Can ‘Sponsor My Society’ make Influencer Marketing a Team Effort?

by Startacus Admin

If you’ve ever been involved in the running of a university society during your time at University, you may have noticed that acquiring income through sponsorship can be a tough nut to crack.

Here's where Sponsor My Society aims to come in.

Sponsor My Society is a new UK based online marketplace platform pairing societies and sports clubs with prospective companies and sponsors.



Their pitch to brands and prospective sponsors is that university societies and sports teams are often home to the most influential students on campus and by sponsoring a whole team or society the power of that sponsorship makes influencer marketing a group voice and effort.

Jack Culpan, Founder of of Sponsor my Society, explained to Startacus more about the platform:

“I’m in my final term at Lancaster University trying to studying a business degree whilst juggling it with various societies and jobs. Through these past experiences, I was able to understand the inner workings of societies and sports clubs, and realise the need in the sector for Sponsor My Society. My position as Vice-President for Lancaster Snowsports involved a lot of researching, email sending and little responses - this is the fuel that motivated me to create Sponsor My Society, to help simplify and speed up the process for societies allowing them focus further on their members. Over the past month we’ve signed up over 100 societies and sports clubs across the UK from over 25 different universities!

One aspect that is unique in my opinion about Sponsor My Society is that it will allow societies and sports clubs access to affiliate opportunities - something rarely done in this sector. We all know the successes of Deliveroo and Uber's referral schemes, and as more companies start to follow their tracks, it is opening up more opportunities in the student sector. One area I’m focusing on is articulating these referral programs and presenting them in an affiliate form that can be used by societies to make money, providing further value for their members.

The other sponsorship model I’m pursuing is the more traditional style of sponsorship, a lump sum upfront for the society which then unlocks access to mailing lists, communication channels, social profiles, events etc. This method is used more regularly by the likes of top 4 consulting firms, with more starting to realise the benefits. I’m working to show the real value of both sponsorship models to companies who might never have thought of societies as a communication channel, and how the use of the platform can help them easily make that connection.”

We look forward to seeing how Sponsor my Society develops over the coming months and do make sure to tweet Jack, check out their Product Hunt listing and visit the Sponsor my Society page direct if you are interested in finding out more.

If this University inspired article inspires you - you might also want to read our article on Campus Capital the unique to the UK VC firm that builds early stage, high growth investment funds, run in part by active students with the guidance and supervision of the Campus Capital board.

Subscribe to our newsletter

If you would like to receive our startup themed newsletter, full of the latest startup opportunities, events, news, stories, tips and advice, then sign up here.

• #influencer marketing
• #university
• #marketplace
• #sponsorship
• #brands
• #university society

Published on: 21st February 2017