Negotiating Advertising Deals

I've been asked a lot recently on podcasts how to evaluate and think about large sponsorships. At ClickUp, we had a strategic partnership with the San Diego Padres that was extremely beneficial from an activation perspective. Here are some key points on how it worked/ was structured: 1. Embedded Partnership: It was important for us to be as integrated into their ecosystem as they were in ours. Our agreement included them using ClickUp as their primary work management tool across several departments. This integration was beneficial in many ways, helping them to speak our language when building out assets and discussing different aspects of our sponsorship. 2. High-Quality Content: We brought our team on board and ensured we had almost unlimited access to tell their story alongside ours. Baseball has a rich history and underwent significant transformations during the pandemic and when everything reopened. We were alongside them for that journey and wanted to tell that story through high-quality content. 3. Fluidity: I dislike rigid agreements. Life and business are dynamic, and our agreements should reflect that. We structured our partnership to be as fluid as possible, allowing us to add assets ad-hoc and make real-time changes. This created a true two-way partnership where both parties were continually thinking about how to further utilize each other. In many ways, it was one of the best partnerships/sponsorships I've done in my career (and I've done a lot). When evaluating potential sponsorships, beyond market fit and target demographics, consider the type of relationship you want with your partners. Look for organizations that align with that vision—it will pay dividends.

If you want executives to care about audience research, stop selling the research. Start selling the outcome. One reason audience insights get ignored at the leadership level? We present them like marketers; not like business strategists. Instead of saying: 🟡 “People in our audience are really into video tutorials.” Try this: 🟢 “If we repurpose our onboarding into video, we could increase conversions by ~15%. Based on current traffic, that’s ~$500k in annual revenue.” That’s when eyes light up. That’s when people listen. Audience research isn’t just a marketing input. It’s a strategic lever. → For product → For sales → For retention → For reducing CAC → For accelerating PMF This is how you get buy-in. Not by asking for attention — by showing the impact.

What if you could see how engaged your webinar audience really was…not just guess? We just launched attendee analytics with heatmaps in Wistia’s webinar product, and I have to say: it’s kind of blowing my mind. You’re no longer stuck with just knowing who registered or showed up. Now you can see who actually paid attention. Who kept your webinar open the whole time. Who was clicking, chatting, reacting. Who stayed fully focused for 5 minutes or 50. And here's the kicker: This signal is stronger than what you'd get from an in-person event. At a live event, you can’t tell who’s just being polite versus who’s genuinely tuned in. But this? This shows you exactly who’s leaning in and gives you the data to act on it. We’re talking names, companies, watch time, engagement… all in one place. This is the clearest window I’ve ever seen into audience interest. I made the below video because I was so excited to use the product with real data. Seeing how it works on our webinars made it click for me in a whole new way. Attendee analytics is more than a feature. It’s a new metric. One that gives you real insight into what’s working and who actually cares. You don’t need a bigger audience. You need better signals. And now, we’ve got them.

Analytics aren’t just numbers; they’re your roadmap to publishing growth. Data isn’t power, it’s potential. For publishers, the real value lies in transforming raw metrics into repeatable growth strategies that drive audience retention, revenue, and #SEO performance. Too often, publishers collect vast amounts of data but fail to extract meaningful takeaways. The key is understanding what content resonates, how audiences engage, and where opportunities for growth exist. Collecting data is easy; extracting insights is not. Without clarity, metrics like pageviews and bounce rates become distractions. For example, a 40% drop in returning visitors isn’t just a traffic issue—it’s a retention red flag. By using the right tools and refining strategies based on real data, you can turn numbers into growth. Here are actionable strategies to turn data into action: 1. Know Your Audience Beyond Pageviews Pageviews alone don’t tell the full story. Instead, track return visitors, time on page, and scroll depth to measure true engagement. Tools like Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and Parse.ly provide deeper insights. Cohort analysis can reveal trends, millennials may prefer video, while Gen X engages more with newsletters. For example, if mobile traffic spikes by 20% after 8 PM, push breaking news via mobile notifications to capture that audience in real-time. 2. Optimise Content Performance with Behavioural Data Understanding why some content performs well helps you replicate success. Use @Google Search Console and Semrush to analyse search visibility and Hotjar Digital Marketing Company to track user interactions. For example, if "AI in media" gets 3x more shares than "content trends," double down on AI-related content. Additionally, A/B test headlines (e.g., “5 Growth Hacks” vs. “Proven Tactics”) to see what improves click-through rates. 3. Track Conversions, Not Just Traffic Traffic alone doesn’t guarantee success—conversions do. Set up goals in GA4 to measure newsletter sign-ups, paid subscriptions, or product purchases. Identify which referral sources drive the highest conversion rates, and adjust your strategy accordingly. For example, premium subscribers from "how-to guides" tend to have a 15% higher lifetime value than general news readers, meaning content type matters when driving long-term revenue. To scale what works, automate reporting with Power BI Visualization or Looker Studio to save 10+ hours per month. Analytics only matter when they drive actions. The biggest mistake any publishers can make is to treat data as a report card instead of a playbook. Start by auditing one content category this week, setting up a conversion goal in GA4, and A/B testing a headline. Data doesn’t lie, but it won’t work unless you do something. What analytics tools are you using to grow your publishing efforts? Share your go-to platforms in the comment below. #DigitalPublishing #SEO #ContentStrategy #AudienceGrowth #DataAnalytics

