The abundance of stake-holding partners include; bookshops, libraries, junior sponsors and all forms of media and whilst publicity coverage online, in newspapers and within the official RTE TV highlights show is important, the fascinating reveal here is that across our project portfolio, official evaluations have suggested that over 50% of the value to the sponsor is taken from the official instore poster, shelf-edge strip and sticker displays in-store.
Books reflect society and the media. It’s not just about fiction authors. Today bestsellers are just as likely to be written by celebrities, TV stars, sports stars, chefs, bloggers etc. Association to that range of talent is another welcome benefit for potential sponsors.
Being able to vote for your favourite book is another important side product of the immersive passion of readers. Engagement is vital for sponsors such as An Post, who were looking to add relevance and content for community discussion. In addition to the ‘IBA Academy’, the public in Ireland are urged to vote on the various shortlisted books, resulting in over 100,000 votes online.
Prize-winning sponsorship campaigns aside, the world has changed in the last 6 months, but with events now largely virtual, this kind of reach, personal interaction and association longevity could be seen as even more valuable to sponsors.
Traditionally, sport is where sponsorship is at, but looking beyond and specifically at book prizes is worth bearing in mind. An Post and Core have done a great job eking out benefit from the Irish Book Awards, but, there are plenty of similar national and more tactical opportunities within the UK book market.
