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C.U.L.T. 2007 Sponsorship


Once again it is time to sign up sponsors for the annual C.U.L.T. (Certified Unofficial Lotusphere Tee) shirt. As always, we’re running late.

Potential sponsors should contact me ASAP if you want to make sure you have a slot.

Sponsorship is a little different this year (again), so even if you've been down this road before, please read this carefully.

There are now 3 kinds of sponsorships available!

This year's shirt is a bit different, and demand for more than one shirt is likely to be fairly higher than usual.

We are also VERY interested in linking the shirt sponsorship in with other things you’re doing from a marketing perspective. If you have ideas about having people bring their shirt to your booth for a chance to win something or whatever, let us know. We want to make the whole thing as valuable to everyone as possible.

One idea has been that on Wednesday at the party where we already give out one prize, sponsors can give out a prize as well related to their company or booth. For example, you could have people wear their shirt to your booth to get a sticker or clip on or something then on Wednesday night have your own spotter pick someone and award a prize.

We can include information about the promotion in a flyer that gets handed out with the shirts and we can put the information on the website.**
** All of this is of course subject to final approval on a case by case basis by Rocky and I.

1. Who can sponsor?

In the past, we were very selective about sponsors. Most were Penumbra members and only one or two others were invited. We're doing things a bit differently this now. Partly because Rocky is not a Penumbra member any longer, now that he's a grown up and works for IBM, but mostly because we want to open the shirt sponsorship to others in our community. The traditional sponsor has always been a small to medium sized IBM Business Partner with a product or service to sell. This year, we're also inviting larger organizations and a more diverse mix to the table. If you've always wanted to sponsor and never were asked, contact me.**

One warning, and I make this every year: This is not a lead generation tool, and if you have that expectation you will be disappointed.

**Please note, however, that Rocky and I do reserve the right to select sponsors for our own entirely arbitrary reasons. Previous sponsors will have a slight leg-up.

2. Three Kinds of Sponsors!

Primary Shirt Sponsors (Max of 16):

Primary shirt sponsors get their logo on the shirt, as well as a set number of shirts based on how many we can afford to buy in total. In the past, this has been around 120 shirts. You’ll get plenty of information on that as we get closer but I do expect that number to be about the same this year.

Secondary Shirt Sponsors:

Secondary sponsors spend ¼ the money and get ¼ the shirts. They do not, however, get their logo or company name on the shirts. Doing this allows us to increase the total number of shirts purchased and thus reduce the cost per shirt for everyone. Last year, secondary sponsors got 30 shirts. I've been asked why anyone would want to do this, given that you don't get a logo on the shirt. I suggest you want to ask those who do. For some, giving out a few shirts to clients or friends is worth while for them.

Supplemental Sponsors (At least 1, maybe as many as 3 or 4):

New for this year, we’re giving out a marking pen with each shirt. That’s because the shirts will be interactive! Each shirt will have a place for people to write the own comment and these pens will be used for that. Each pen will have the CULT 2007 tag line for the year, and also the logo and/or name of the sponsor on them. These will not have any other companies name or logo on them (except maybe the pen manufacturer). We have several options here, so if this is what you want to do, contact me. If we have more than one, we’ll give out different colored pens so sponsorships will not be diluted.

3. Multiple Sponsorships or Extra Shirts

You can sponsor two or more times, or you can just order more shirts.

If you sponsor more than once, each costs the same amount. You get another logo and it is treated as if you were another sponsor for most purposes.

HOWEVER......

If you are a sponsor and just want more shirts, you can get the same number of shirts as a sponsor gets at 20% less. So if sponsorship is $1200 and each sponsor ends up with 120 shirts, you can buy additional blocks of 120 shirts at $1000. It’s cheaper because it’s good for the shirt that way. We have room for another sponsor logo, and thus we can buy more total shirts and reduce the cost (and thus buy even more shirts).

4. What does it cost?

Sponsorships have had to go up in price a bit this year. We got hit very hard by last year’s increase in shipping costs, and this year the shirts are up a bit as well.

Primary Sponsors cost $1200 U.S. Last year primary sponsors each got 120 shirts. We’re shooting for the same mark this year. They also get their logo on the back of the shirt.
Secondary Sponsors cost $300 U.S. Last year secondary sponsors each got 30 shirts. Again, we’re shooting for the same mark.

Each package of 30 shirts also comes with a package of rubber bands with enough of each color to wrap them. Please keep in mind; these are good quality shirts which are professionally printed with several color images on four locations.

Supplemental sponsor cost hasn’t been set yet, but plan on it being similar to the cost of a primary sponsorship. I’m going to be a little flexible here so that I can meet the needs of the sponsor as well as the needs of the shirt project overall. There is room for flexibility in terms of the pens, the number shirts the sponsor also wants, and so on.

5. What will the shirts look like?

This year's shirt is, of course, still secret. Anyone who sponsors WILL get a chance to see the design and back out. We'll do that once we receive a check or credit card but before we process the payment. That gives truly committed sponsors a chance to back out if they really hate it. We think you'll like it - we do. If you REALLY must see the shirt design first, ask me or Rocky nicely and we'll think about it. We may ask you to swear a blood oath or perhaps sign an NDA and leave a DNA sample. One thing I will tell you is that they're all the same shirt color this year.

