Driving new sponsorship opportunities

Challenge

Mapping the route

Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) runs the premier automotive specialty products trade event in the world, attracting more than 70,000 domestic and international buyers. The event serves as a massive showcase for introducing 3,000 new parts, tools, and components into the industry, alongside seminars, product demonstrations, special events, and unique networking opportunities. With an eye toward growing revenue by attracting more sponsors, SEMA asked Freeman for help developing new sponsorship opportunities on the exterior of the building.

The Freeman team toured the perimeter of the building with the planning committee from SEMA, taking detailed measurements of every magnetic opportunity on the building’s facade. Freeman then built a SEMA-branded website, powered with Envision Pro by Freeman™, to let potential sponsors virtually tour the venue, view available sponsorships in real time, and visualize precisely how their sponsorship setup would look during the event.

Solution

Getting great mileage

Envision Pro not only presented a wealth of exciting new opportunities to sponsors, it made the sales process seamless, allowing SEMA’s 10-person sales team to show and collaborate with potential sponsors on the opportunities available on the building exterior and throughout the facility.

“This resource allows them to see what everybody else is doing, helping us avoid any missteps,” said Peter MacGillivray, vice president of events and communications at SEMA. Using the site, sponsors could easily picture the traffic and visibility their spend would generate.

Result

Driving revenue and growth

“This is our biggest year selling sponsorships,” adds MacGillivray. “When you have a show that is wall-to-wall, you can raise more money two ways. You can increase your prices, or you can sell more sponsorships. Being able to have tools that help us manage sponsorships and ultimately sell more sponsorships has been a big hit for us. Envision Pro has helped us blow past our goals.”