ROCKET SCIENTISTS, CORPORATE ADVERTISERS AND LIBRARY MANAGERS - STRANGE BEDFELLOWS?

To the unrepentant capitalist, one of the most enduring images of the recent past has been the Russian rocket being launched carrying a Pizza Hut logo emblazoned on its side. I don�t know who it was in the Pizza Hut organisation who came up with this amazing idea but s/he deserves the marketing equivalent of a knighthood for its sheer nerve and vivacity. The reason I love this image so much is the lesson it gives to us all - that you can advertise your product anywhere and anyhow, and using the obverse, you can find sponsors for the most unlikely products. For the purposes of this column the focus will be on the second part of the lesson, that is, that sponsors and advertisers will seek out the best opportunities to place their messages and if you happen to be in the right place and have the necessary market reach, don�t be surprised if someone, maybe even Pizza Hut, comes knocking on your door offering you sums of money.

Librarians have been slow to realise, or perhaps to accept, the philosophical implications of the potential for sponsorship opportunities in libraries. Public libraries in particular have great appeal to marketing people trying to place their messages in a cost-effective way. Let us remember that library managers tell their funding agencies that a large proportion of the community is registered and so many people are active �users� of the library, and that citizens of all ages and backgrounds come to the library. Instead of accepting the argument that this calls for more ratepayer/taxpayer support, managers should not be surprised to find the data handed back to them with the strong injunction that any institution with that sort of customer base should be able to raise revenue of its own without relying on the public purse for support. And that is what is happening more frequently in countries such as the USA, New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom.

The reason sponsorship has become such big business is that companies have recognised that it differs from traditional advertising because it �associates� the company with another organisation, service, event, publication or location. Why do companies fall over themselves to pay huge sums so that they can be connected to a sports team? Manchester United, the All Blacks, and even the hapless England cricket team, all draw huge sums from corporate sponsors just so they can use their name on the team shirts, and position the company name or logo on the pitch sidelines. The key point is the association between the company and the team, so that when fans of Manchester United think of their team, they will associate The Red Devils with Vodafone and think kindly of that mobile phone company.

Public libraries are a sponsor�s dream. Why? Just think of the huge market reach, the customer demographics, and the �warm, fuzzy� nature of the library�s public image - it doesn�t get much better than that. Take the example of a public library and a retail outlet in the town of Bookville. The Bookville Library needs more money and its funding agency won�t give it any more. The retail outlet is a local business that caters to all ages but is struggling to compete with the big name stores that run national advertising campaigns. For a local company, television advertising is hideously expensive and uncertain in its returns. Billboards are cheaper, but who reads billboards these days? Even local radio and local newspapers don�t have the impact they once had. And all of this is traditional advertising, that is, placing the message �out there� in the hope that some potential customers read it and take notice. Sponsorship does more than just put the message out there. In this case the retail outlet is hoping that the public library is popular with a large number of people in the community who are also potential customers of the store, and that their �warm, fuzzy� feelings about the library are carried over to their thoughts about the store. That, put in a crude, simplistic way, is what sponsorship is all about.

If the Bookville Library manager understands the benefits of sponsorship, s/he may find businesses only too pleased to come forward. Companies want to put their names on library cards used for circulation, photocopying and other activities. The retail store in my example may be happy to be associated with events such as summer reading programmes for children. A different kind of business, perhaps an office equipment supplier, may sponsor seminars for local businesses, or library conferences. They will advertise in the library, not so much because it�s space on a wall but because it is in the library. In one New Zealand city the private sector has put up big money to support a mobile library. In other cases, computer hardware companies have provided machines at no charge, Internet Service Providers have given libraries free access, but all in return for recognition that they are associated with the library.

So, we know that the potential for revenue generation or cost savings is there. Are there any drawbacks? One very real cost known only too well by managers who have sought sponsorship is that it takes a great deal of time and effort to write the sponsorship prospectus and chase up the targeted companies. Even having secured the sponsorship, the library manager should know that companies expect reports on how their money is being used. Are there other problems? Sometimes the library is required by its governing authority to be �fair� in its dealings with potential sponsors. A public library in New Zealand had almost closed a sponsorship deal with a supermarket when the local council decided that all supermarkets had to be approached in order to let each and every one of them bid for sponsorship of the library. This was done, but in the time taken by this open process, the original supermarket almost lost interest and no others decided to bid, so was anything actually accomplished by this piece of bureaucracy?

Other perceived problems lie in the types of companies and their products that might find library sponsorship attractive. Suppose that the retail store in my example is actually a liquor outlet that also sells cigarettes. Given that the Bookville Library is popular with teenagers, what better place to promote cigarettes and alcohol? In this case we have to acknowledge some limits on sponsorship deals, or else the hosting institution may suffer. If the Bookville Library accepts tobacco or alcohol sponsorship, there is a possibility that its public image will be severely tarnished, perhaps with a loss of public funding and an erosion of the �warm fuzzies� that attract other sponsors.

Other reasons for refusing sponsorship are not so easy to accept. It has been claimed that taking sponsorship, any kind of sponsorship, undermines the library�s claim on public funds, but I am not aware that real evidence exists to support this. If we charge for our services, they say, we will never attract sponsors. Well, my local swimming pool charges me to have a swim, and it nevertheless has several sponsors, and it will be a rare day that Manchester United throws open the gates of Old Trafford so that the fans can watch for free, but the sponsors still fall over themselves to be associated with such commercial concerns. This reluctance to accept sponsorship has, in my opinion, less to do with proven realities than the traditional sensibilities of librarians who wish to believe that all libraries everywhere should receive 100% public funding for everything they do.

Entrepreneurship is not something common among librarians, and it isn�t easy to teach in library school, so it�s only natural that only a few library managers have it, while many don�t. From observation I have noticed that the willingness to put in the hard work to catch and keep sponsors is all about the personality of the library manager. Those with a taste for innovation readily accept the challenge. Others resist it as long as they can. What is your intuitive reaction to sponsorship of libraries? Have you any direct experience of sponsorship? If you want to share your thoughts with your peers, why not use Library LINK as a forum?

A final thought is that sponsorship, as with so many other innovations, has developed first and fastest in the United States. Indeed, the philanthropy of Andrew Carnegie 100 years ago was in a way a form of sponsorship, forever associating the name of Carnegie with public libraries around the world. The huge corporations of Japan, Korea and Hong Kong have not yet seen much value to be gained in sponsoring libraries. Is this a variation in cultures at work here, or are the commercial realities really different? It will be interesting to hear the reaction of Asian librarians to this column. Do they think that sponsorship can help their libraries, or is it a non-starter? Personally, I think we are only just starting to see the potential of sponsorship and that there is much more to come.

Philip Calvert
Victoria University of Wellington

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