--- title: Getting Ahead of Your Sponsorship or Experiential Event (Part 1) description: Looking to create a live brand experience at a big convention like CES? Experts share their timeline and strategy for landing high-profile activations. image: https://blog.inspiramarketing.com/hubfs/68.png --- [![vast.png](https://blog.inspiramarketing.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Inspira%20Wordmark.png?width=480&height=206&name=Inspira%20Wordmark.png "vast.png")](http://inspiramarketing.com) - [Default HubSpot Blog](https://blog.inspiramarketing.com/blog) # Default HubSpot Blog ## [Getting Ahead of Your Sponsorship or Experiential Event (Part 1)](https://blog.inspiramarketing.com/blog/sponsorship-experiential-event-part-) Jul 20, 2022 11:15:00 AM / by [Bobby Johnson](https://blog.inspiramarketing.com/blog/author/bobby-johnson) - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) Landing a sponsorship, booth, or experiential event at a huge show isn’t necessarily about clout or the size of your brand. The deciding factor in grabbing a spot at that big expo is, in fact, preparation.  **Think of it like going on a once-in-a-lifetime vacation**. The less you plan, the less *time* you have to prep, the more likely your vacation will go off the rails. You won’t be able to book that hotel you love, snag that tough restaurant reservation, or get on the coveted tour. Basically, if you’re leaving on September 1st, you wouldn’t start planning August 20th. Brand activations are no different. Landing a sweet spot for your brand at an expo like [South by Southwest (SXSW)](https://www.sxsw.com/), the [Consumer Electronics Show (CES)](https://www.ces.tech/), or [San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC)](https://comic-con.org/frontpage) is almost entirely dependent on how early you start to organize your brand experience. We talked to [marketing experts at Inspira](https://inspiramarketing.com/about/), **Jeff Lund** (Senior Client Engagement Manager) and **Farah Brigante** (Group Creative Director) about when to start prepping for activations at the largest conventions, and their takes on their most successful campaigns. ## Start planning your activation around six months before In the majority of brand activations, the rule of thumb for when to start planning is “the earlier the better.”  When it comes to big shows, festivals, or conventions, Jeff Lund recommends 16-24 weeks of prep, minimum.  *“16-24 weeks typically allows for enough time to finalize concepts, develop creative components, produce physical and digital assets, fine-tune activation details, and carry out pre-execution logistics.” - Jeff Lund* Farah Brigante felt the same way, choosing a “start date” for planning right in the middle of that range: *“I would recommend that the planning process for any huge sponsorship brand activation that lives at a huge conference should begin around six months prior to the date of the event. This truly allows for enough time to plan, concept, and execute the plan without feeling rushed.” - Farah Brigante* The reason for this extended lead time is simple: large events are competitive, complex, and resource-intensive. Festivals and conventions often include travel for multiple parties, shipping large items, negotiation with the host, reserving space, and all of the coordinated marketing that leads up to the event itself.  Six months is the perfect amount of time to get all of those ducks into a row and ensure that your experience will come to life as you envisioned it.  ## Job #1 is to understand the brand Scenario: it’s six months to SXSW or CES. You know the clock is ticking and the time to start planning is nigh. But where do you begin? The logistical concerns, the travel budget, reaching out to the festival? According to the experts, the first thing to do is to make an effort to understand the brand, the brand’s story, and just what you hope to achieve by activating at that event. *“Understanding the client’s brand and objectives allows us to create a meaningful experience that not only answers the brief, but also creates an impact.” - Farah Brigante* Here are a few questions to ask yourself (or your client) before you start to book expensive convention-hall space:  If this isn’t your brand, you’ll need to get together with the client’s brand team and hammer out these questions. And don’t hold back: the more you learn about the brand, the better your strategy will be. *“A good way to start is to schedule a kickoff meeting to extract as much information as possible from the brand team. Ask as many questions as possible about the brand’s history, successes, struggles, competitors, target demographics, and anything else that may inform the build-out of concepts.” - Jeff Lund*  When you *get* the brand and why this show is good for them, it’s time to move on to the next steps in the plan. ## Big brand activations take time Now that you know *when* to start planning for a big expo and how to begin generating ideas, we’re going to help walk you through the actual planning and logistical processes. Want to know how to secure a sponsorship, deal with event organizers, and make sure you’re following the rules of the conference? Tune in next week when we continue this series. If you’re excited to learn more and can’t wait, [reach out to Inspira Marketing today](https://inspiramarketing.com/connect/) to get help planning your next brand activation. ![Bobby Johnson](https://app.hubspot.com/settings/avatar/d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e) #### Written by [Bobby Johnson](https://blog.inspiramarketing.com/blog/author/bobby-johnson) ### Subscribe to Email Updates - Recent - Popular - Categories ### Lists by Topic - [Insights (179)](https://blog.inspiramarketing.com/blog/tag/insights) - [Experiential (120)](https://blog.inspiramarketing.com/blog/tag/experiential) - [Infographics (95)](https://blog.inspiramarketing.com/blog/tag/infographics) - [Inspira in the News (70)](https://blog.inspiramarketing.com/blog/tag/inspira-in-the-news) - [Social Media (64)](https://blog.inspiramarketing.com/blog/tag/social-media) - [Employee Spotlights (49)](https://blog.inspiramarketing.com/blog/tag/employee-spotlights) - [Inspira News (49)](https://blog.inspiramarketing.com/blog/tag/inspira-news) - 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