Brent Barootes
PRESIDENT AND CEO
Brent Barootes is President and CEO of the Partnership Group – Sponsorship Specialists®, a national sponsorship marketing consulting and advisory firm. In the past 30+ years Brent has worked directly or indirectly with many Canadian brands, corporations, small and medium businesses as well as municipalities, sport and recreation departments, charities, member associations, tournament, events, festivals, nonprofits, professional and amateur sports teams, to develop, audit, enhance, design, and build effective sponsorship marketing programs for them. In addition, his role directly with the charitable sector as a Director of Development, his tenure of a decade in the sport marketing industry with two NHL franchise properties combined with his role on several non-profit Boards and dealing with organizational bankruptcy in an orderly fashion for member associations and societies his expertise is far reaching and well integrated.
Brent is also the author of Canada’s #1 selling sponsorship book; Reality Check – Straight Talk about Sponsorship Marketing. Brent is a regular speaker at conferences and conventions as well as a TEDx presenter on “Busting the Work-Life Balance Myth”.
Brent lives with his wife and daughter in Nanaimo BC.
Sessions
MANAGING MUNICIPAL SPONSORSHIPS TODAY
Pre-Forum Workshop, November 6
Understanding the municipal sponsorship landscape today is confusing. For some, there seems to be a lack of sponsors, while other communities are doing multiple naming rights announcements! What is the best way to secure a naming right? How do we manage red tape and typical slow municipal decision-making processes? There are so many questions and seem to be so few answers. This half-day workshop will look to provide you and your municipality with answers, discussion, and insights to better understand the landscape you are presently operating in.
The half-day workshop will focus on three key topics but will look to have open dialogue and discussion for the entire session. If the group wishes to focus on another area or we get sidetracked… that will be a good thing. The goal is to bring answers and clarity to you around managing this complicated landscape through both the session leader’s insights and the participation of the attendees.
Defining the landscape today both for municipalities and the overall sponsorship landscape – what is new, what is changing, why, and how can you manage it better?
How can we effectively and cost-efficiently generate more sponsorship revenue money – do we outsource sales, or keep sales in-house… how do we get the council on board and keep them in their own lane?
How do we build/develop relationships; build proposals that will work and renew opportunities?
These three topics are a starting point only. This highly interactive and engaged workshop will be facilitated to flow based on the registrants’ needs and how the topics flow. Be prepared to participate and be prepared to provide topics of interest in advance to the session leader!
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SPONSORSHIP MARKETING FOR 2025 AND BEYOND
Opening Keynote, November 6
The landscape has changed and continues to evolve. As naming right agreement fees decline and investment in activation increases, brands are demanding measurable ROI with fee payments aligned to such performance delivery. AI, live streaming with multiple screens are now the mainstream in sponsorship. Big data and data segmentation, charitable alignment and purpose driven partnerships are becoming staples of the landscape.
So how and why has this all changed. And what will change in 2025? Whether a brand or a property or agency representing one or the other, you need to know what bumps are in the road ahead and what it will take to journey on flat ground. This keynote address will lay the groundwork for your understanding about how to pave the road to success in 2025 and beyond.
More Info…