Norway: Controlling For Everything but the ‘X-Factor’…

Monday, 9 June 2008 - Photo: Mark at the Duke of Edinburgh Awards

Apart from the challenge of hauling more than our own body weight for 12 hours a day over 800 kilometres to the South Pole, we need to fund the project. I can get myself fit, strong and ready to race to the South Pole but without the funding it simply will not happen. It would be great if I got a call some day out of the blue, saying “Mark, this is a great opportunity and we’d like to give you the funds you need to go to the South Pole”. But, I will not be holding my breath!

Sponsors will only be interested in tangible benefits, no matter how exciting I think the project is. With this in mind, after the training camp in Norway I travelled to London. If Norway was a fact finding mission about the technical side of the race, the London meetings were a fact finding mission about the business side of the project.

During my time in London I met with a number of potential sponsors, a PR person, a media expert and a literary agent. The conversations were really thought provoking and my imagination started to run riot. In fact I became so excited about the world of possibilities out there that by the time I got home I had completely lost focus. I love meeting people who ‘think big’ and it fuels my excitement for the things I do…however, the downside is that the people that work closely with me have to endure flights of my imagination, distractions and some hyperactivity.

As the world of possibilities was exploding in my head, the vital task of finding a great sponsor was receiving less attention. I have a great sponsorship proposal that offers sponsors value in multiples of what it will cost, but I was not practicing what I preach and asking for help.

I had given the proposal to some of my contacts who I thought might be interested, but I hadn’t followed up with them. Equally I was not focusing on some other potential sponsors that I thought might benefit from the project. Some might call it lazy, others would say distracted. Whatever you call it, I simply was not focusing on getting the message out there that I am looking for a commercial partner.

My first few conversations resulted in knock backs due to 2008 budgets being allocated already; but this project is not a 2008 project (although the race starts in 2008). I think that initially potential sponsors thought that the sponsorship is only for the duration of the race but it is actually an 18 month project running from late 2008 until the end of 2009 with funding coming out of next year’s budgets.

Phase one will involve pre-race partnership profile building from July 2008 to Nov 2008. During the race, media partners will focus on the race itself, from our departure in Dec 2008 throughout the race, until our return in early February 2009. The bulk of the value will be delivered after the event through staff and client ‘South Pole Shows’ using footage from the race, photo and editorial acknowledgement in the book, the documentary and lots of other ways; multiple opportunities for sponsors to build brand visibility and motivate staff and clients.

The focus is back with a bang. There is six months to go. I have been training hard and pounding the pavements to potential sponsors. The book proposal is written, the documentary filming has started, and the media plan is in place. All we need is the right sponsor to see the opportunity for them in the project and when that happens we need to be ready to deliver…

• Return to news page