How do you get sponsors for an event? Not with a PDF that says “put your logo here.” You get them with a sponsorship proposal that sells concrete benefits: clear tiers, real activations, and a number the brand can justify. A sponsor doesn’t pay to show up; they pay to reach your audience.
At SOMOS DER, sponsorship is built into production: we have a team dedicated to landing sponsors. Here’s what we’ve learned.
Start with the match, not the logo
Before you build anything, the question is: which brands want to talk to my audience? A school tournament appeals to family-consumer brands; a trap festival, to others. Sponsorship closes when the event’s audience is the audience the brand is after. If that match doesn’t exist, no proposal will save it.
Build sponsorship tiers
Offering a single package leaves out brands with smaller budgets. That’s why you work with tiers, typically three:
- Headline sponsor — maximum visibility and category exclusivity. The biggest investment.
- Official sponsor — strong presence, no exclusivity. Mid-level investment.
- Category / supporting sponsor — limited presence, smaller investment. The entry point.
That way several brands can coexist without stepping on each other, and each one chooses to fit its budget.
Sell measurable benefits, not hot air
What the brand is buying:
- Visibility: logo on stage, screens, communications, event graphics.
- Activations: stand, sampling, on-site experiences. This is where the brand actually touches people.
- Contact with the audience: physical presence, data (with consent), interaction.
- Content: photos and video of the event with their brand, so the sponsorship keeps paying off on social afterward.
The more concrete the benefit, the easier the yes.
A case: 4 sponsors for one tournament
At Saint Mary of the Hills we didn’t just produce the tournament: we went out and found the brands, landing 4 sponsors —Hilton Pilar, Pascual Toso, Go Seven, and Goalty— each with its own on-court activation. That’s sponsorship built into production: the same operation that sets up the event is the one that funds it.
See the full case.
Sponsorship as part of viability
Landing sponsors isn’t an add-on: often it’s what makes the event viable. That’s why we work on it from the viability consulting stage, while it’s still being decided whether the event happens at all. A solid sponsorship plan can be the difference between a budget that closes and one that doesn’t.
Landing sponsors is part of our full-service event production: we identify, propose, negotiate, and activate. Let’s talk about your event.