The most valuable real estate on Audi's new F1 car might be the empty space. Audi F1 Project is making a radical bet on "less is powerful." This is the philosophy driving the commercial strategy for their 2026 entry. Team Principal Jonathan Wheatley has made it clear: they will not have a car "covered in sponsor logos from top to bottom." Instead, they are building a "clean, clear, crisp outlook." This is a calculated move to create an exclusive, premium platform that stands apart on a crowded grid. With the agency Legends Global (the firm behind Real Madrid and the New York Yankees) co-leading the strategy, Audi is building a small, powerful, and deeply integrated partner ecosystem. Each partner tells a piece of the story: → The Title Partner (Revolut): Instead of a traditional bank, they chose a fintech "disruptor." The 75M−100M+ per year deal is a clear signal that Audi is targeting a younger, tech-savvy global audience. This is a technology alliance, not just a branding exercise. → The Cultural Partner (adidas): This ~$30M per year deal is a statement of national pride. It unites two German icons under the banner of "Four Rings and Three Stripes," creating a powerful narrative around shared values of engineering, performance, and heritage. → The Technical Foundation (bp /Castrol ): This is a co-engineering partnership. BP and Castrol are not just providing fluids; they are embedded in the process of creating the heart of the car—the 2026 power unit—from a blank sheet of paper. This approach transforms the idea of sponsorship. It moves from selling ad space to building a premium brand alliance, where each partner's value is amplified by the exclusivity of the platform. It's a model built on the belief that a few, deep relationships are infinitely more powerful than a collage of shallow ones. It leaves every brand with a critical question: Is your partnership just another sticker in the crowd, or are you one of the few, select partners that defines the entire platform? 👇 #Sponsorship #F1 #Audi #Marketing #SportsBiz #FalconHQ #Partnerships

Recently, I was pitching to a prospective company for a sponsorship. While preparing the pitch deck, I kept asking myself one question - “What would make them say yes?”🤔 That process completely changed the way I look at pitch decks. Because a pitch deck is not just a presentation. It is a decision-making document.✅ While building it, I realised something important👇 - Sponsors are not interested in how big your event sounds… - They care about how relevant and valuable the opportunity is for them. Here are a few things that truly matter when creating a pitch deck: 🔹1. Audience > Everything else Clearly define who will attend. Are they relevant to the sponsor’s business? Are they decision-makers or serious participants? 📊2. Show real numbers, not assumptions Community size, engagement, past attendance, expected reach. Numbers build credibility! 🏟️3. Position the event correctly Don’t present it as just another event. Position it as a flagship platform with scale and continuity. 🎤4. Strong content builds credibility Quality of speakers, panels, and sessions directly impacts perception. ⏱️5. Think from a retention perspective Sponsors care about visibility throughout the day. Plan engagement (quizzes, interactions, etc.) to keep audiences hooked. 🤝6. Be extremely clear on deliverables Stage time, branding, stalls, promotions, data access - define everything clearly. 💰7. Simplify the commercial structure Keep pricing straightforward. Offer flexibility where needed, without diluting value. 📈8. Always answer the ROI question What does the sponsor gain? Leads, visibility, positioning, and access to a niche audience. Final takeaway: > Sponsors don’t fund events. > They invest in access to the right audience. If your pitch deck communicates that clearly, closing sponsorships becomes significantly easier. #Sponsorship #PitchDeck #EventStrategy #FinanceCommunity #BrandBuilding #Networking #CapitalMarkets #LinkedInIndia #ProfessionalGrow

