As a result of the success of the whole club, there has been an increasing opportunity for Cobham Rugby to attract high levels of quality sponsorship.

To meet this opportunity, a Sponsorship Committee was formed in November 2004 with a specific remit to focus on how to maximise the sponsorship and specifically the relationships with our sponsors.

Historical levels of sponsorship had been around the £20,000 per year level through individual contacts and specific one off deals. The challenge was laid down by the Club Committee to increase the levels of sponsorship to £30,000 during the 2004/05 season. During 2006-07 we achieved over £70,000 and we now have the bar raised again to achieve £100,000. A tall order but achievable.

The Opportunity

The opportunity for the Club was and remains to change the way we work commercially and to do this we chose to

• Increase focus on Sponsorship
• Promote a 'professional' approach to commercial work (by providing contracts)
• Maximise the revenue to the club
• Ensure greater longevity with key sponsors
• Create greater financial stability for other projects

So although we wanted to get more 'dosh' into the club coffers, it shouldn't be at all costs - the relationships we build with sponsors need nurturing and feeding - building a longer term relationship that provides a greater benefit to the Club and to the Sponsor over time.

The Method

With the plethora of historical deals what has been created is a database of past and present sponsors and who the relationship is held by within the Club. Whilst a changing document, it's a great source of information as it also provides information on the Market Sector the Sponsor operates within so that we can control any overlap of interests.

As a result of this and a number of other initiatives, the Sponsorship income in the past season has increased, and arguably more important is the focus on signing longer term deals - such as the one with our Principal Sponsor Mundays, which covers three playing seasons. This also means that we can guarantee more income for future seasons, which in turn means we can spend with more confidence on training or equipment.

What Next?

Well you'd have to be blind not to have noticed new Advertising Boards around the pitches and you'll see next season a more consolidated approach to Programmes for festivals or matches, whether that be a Minis or Vets Festival or a First team or Youth match. This gives our Advertisers a better 'bang for their buck', again maximising the revenue to your club.

Not surprisingly there needs to be some controls to ensure we get better at this commercial malarkey, so a series of easy 'Sponsorship rules' have been developed:

Sponsorship Rules

1. Contact the Sponsorship Committee to get some advice on what to do and how to do it. They must approve all sponsorship for the club to ensure 'fit'
2. Always best that the contact with the sponsor should be through the named club contact or someone to who authority is delegated
3. Avoid overlap of market sectors unless with agreement of all parties
4. Where ever possible we should get sponsors to give us money rather than goods in kind (helps with Sports Matched Funding)
5. Whilst the sponsorship committee will assist with finding sponsors - the onus is still on the age group / team to lead that process

So if you need to chat with anybody about Sponsorship or indeed can facilitate a relationship with a potential sponsor please get in touch with:
 Paul Hubbard
 Roy Bliss