Sponsorship strategy · training · systems design
Sponsorship is amazing.
Most sponsorship isn’t.
I’m Kim Skildum-Reid. For three decades I’ve helped sponsors and rightsholders stop scratching the surface of what this medium can do. You get a blunt assessment, a roadmap you can actually act on, and me — not a junior staffer, because there aren’t any.
“Meaning is sponsorship’s superpower.”
A few of the organisations I’ve worked with
- Target
- Diageo
- SABMiller
- ANZ Bank
- Unilever Africa
- Air New Zealand
- Virgin Group
- Bendigo Bank
- Adelaide Festival
- Melbourne FC
- QAGOMA
- Pacific Games
Start here
Which side of the table are you on?
Sponsors and rightsholders have opposite problems and read this site completely differently. Pick your side and I’ll show you the parts that matter to you.
You invest in sponsorship
I’m a sponsor
Brands, government, and anyone spending money to build something through someone else’s audience.
- Your portfolio is a collection of decisions nobody would make again today
- You’re being asked to prove a return you can’t currently measure
- Leverage is an afterthought, so the rights fee does all the work
- A budget cut is coming and you need to cut smart, not evenly
You sell sponsorship
I’m a rightsholder
Events, sport, arts, culture, causes, venues, festivals, leagues, councils — anyone seeking sponsorship.
- Your proposals are inventory lists, and sponsors keep saying no
- Your portfolio is bottom-heavy and renewals are getting harder
- Sponsors phone it in, then blame you for the results
- You know your value is bigger than your rate card, but can’t prove it
The idea everything here is built on
Meaning is sponsorship’s superpower
Sponsorship is driven by passion and authenticity. It creates indelible bonds with fans and customers, and hands sponsors marketing power no other medium can match — because you are connecting with people through something they have already decided they care about.
And yet most organisations barely scratch the surface, then wonder why their sponsorships never really catch fire. Best practice sponsorship isn’t a nicer logo placement. It’s a different starting point: what do these people actually care about, and what can we do that makes their experience of it better?
Working with me
Four ways to get this fixed
From a two-day working session to a system that runs across a whole federation. Every engagement is handled by me personally.
ConsultingStrategy, reviews & audits
Analysis, heavy-hitting strategy, and a plan your organisation can get behind.
TrainingSkills, vision & buy-in
In-house, group, partner, and keynote. Your people leave eager to change, and able to.
Systems designConsistency at scale
For organisations where twenty teams do sponsorship twenty different ways.
Sponsorship coaching
Expert advice on call, for when you don’t need a full consultancy but you do need a second brain at crucial moments.
Read moreOnline training
Two comprehensive on-demand courses — one for sponsors, one for rightsholders. More content than a full day in the room.
Read moreThe books
The Corporate Sponsorship Toolkit and The Sponsorship Seeker’s Toolkit — the desk references the industry actually uses.
Read moreWhy me
You are hiring a person, not a pitch deck
Three decades, blue-chip clients on five continents, and a white paper downloaded close to a million times. But the part that actually matters is much simpler.
No juniors, because there aren’t any
Unlike most consultancies your project is never handed off. I personally handle all strategy, training, and advisory work. I work with very capable admin and researchers — they don’t do client work.
No punches pulled
Sugar-coating bad news, or suggesting a tweak when what’s needed is an overhaul, does nobody any favours. You get the blunt assessment, and then a roadmap for making and measuring the fix.
Homework done before I arrive
By the time I walk in I’ve done extensive background work, so we spend the time building plans instead of building context. Most clients are repeats or referrals — including people who hire me again at their next employer.
30+
Years working in sponsorship, on both sides of the table
5
Continents where I’ve delivered client work
194
Free how-to articles in the Article Bank
2
Industry-standard toolkits, both currently in print
What clients say
The results, in their words
Can’t bring me in?
Bring the training in instead
Two comprehensive, on-demand courses adapted from the same training I deliver in the room — with more content than fits in a full day, all the brainstorm exercises, downloadable decks, and invitation-only live ask-me-anything sessions.
Getting to “Yes”
For rightsholders. Everything from working out what you actually have to sell, through offers, pricing, the hit list, the pitch, and the renewal.
Course outlineCorporate Sponsorship Masterclass
For sponsors. Selection, leverage, measurement, portfolio management, internal buy-in — the whole program, start to finish.
Course outlineLatest from the Article Bank
New thinking, regularly
The Ten Biggest Questions Brand Managers Ask about Sponsorship
Like most people, I’ve been working with AI across a lot of functions. I’m working out effective ways to use AI with sponsorship,…
Read the article →
Rightsholders: This is How It FEELS to Do Sponsorship Right
I’ve created many dozens of blogs, white papers, tutorials, and more all about how to do best practice sponsorship, as well as the…
Read the article →
Sponsorship Leverage Workshop: The Easiest and Highest-Leverage Way to Add Value to Your Sponsors
When I talk to rightsholders about adding value to their sponsors – AKA sponsorship servicing – some rightsholders have no idea…
Read the article →The books
The desk references, not the airport paperbacks
Two toolkits, both written to be used rather than read once. Packed with tools, techniques, templates, checklists and case studies — many of them downloadable.
The Corporate Sponsorship Toolkit 2nd Edition is a 70%+ rewrite of its predecessor and significantly bigger. The Sponsorship Seeker’s Toolkit 4th Edition is the one people call “the bible of sponsorship”.
Tell me what’s going wrong
No pitch deck required. Send me a couple of paragraphs about your organisation and the problem, and I’ll tell you honestly whether I’m the right person for it — and if I’m not, who is.