How to Get Sponsors for Your Game
By design, Goosechase scavenger hunts have the potential to result in exciting and intriguing public spectacles. Many missions call for players to utilize their creative energy to stage dramatic performances, tap into their physical ability to perform athletic feats, or harness their public engagement skills to convince strangers to participate in obscure challenges.
Many organizers are already taking full advantage of the engaging, memorable interactions created by Goosechase players, and are running games as the main event at fundraisers, brand activations, or public engagement campaigns. For larger games, some organizers have even recruited partnering businesses or organizations as sponsors, who provide financial, product, promotional or logistical support in order to be involved in an exciting public competition.
In this blog post, you’ll find examples of the different ways sponsors can contribute to a Goosechase event, ideas for how to set up your game so that sponsors are properly recognized for their assistance, and tips for how to approach businesses and organizations to bring them on as supporters.
What Kinds of Businesses and Organizations Make Good Sponsors?
Goosechase organizers should aim to partner with other businesses or organizations that share common potential customers, are mission-aligned, or have existing relationships with their participants. For example, a minor hockey league putting together a Goosechase game as a fundraiser might want to reach out to local hockey equipment retailers for merchandise to use as prizing, while a company putting on a team-building Goosechase game for their employees might want to convince not-yet-known lunch venues in the area to provide gift certificates to award to their scavenger hunt winners.
Since Goosechase games tend to physically move participants from location to location, businesses that rely on foot-traffic, such as cafes, restaurants, bars, and brick+mortar storefronts are especially good candidates to approach for sponsorship support, especially if their locations can be incorporated into the game in creative ways. (More on that below.)
For charity or community association Goosechase organizers, don’t hesitate to ask your members to inquire with their places of employment as well. Many corporate companies set aside room in their budgets specifically to donate to charitable or good-will initiatives every year, and would be more than happy to be recognized as supportive leaders in the community.
How Can You Incorporate Sponsors Into Your Goosechase Game?
Event sponsors are usually looking for positive brand exposure, as well as a channel to showcase their businesses or products to potential customers. Conventional ways event sponsors are rewarded for their support include branding space on the event’s marketing materials, or products and gift certificates given out at the event or awarded as prizes.
Because of Goosechase’s ability to physically move participating players, a unique way Goosechase allows sponsors to be integrated into an event is for organizers to use the locations of sponsoring business’ storefronts or office locations as part of their missions. Sponsors love being able to see the results of their support in action, and getting your players to complete creative mission objectives related to that sponsor is a great way to “give back” some positive recognition to your supporters.
A few example ideas of using Goosechase missions to incorporate sponsoring businesses can include getting your players to:
- Head down to a sponsoring restaurant and get a photo of their team sharing a plate of the restaurant’s signature dish.
- Visit the offices of a sponsoring business and sing a song for the receptionist.
- Create their own commercial for the product of a sponsoring brand, with bonus points if they share their creation on social media!
- Bring a coffee or snack to the employees of a local sponsoring store.
Remember that all Goosechase submissions can be downloaded from the Game Manager. If a mission involves players taking creative photos or videos at a business’ location, access and permission to utilize the submitted footage for future marketing and social media content can also be a valuable benefit to sponsors. Make sure your game’s Terms of Service is properly arranged if you plan to release game submissions to organizers. Contact our team for more information on how we can help you set this up!
Lastly, while most businesses and venues will usually appreciate Goosechase players visiting them to complete missions, remember that their location is still a place of business. It is recommended that organizers keep in contact with sponsors and get approval for missions that involve their brand or business before game day, to ensure that players completing missions don’t end up becoming a nuisance. You don’t want to discourage the sponsor from supporting your organization in the future!
What are Other Ways Goosechase Sponsors Can Contribute Towards Your Game?
In addition to providing direct financial support or prizes for winners, event sponsors can also contribute to your event through other means. Remember that once you get them involved, your sponsors also have a stake in ensuring your public event is successful and well-attended. It never hurts to ask sponsors to assist with your promotional efforts by advertising the Goosechase game through their social media channels and email lists, or further engage their clients and employees through word-of-mouth to drive awareness to the game.
For larger, community-driven games, you might even have luck attracting corporate sponsors who are willing to provide volunteers to help on game day. While we’ve ensured that the Goosechase platform is as logistically easy-to-use as possible while your scavenger hunt is in progress, the best Goosechase experiences are usually followed by some sort of wrap-up, after-party, or award ceremony that might require more hands on deck. (Check out our scavenger hunt guide on event wrap-up for more information!)
Tips for Approaching Potential Sponsors
Start early.
The more time you can give the potential sponsor to connect and build a relationship with you the better your chances are of securing their support. It is recommended that Goosechase organizers reach out to potential sponsors at least 1-2 months before the scheduled game day.
Be conscious of business hours when approaching sponsors in person.
Going into a restaurant during their busiest meal service of the day and asking for the manager might not leave the best impression of your organization. If possible, it is usually better to try and get a hold of a business owner by email or phone before showing up in person.
Prepare print or online marketing content with more info about your event.
Being able to leave an event deck or a link to an event landing page not only helps keep you on a potential sponsor’s radar after you contact them, but also shows that your organization has dedicated some resources to ensure the success of the Goosechase event. Remember that getting listed as a sponsor on your marketing materials is one of the major incentives to support your event; it would be beneficial for a sponsor to be able to see what kind of work your marketing team can put together.
For more Goosechase organizer information and resources, be sure to check out the Goosechase blog’s Best Practices category. Our Scavenger Hunt Resources section also contains guides and mission ideas to help you complete your game planning. We wish you the best of luck reaching out to amazing sponsors to support your upcoming game!
What is Goosechase?
Goosechase is an online platform that helps organizers create and run digital scavenger hunt experiences for team building, learning, public engagement, or a variety of other events. Sign up and try creating a free recreational game, or contact us to learn more about our enterprise solutions!