Every PM and PMM must know that: Data ≠ insights. And every Insight ≠ actionable. Data = quantitative or qualitative facts used to measure a phenomenon. Insights = analysis of data to surface a trend or pattern of interest. I've seen "data" cloaked as insights in several specs and storytelling. Ex: ”Our AI-powered social media copywriting app was downloaded 1,000 times last month." This is just a data point in time. A piece of info that I really can't do much with. However, if you tell me that in the previous 3 months, we averaged only around 100 downloads a month & and now we got 1K, the data becomes interesting all of a sudden. Now, that's shaping to be an insight. But is it actionable? The next question we'd ask is "What contributed to the 10x growth?" 𝗦𝗰𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗼 𝟭: There were 2 major spikes in downloads across the month but it's unclear what contributed to the surges. => Something happened on those days but unless I know what, it's not really actionable. 𝗦𝗰𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗼 𝟮: Last month, we ran a ProductHunt campaign & since the day of publishing, there was a massive hike in downloads. (I'll assume correlation/causation is established) => Cool. How can we lean on that? What other marketplaces are my audiences tuned into that I could leverage? Now, this becomes an actionable insight. Here's another example of an online food-ordering marketplace: 📊 Data Point There were 1,502 orders placed through our restaurant platform last week. 📈Insight Total orders rose by 36% last week which is the highest week-on-week growth we have ever seen. 20% of restaurants in locality X saw a 50% bump in order rates. 💡Actionable Insight An international festival is going on for a full month in locality X and many entertainers & travelers living in hotels closeby are contributing to the rise of orders. Pizzas seem to the most popular food type. Potential actions: - What growth loops could we deploy to accelerate acquisition? - What other events can we capitalize on? How 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀? Consider the following: 1/ Build Context Build context by measuring the rate of growth/decline, local/global maximums, ratios with other trends (Ex: # of posts published by user). 2/ Benchmark Evaluate how the metrics fare with established comparables? vs. past trends? vs. industry benchmarks/competition? Ex: a 50% increase in revenue seems to be stellar. But if competition grew 3x in the same period, it'll evoke a different set of questions. 3/ Get Correlation OR Cause-Effect What potentially created the anomaly or trend? Externalities beyond our control? Internal efforts? How confident are we that that's the reason? Ex: a rise in bookings "might" be because of a shorter checkout process...OR because it's the holiday season. -- Top PMs can not only discern b/w data, insights, and what's actionable but possess methods to convert one to another.

ChatGPT writes like a marketer. Claude writes like YOUR marketer. That's the nuance no one talks about. Claude gives you nothing impressive on a lazy prompt. And that's exactly why it's the best marketing tool available. Because Claude doesn't perform. It listens. Upload your brand voice doc. Your audience research. Your last 3 campaigns. Claude will absorb all of it and write like someone who's been on your team for months. No other model follows constraints like this. No other model stays in your lane this well. But you have to build the lane first. Stop writing one-shot prompts and use this framework instead. Here's the anatomy of every prompt I use: → Task — Start with the mission. What are we building? What does winning look like? → Context Files — Upload your brand voice, audience research, and past campaign data. Claude can't read your mind. → Reference — Paste a campaign you want to model. Then reverse-engineer why it worked. → Success Brief — Define the channel, the desired reaction, and what the output should never sound like. → Rules — Set the boundaries. Brand landmines, banned phrases, non-negotiables. → Conversation — Block Claude from writing until it asks you questions first. → Plan — Make it list the 3 most important rules before drafting a single word. → Alignment — Lock in a 5-step execution plan. Then go. 👇 Copy and paste this prompt: -------------- I want to [BUILD A CAMPAIGN] so that [SUCCESS METRIC]. Define what winning looks like before anything else. [brand-voice.md] — Tone, vocabulary, do's and don'ts [audience-research.md] — ICP pain points and desires [past-campaigns.md] — What worked, what flopped Here is a campaign I want to model: [Paste the campaign example or upload a screenshot] Here's what makes this reference effective: [Your reverse-engineered breakdown — the hook, the structure, the CTA pattern. Format each insight as a rule starting with "Always" or "Never."] SUCCESS BRIEF Campaign type + channel: [Email sequence, landing page, ad set, social series?] Audience reaction: [What should they think/feel/do after seeing this?] Does NOT sound like: [Generic AI copy, corporate jargon, competitor X?] Success means: [They click? They buy? They share? They remember?] My context files contain brand standards, constraints, and audience landmines. Read them fully before starting. If you're about to break one of my rules, stop and tell me. DO NOT start writing yet. Ask me clarifying questions so we can refine the campaign approach together. Before writing anything, list the 3 rules from my context files that matter most for this campaign. Then give me your execution plan (5 steps maximum). Only begin work once we've aligned. ------------------- Your context files matter more than your words. Your constraints matter more than your creativity. I made an infographic that breaks this down step by step. Save it. Use it. Share it with your teams. Stop prompting from scratch every time.

