MASS LBP is pleased to see the RBC and Opentext-sponsored 150!Canada Conference featured in the April 2010 edition of The Sponsorship Report. A monthly publication for corporate sponsors, sponsored groups and intermediaries in sports, arts and entertainment, and causes, The Sponsorship Report provides current examples of innovative corporate sponsorships.

What are your plans for 2017?
People are thinking, and soon will begin planning, the celebration of the country’s 150th anniversary.

Think Vancouver 2010 and multiply it by a factor of two. Maybe three. That, says Peter MacLeod, is a measure of the opportunity that awaits corporate sponsors in 2017, and the time to begin planning for it begins now.

There really hasn’t been a great deal of public attention given to Canada’s 150th birthday party, but that will change soon. Leaders from the private, public and NFP sectors gathered at Ottawa’s National Arts Centre March 11 and 12 to kick-start the discussion and planning. The RBC-sponsored 150!Canada conference was organized by the Institute for the Public Administration of Canada (IPAC) and MASS LBP, a company that specializes in public engagement.

“We were concerned that the clock was ticking and no one else was doing anything to really fire the starter’s pistol,” says MacLeod, Principal and Co-Founder of MASS LBP.

These are still early days, says MacLeod. But not too early. Planning for the centennial celebrations began in 1958. The 150!Canada conference is the first major event to draw together the obvious stakeholders. Several very public initiatives are expected to follow in the coming months involving media, all levels of government and a range of civic organizations.

Don’t expect a conventional sponsorship model, says MacLeod. The centennial celebrations were local initiatives, from Expo 67 down to the construction of community hockey rinks. No single organization “owned” 1967, and the same will apply to 2017.

“What is distinctive about the sesquicentennial and all major national anniversaries is that you don’t have to pay anyone for the exclusive licensing rights,” says MacLeod. “There’s no such thing as exclusivity. What there is, is first-mover advantage.”

Canada’s last major anniversary, 1967, was a defining moment in the country’s history, and the corporate sector played a significant role, says MacLeod. But it was also a moment before corporate sponsorship had found its feet.

“The pervading sentiment was, ‘how can companies give a gift to the nation?’” says MacLeod. Companies invested out of a sense of civic pride.

That civic pride and commitment to community has not diminished in the intervening years. Community investment budgets are still accessible, but the are now buttressed by sponsorship budgets and a deep understanding of the emotional impact of corporate investment around significant national events.

Gabriel Sékaly, CEO of IPAC, believes there is a thirst within the country for national celebration. The Olympics gave clear evidence of deep reservoirs of national pride. Economically, the country appears to be emerging from the recession with unmatched strength. The country has changed dramatically over the past 50 years, and 2017 presents an opportunity for Canada to examine and celebrate what it has become.

The benefits around the first-mover advantage that MacLeod references may be found in the unlikeliest of corners. Significant infrastructure investment should readily interest companies like Bell, TELUS, Rogers, RIM, SNC Lavalin, Bombardier, to name but a few obvious suspects. But MacLeod also notes that in the years leading up to 1967, the Canadian Association of Architects profited enormously by helping to stage a series of conferences that helped inspire the architectural vision around centennial project construction.

A MasterCard-sponsored poll conducted in advance of the 150!Canada conference revealed widespread public acceptance of a corporate role in the 150 celebration, says MacLeod.

“Canadians want the celebrations to be owned by citizens and communities, not by government and corporations, but they’re looking to government and corporations for leadership,” says MacLeod. “Set the stage, but don’t hog the spotlight,” says MacLeod.

The Sponsorship Report is published monthly by Database Publishing and is a media partner of The Sponsorship Marketing Council of Canada. For more information on the Council, visit the website at www.sonsorshipmarketing.ca, or phone 416-964-8305.