8. The opportunity to take benefit of the Hype direct marketing campaign posted in schools
    
9. The opportunity to do advertising in the Hype PR-materials
    
10. To buy advertising space to a reasonable price from the Hype media sponsors
     
11. To give sponsor interviews in the programs on Radio Hype
     
12. To get advertising space on the walls of the theatre  

HOW THE HYPE SPONSORSHIP CONCEPT CAME INTO EFFECT

THE SUCCESTORY IN A NUTSHELL

The Swedish Theatre - 526 seats (Hype pääsee vientiin = Hype succeed to be exported, photo: Joe Blasco make-up: Hype Light, Hype Medium & Hype Dark was launched even in the States by Joe Blasco)

• 226 Hype performances (the optimistic objective was 50 performances
   
• Mega Hype (concert version) in the Turku City Hall - 4 performances - 24,000 tickets sold. Over 130,000 tickets sold
   
• Mega Hype open-air concert in Kaivopuisto park - more than 20 000 spectators
   
• 10 private performances for the sponsors (Coca-Cola performances, IBM launch, Philips dealer meeting, MTV, TELE Internal marketing event etc.
   
• Presented in 73 TV-programs - product placement of the sponsors
   
• Presented on MTV and CNN internationally
   
• TV - 2 x HYPE -document programs
   
• TV - 2 x HYPE - open air concert version
   
• 278 articles in the press where the sponsors were greatly represented
   
• 350 pictures in the press - 137 PR-pictures ( with sponsor visibilty ) were produced by Hype
   
• An effective co-operation with the media ( HBL, Radio Ettan, NetworkMagazine...)
   
• A huge amount of Hype merchandising products were sold by the theatre (Hype-CD, T-shirts..)
   
• Hype the Musical broke down the boarder between culture and commercialism
   
• The interest and the amount of money spent in sponsorship of culture in Finland grew in a short time more than ever before. The trend is still going on...

CASE-STUDY: THE SUCCESTORY OF AKTIA BANK - THE HYPE CARD < click here
 

  
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