Background

Wakeham & Associates Marketing, Inc. was retained by the City of Kingston to conduct a sales campaign for the naming rights for a new four-sheet ice rink complex. The multi-million dollar venue opened in June, 2008.

Objectives

• Secure a brand/company that was interested in supporting a community-oriented recreational facility, preferably from within the City of Kingston, and which had a brand position that reinforced the green branding of this LEED-designated venue.

Strategies

• Targeted and presented to a select group of Kingston-based companies in a few pre-determined categories, focusing on those that had shown progressive approaches to greening their companies and the City as a whole.
• Built a matrix of rights and benefits that would allow these brands the opportunity to integrate their product/services into the venue and to maximize their interaction with the venue’s patrons.
• Sought to maximize revenue by selling naming rights to the overall complex as well as to each of the rinks within the facility.

Solutions

• Approached INVISTA Inc. with a fully integrated naming rights partnership for the overall Centre. INVISTA is a division of DuPont, and one of the largest employers in Kingston. INVISTA has taken action to minimize the impact of its factories on the City of Kingston, and has been pro-active in energy-efficient retrofits of its facilities.
• INVISTA wanted to position itself as providing support to valued community facilities as a way of building morale among employees and showing support to the community in which they operate.
• Approached four companies that are active locally to name each of the rinks. These companies included RONA, Swish Maintenance, Kingston Whig-Standard newspaper, and the Ambassador Hotel.

Results

• Finalized five year naming rights agreements with INVISTA, RONA, Swish Maintenance, Kingston Whig-Standard and the Ambassador Hotel, resulting in significant revenue for the project.