In 2025, as in many years before it, brands showed up, visible, present, and prominently placed through sponsorships. Yet the brands that truly stood out were not those that simply exercised their branding rights, but those that deeply understood the value of the rights they held and activated them with intention.
Ganizani Consulting’s Judith Mugeni says sponsorships need to be designed so that people choose to engage with them, without compromising brand safety (Image supplied)
The most important question is no longer:
“What do we (as a brand) get from this sponsorship?”
It is now more than ever:
“Why would someone choose to engage with us here and how does this engagement elevate our brand in the minds of the consumer?”
Brands that can answer this question don’t just win attention; they earn belonging.
As we look to 2026, the challenge becomes even sharper. We must move beyond asking whether people are engaging with our sponsorships, towards understanding why they are engaging.
Are audiences interacting with our brand because they want to… or simply because we paid to be there?
The future belongs to brands that design sponsorships people choose to engage with, not those they merely tolerate.
Points to consider
- Ownership vs Audience-led leveraging: A defining distinction
Brands must confront a necessary question: Are we sponsorship owners or sponsorship activators?
Sponsorship ownership refers to the acquisition of rights and assets within a sponsorship agreement.
Sponsorship activation (or leveraging), on the other hand, is the strategic investment and creative execution that brings those rights to life.
Ownership is the traditional, transactional model. It focuses on entitlements or the traditional rights package which includes:
– Logo placement
– Naming rights
– Stage mentions
– Banner visibility.Ownership secures brand presence. But presence alone does not guarantee relevance or resonance.
These are the sponsorships that “paint the town red” and stop there.
- Sponsorship leveraging or activation: Where brands earn attention
Sponsorship activation is experiential by nature. It places the human being, not the logo, at the centre of the engagement.
Effective leveraging requires brands to:
– Create meaningful experiences
– Establish a genuine value exchange
– Build emotional connection
– Identify moments of participation, not interruption.
– Activation is where brands earn attention, rather than buy it.In African markets, where audiences are deeply value-driven, your brand’s activation is the difference between being seen and being welcomed. People engage with what they love because they care about it.
When brands enter the spaces people cherish without intention, relevance, or cultural understanding, audiences disengage or worse, push back.
- The risk of showing up without purpose
When sponsorships are poorly designed or misaligned, the risks are real:
– Perceived opportunism
– Cultural misalignment
– Audience fatigue
– Social media backlash
– High exposure with poor Return on Objectives (ROO).In today’s environment, visibility without purpose doesn’t just underperform, it erodes trust. People do not engage with brands because of logos or brand devices- they engage because of value, relevance, and experience.
Three questions every brand must ask
To design sponsorships where audiences are encouraged to opt in, brands must answer three fundamental questions:
- What value are we creating for the audience?
Successful activations move from: “Look at us” to “This is for you.”
When audiences feel genuinely considered, engagement becomes effortless.
- How are we showing up, culturally and ethically?
Activation without alignment is a liability. Engagement without integrity is unsustainable.
This requires rigorous vetting against clear brand guidelines, including:
– Events and properties
– Organisers and partners
– Influencers, artists, talent, and speakers - Are we inviting participation or forcing visibility?
People engage when they feel respected, not marketed to. Modern sponsorships must be opt-in, not imposed.
Effective activation includes:
– Interactive experiences based on audience needs
– Co-creation with audiences
– Storytelling rather than selling
– Spaces people choose to spend time in.
Brand safety is not a checkbox, it’s a design principle
Risk, reputation, and brand safety are often treated as legal or compliance checkpoints. In reality, they are design principles.
Strong sponsorship activation is underpinned by:
– Clear governance and decision frameworks
– Ethical alignment with partners and talent
– Crisis management and exit strategies
– Continuous monitoring before, during, and after events
– When activation is intentional, brand safety becomes proactive, not reactive.
The brands that will win
Brands that invest in audience-led activation over ownership build:
– Trust instead of exposure
– Loyalty instead of reach
– Long-term relevance instead of short-term impressions.
In an attention-saturated world, the brands that thrive will not be the loudest but the most considered. They will be the brands people choose to engage with.
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