"It's all about Activation"

Don't take it from me. Read The Economist's Special Report and hear it from the Chief Marketing Officer of Coca-Cola, Joe Tripodi...

These days it might cost €150m to sponsor the UEFA Champions League, the club championship of European football, for three years, or as much as $70m to back a Formula One (F1) team for a season. And all that buys is the right to use the name of an event, a team or an organisation.

“Activation”—promotions, competitions, television advertising during breaks, corporate hospitality and so forth—might multiply the sponsor’s budget two or three times over, and it is vital. “In sponsorship it’s not what you have, it’s what you do with it,” says Joe Tripodi, chief marketing officer of Coca-Cola. “It’s all about activation.”