My Anniversary at Bank of America

Congratulations!

"You have successfully registered for your $10 Starbucks Card. Please allow 6-8 weeks for delivery.

Thank you for being a loyal customer and making your Bank of America® credit card your card of choice."

Today I received a mailer from Bank of America informing me that it's my anniversary as a credit cardholder. To show their appreciation, they are sending me a $10 Starbucks Card (um, in 6-8 weeks!).

Credit Suisse Sponsors Roger Federer

According to the AP, Credit Suisse signed a 10-year sponsorship deal with Roger Federer.

Credit Suisse said that they will make a "significant annual contribution" to the Roger Federer Foundation. They declined to say how much the sponsorship is worth or how much will go to the foundation.

Made To Stick, The Real Thing

If you haven't read the Made To Stick October 1 posting on Fast Company about marketers selling emotion, you should check it out.

It really hit home after attending the ad:tech conference and hearing agencies and marketers speak about their constant quest to build emotional connections with audiences. Many speakers used words such as:
- engagement
- community
- relationships
- passion
- value
- interaction
- trust
- emotion

Everyone is striving to better understand their audience and find ways to interact with them. Unfortunately many marketers and their agencies are creating short-term campaigns, not valuable relationships.

Marketers need to stop creating artificial environments and short-term campaigns where they must keep "feeding the beast" with more content. I suggest that they look more closely at nonprofits that have established, passionate and engaged audiences. Once this happens, then together they can form innovative partnerships that add value and produce mutually beneficial outcomes.

Fujifilm's SeeHere.com Sponsors Homes For Our Troops

Fujifilm's SeeHere.com entered into a sponsorship of Homes For Our Troops. The partnership includes an initial $25,000 donation and a minimum donation of $100,000 over the next 12 months. The details are below in the news release.

"SeeHere.com, the year-old photo sharing site created by FujiFilm, is branding itself as the "Home of the Free" with a new cause-marketing effort that helps an organization that builds homes for severely injured veterans.

"When we were looking at our brander marketing campaign, we hit upon the idea that SeeHere.com is the 'Home of the Free,'" Joan Rutherford, vice president of marketing Web businesses for Fujifilm, tells Marketing Daily. "We felt [injured veterans] were an under-served population that we could help out."

As a corporate sponsor of Homes For Our Troops, SeeHere.com will make an initial $25,000 donation to the nonprofit and has committed to a minimum donation of $100,000 over the next 12 months. As part of its sponsorship, SeeHere.com will donate $2 from the sale of certain products -- stainless steel travel mugs, hooded sweatshirts and tote bags -- on its site.

"We were looking for an organization that served families in the United States," Rutherford says of the sponsorship. "We thought this would be a good way to spread these messages across the U.S."

On Thursday, SeeHere.com kicked off an ad campaign touting the initiative with a print ad in The New York Times. The ad shows a disabled veteran and his family alongside a house. "They've helped protect our way of life. Now it's time to improve theirs," reads the headline. Body copy reads: "We created a new kind of photo-sharing site with SeeHere.com from Fujifilm. Now we're going to be sharing in a different way," before explaining the details of the initiative.

Later this month, the company will break TV ads promoting the partnership, as well as extensive online and search-engine marketing, Rutherford says. The company will also participate in the building of about 20 new, accessible homes for veterans and will provide the new owners with digital cameras and photo gifts to chronicle the first year in their homes.

Fujifilm will also support Kids for Our Troops, a student-run organization that activates schools and student groups to support the local Homes for Our Troops "Build Brigades" in their communities"

Etisalat Three-Year Sponsorship

In Etisalat’s aim to become one of the top-10 telecoms service providers in the world, the Abu Dhabi based company signed a three-year sponsorship MOU with Manchester City.

"Etisalat’s agreement with Manchester City reflects our passionate commitment to football, in the UAE and internationally, and to our growing global customer base,” said Etisalat Group Chief Marketing Officer Essa Al Haddad.

Check out the announcement here and always remember to think global.

David Beckham's Sponsorship Deals

I guess there is money out there. According to this article, David Beckham earned nearly $16.5 million from personal sponsorship deals during his first full season with the Los Angeles Galaxy. Wow!

Shelly Palmer's Digital Power User Boot Camp at ad:tech

Today was the final day of ad:tech New York and it ended with a bang!

I attended Shelly Palmer's Digital Power User Boot Camp sessions and he rocked! If you don't know about Mr. Palmer, check him out here.