Someone wants to sponsor my lights.

[PacMang]

So after being in the local paper and a short bit on TV we had crowds and crowds of people last night. there were at least 40 cars waiting to watch the lights at one point. I had a few limos pulll though too. I had to put up signs to remind people not block my neighbors driveways. Later last night I got a call from the Limo company and they wanted to brainstorm about sponsoring the show next year. They offer a Christmas lights tour package during the holiday season and thought it would be a good idea to advertise at our house. One of their immediate thoughts was to park a limo in my yard with some lights on it for the whole month of december.

Any advice?

the obvious questsions are:
how much to charge?
what to give them (a sign, room to put a limo, webspace ad)?

[dirknerkle]

Go stand out front of your house while the show is running, and just take a look at it. What are the "stories" your show tells? What does it celebrate? What do they say about your display? ("Gee, I really like the lights!")

Then imagine a limo parked amidst it all, covered with lights. What will then be the focal point of your show? Will people even see the other things, or just the car parked in the yard? What will they say about your display? ("Hey look, they've got a car parked in the yard.")

Sponsorship is a tough issue. On the one hand it's nice to have but on the other hand, you always give something up to get it. You have to make those decisions, and whether any amount of money is worth the tradeoff can only be evaluated by you... unfortunately after the ink has dried on the contract...

[kychristmas]

"Sponsorship" essentially means commercial. At that point, It gets hard to defend against complaining Neighbors.

Also, your Home Owner's insurance would likely not cover an accident because it is a business. Don't think they won't find out. When there's an accident they will find any excuse not to pay. A woodworking friend burned up his workshop. When they discovered that his woodworking was a part-time business, they denied his claim.

You may not have Neighbor issues (but it sounds like you might) and you might be able to make sure you are covered on insurance, but I doubt a Limo company could make it worth your while to do so.

Kelly

[Tallahassee Dreamer]

Would it be worth the distraction from everything else you have worked so hard on? Yes even I have had to wait my turn behind the Limos to see your display and you have a limited amount of space that you have used very well. Does advertising with a car in the yard change the spirit of things? Yes and your neighbors might not feel the same about you if they knew there was profit involved. Thanks for the inspiration in getting me started you have done a great job. Oh yes, I would love to help you take down your display or set it up with you next year!!!!!!!

[Ronp]

I would say let them make the do not park signs with there logo,
I dont know what radio sign you use but that could be a place for there ad.
using a voice over during the show with there promo.
I dont think a limo in the yard would work......

[DIY Guy]

I'm the new guy around here, but it seems to me that sponsorship kind of taints the whole spirit.

If you are intent on working out a deal, how about something like the limo company donates 10% of the revenue from their Christmas lights tour to St. Judes (or whatever your charity of choice may be) and in return you do something like the last poster suggested, let them have their logo on the 'no parking' signs.

Make it more like a joint venture to benefit a charity than a sponsorship.

[PacMang]

I was aganist the limo in the yard idea but i wanted the forums input without tainting it with my opinion. I am glad to see that everyone else agrees that would be tacky. Iwas thinking about just putting a small "sponsered by" under my radio tune to sign. I had not thought about the no parking signs... that is a really good idea.

[teberle]

If you have voiceovers in your show you could have a mention of the limo company.

[djulien]

One of their immediate thoughts was to park a limo in my yard with some lights on it for the whole month of december.


If you want to experiment with how it would look, you could take a photo of your yard, then paste a photo of a limo into it, then use Vixen's Adjustable Preview plug-in to experiment with how to do the lights. If a full-size limo doesn't work, you could also try a smaller wireframe with lights, or a LED-triks animation or something like that.

Or maybe have the limo company provide hot-chocolate or something for visitors, and the cups can have their name on it, rather than promoting them directly with the lights and music.

don

[BF210]

The drawbacks of actual sponsorship (commercial liability etc.) have been well expressed already. Using the phrase "sponsored by", even if you don't get any cash out of the deal, opens up that can of worms anyway. I'd prefer to say "Proud to be selected by BigBlack Limos for their Christmas Light tour" along with mention of any other awards you receive.

Whatever you do, be sure they know they can't block traffic either.
(yet another Don)

[PacMang]

I'd prefer to say "Proud to be selected by BigBlack Limos for their Christmas Light tour"

another great idea.

[dirknerkle]

Also don't forget that there's probably intense competition between limo companies, and while you may turn one on, you may then be turning ALL the others off and they may not include you in their tour...

Sponsorship can be a very sharp, double-edged sword... You may want to approach ALL of them individually and treat them collectively as an industry, which would lessen the cost to them but could guarantee inclusion of more traffic (if traffic is what you want, of course...) Then your sponsorship sign would be longer, of course, but you'd be protecting your flanks...

[DManG]

good point about the limo competitors not going by the house. I think like most don't park a limo there but put something on the vocie overs and maybe a small sign.
Also a tough issue about having everyone (neighbors especially) getting the idea that you are making money doing the show although we all know that it equates to something like $0.05 an hour.