True story. Two companies, in two different categories, negotiating the renewal of their sponsorships with the same rightsholder at the same time. Both had been sponsors for a very long time. At the end, one paid 10, the other paid 40. Why? The first started preparing (i.e.: evaluating the opportunity, engaging multiple departments within their organization, modeling potential scenarios, and getting all the approvals they needed to negotiate). They engaged with the rightsholder in the negotiation a year before they were supposed to do it. The second assumed if they let the exclusive window run to the very end, the rightsholder would feel the pressure to renew the deal at a lower price. They engaged with the rightsholder only weeks before the end of their negotiation window. The first created an engagement plan where their CEO would meet with the rightsholder President multiple times a year to develop the relationship, invite key members of the rightsholder to learn more about their business, and support them in projects important for them. The second assumed that the top-to-top relationship could jeopardize the negotiation, afraid that the working team relationship would be undermined by their bosses. The first knew in their assessment that there was a low probability of competitors bidding for the sponsorship. The second did the same, looking only at their immediate competition, ignoring well-funded bidders from Asia. The first kicked off the negotiation a year ahead of time and had time for all the discussions. The second, in contrast, was surprised at the end of their exclusive window for negotiation, with a very aggressive bid from an Asian company they ignored. They were given just a couple of days to present their best offer. The negotiation of a sponsorship starts long before you ever sit down with your partner to talk about the deal. How you prepare, the people you engage, the process you follow, etc., are all very important. Both companies proudly announced their deals to the global press. One CEO was 4x happier than his peer.

🏀 The Best Partnerships Start Backward—Here’s Why 🚀 Too often, sponsorships start with, “What assets do we have to sell?” Logos. In-arena signage. Social posts. The traditional inventory. But here’s the thing: the best partnerships don’t start with what we have. They start with what the brand and the fans actually need. 🔹 Brands want more than visibility. They want relevance, engagement, and measurable impact. 🔹 Fans want more than ads. They want experiences that enhance their connection to the game. 💡 The key to a great sports partnership? Reverse-engineering the deal. Instead of selling what’s available, we ask: ✅ What does the brand actually want to achieve? (Awareness? Sales? Community connection?) ✅ What do fans love about this team, city, and culture? ✅ Where do those two things intersect in an authentic, high-impact way? When you start here, partnerships go beyond just branding—they create moments that fans actually care about. Some of the best deals I’ve worked on didn’t fit into a standard sponsorship package. Instead, they were built from the ground up: ✔ Creating new partnership categories that didn’t exist before ✔ Tapping into cultural relevance to make the brand part of the fan experience ✔ Designing activations that solve real business problems for partners At the end of the day, if a partnership doesn’t make sense for the fans, it won’t work for the brand either. What’s an example of a sports sponsorship you’ve seen that felt perfectly aligned—or one that missed the mark? Drop it below, I’d love to hear! 👇 #SportsSponsorships #BrandPartnerships #FanEngagement #StrategicMarketing #SponsorshipSales