6. Can I pick my own sizes?

No, absolutely not. Not unless you pay me (personally, and under the table) a ton of money. It just makes things much more difficult for us. We have a sizing formula that we adjust a little bit each year which splits each batch of 30 or so shirts into a single bag with a set number of each size. Generally, this is heavily "weighted" to Large and Extra Large, but always there are some small and medium and a few double x. Rocky and I also order a small number of super-human sized shirts for a few special requests.

7. Can you ship them to me instead of to Lotusphere?

Sure, but it won't be cheap -- probably about $300 more for the full sponsors and about $100 for the secondary sponsors. I don't recommend this at all.

8. What are the deadlines for sponsorship?

Decision & Payment

All sponsorship is limited by who commits first. I’ll take the first ones to commit and put them on the list, and put others on a waiting list. Anyone I haven’t gotten a check from by December 9th will be dropped from the committed list and the next person on the waiting list will get their shot. By December 16th anyone I don’t have payment from in full isn’t going to be a primary or pen sponsor. There will be no exceptions. We also can handle credit cards, but checks are better because there's no fee to us which means more shirts get made.

Artwork

Sponsor artwork has been a personal nightmare for me in the past. Last year someone kept promising me over and over they’d have it then when I finally got it the format wasn’t even close to useable. In the past I’ve re-done logos at no cost. This year, if your logo requires significant reworking I may ask you to pay for that time. The earlier you get me the artwork, the more likely we’ll have time to be flexible.

9. What kind of artwork do I have to send you as a sponsor?

Your logo should meet the following criteria:

A. It must be 100% VECTOR GRAPHICS. That means it was probably done in Adobe Illustrator or something similar. If you don't know what this means, you probably don't have it. If you do not have your artwork in this format, PLEASE contact me ASAP. I can probably reproduce it but it takes anywhere from an hour to a day. I'll tell you how long it will take me, and if I have to charge you to do it I'll let you know how much. I've gotten fairly good at this. Last year I did the artwork for Proposion and ProcessIT from scratch, copying from raster graphic files.

B. It should look good printed in moderately low resolution (kids, it's a t-shirt and ink) so avoid small fonts and tiny details. These things tend to be about 3" x 3" or smaller (we fit them in the space we have available). Look at last year's shirts for examples.

C. Don't try too hard with contact information or such. Maybe a simple URL, phone, or booth number, but that's it -- not all three either. Look, nobody is going to call you just because you sponsor this t-shirt. It doesn't work that way. If you expect it to, you'll be disappointed. It is FUN and it is a bit of name recognition. It is a conversation starter. Remember, this is not a lead generation tool, and if you have that expectation you will be disappointed.

D. We'll be doing these in three or four colors. Black, white, yellow and IBM blue are likely. Red or orange is also possible. Remember, keep it very simple. When I get your artwork, I will apply whatever colors we are using in as close to the same way as they are used on your image as possible, but we will not be using your colors. You’ll get input into the way we lay out your logo, so don’t worry that we’ll just do whatever we want.

If you have questions about this, ask me sooner than later.

10. Do you and Rocky make money on the shirts?

Since I produce the shirts here through a local vendor (and they get made at the same shop a great many of the Lotus shirts get made, as a matter of fact) I handle the finance side of it. The goal is to produce as many shirts as possible, saving out enough to cover a significant prize for the night of the party.

We haven't decided on a prize yet this year. Finances will determine. Shirt expenses go toward Shirt creation, setup fees, production, shipping, and distribution. Last year shipping was over a thousand dollars. If we ship directly to the conference it costs way more than that. Last year I shipped to a UPS depot, rented a truck, loaded the truck, returned the truck, and distributed the shirts. This year I may do that or I may even just rent a truck or trailer here and drive down.

I don't keep any significant amount of funds from the shirts. The benefit to Rocky and I is our logo on the sleeves. I suppose you could consider the rental van use compensation but to be honest, its more work than its worth. Trust me on that. I do not get compensated for the dozens of hours spent designing the shirts, working with the vendor, on-site approval meetings at the production facility, or accounting. This year, as last year, I will not be a sponsor so I suppose you could also consider that I keep the "left over" amount of shirts after they've divided up. This year Rocky and I will split enough shirts to make sure a few key VIP's get there's but otherwise its leftovers for us unless we sponsor as well.

One thing to note – last year I ended up losing a bit on the whole thing. I did get my logo out there so it’s not a huge deal, but this year I’ve talked about it with several people and I’m not going to push the budget quite that hard. It is POSSIBLE that at the end of it all I may make a small amount on the whole thing. I seriously doubt anyone will see that as an issue. In the past I’ve strived for a zero balance at the end, and it never quite works out.

Thus far, we've had no complaints. Two years ago, UPS "lost" one of the 25 boxes of shirts -- about 66 shirts. We do everything we can to avoid this, and I think in the end everyone came out Ok. One party was compensated 1/2 a sponsorship who volunteer to give up that amount to someone else. It did take a few weeks.

Potential sponsors should contact me ASAP if you want to make sure you have a slot.

Last year's shirt front & back - click to view larger