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Hunt is on for WSSF sponsorship money

Organizers scramble to fill void left by Telus
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Festival fun Michael Franti plays to the crowd packed in to Skiers Plaza during the 2012 Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival. photo by Joern Rohde

Without the deep pockets of Telus backing up Whistler's signature winter festival, organizers are now looking elsewhere for hundreds of thousands in sponsorship dollars for the 2013 event.

Just how easy that is in today's economic climate and what it means for the arts, music and sports of the World Ski and Snowboard Festival if they fall short remains to be seen, particularly as the push is on to raise the online and broadcast profile of the festival next year.

"We're looking for a big sum of money in the Canadian marketplace and that's tough in 11 months," admitted Sue Eckersley, president of Watermark Communications, which produces the festival.

But, as with every year, she's committed to leaving "no stone unturned" in the search to fill the gap of "title sponsor" left by Telus.

Telus had been the title sponsor for the past 13 years.

Its most current contract, spanning the past seven years, was up at the end of the 2012 festival. Eckersley learned at the end of February that the company would not be renewing and that the World Ski and Snowboard Festival, often called "Telus Fest," would be without its main sponsor. It was a surprising and disappointing blow.

Typically title sponsors put up about 50 per cent of an event's budget.

While she would not disclose just how much money Telus brought to the table, or the festival's budget, Eckersley categorized Telus's commitment as "a significant amount."

Contacted last week, Telus spokesman Chris Gerritsen confirmed the company would no longer be a part of WSSF.

"We won't be the title sponsor of the event moving forward, but we are looking at other sponsorship opportunities and to continue building on that great relationship we have with Whistler Blackcomb."

Gerritsen said Telus looks at its sponsorships every year making decisions based on what is best for the brand and the company.

That analysis is part of a growing trend among companies given today's economic climate, said William Chipps, senior editor with IEG Sponsorship Report, a consulting and sponsorship research firm based out of Chicago.

"Five or ten years ago a lot of companies were throwing money at sponsorship hoping for some return on investment," said Chipps.

"Nowadays (the recessions has) forced more companies to really ask themselves the question: are we generating return on investment from this particular sponsorship?"

Though he is not familiar with the WSSF, Chipps said the fact that it's established, that it draws big numbers and that it had a long-running partnership with a title sponsor all work in its favour for finding a replacement sponsor.

But that long-running partnership also works against WSSF, he added.

"Telus, because they've been the title sponsor of this event for 13 years, they have a lot of what's called 'brand equity' with the event," said Chipps. "So probably a lot of the time when people think of this event they think of the Telus event. That's a challenge for a replacement sponsor. Because Telus has so much brand equity built up with its association that people are going to continue to think of the event with Telus even though Telus is no longer with the event.

"But sponsors do come and go including title sponsors, and I think most people acknowledge that."

Though the termination of the relationship was a blow, Eckersley is choosing to see it as an opportunity — a chance for another company to step up to the plate, a company that "is in love with the festival" she said, and wants to make it bigger and better.

Stuart Rempel, Whistler Blackcomb's senior vice president of marketing and sales, who sits on the WSSF board, is also geared up to make next year's festival even better.

"This festival is not going to step backwards," he said with confidence. "It's going to move forwards.

"We haven't had a problem getting the money in the past."

He pointed to several key sponsors already committed to next year — Labatt, GM, Monster, Coca-Cola.

"We've got the confidence of some of the world's biggest brands," he added.

And yet, there was no confidence from ESPN to bring the X Games to Whistler in April. Last week ESPN announced three next stops in its global X Games expansion. Whistler, which was believed to be a shoe-in, was shut out.

One of the reasons, according to Tourism Whistler's president and CEO Barrett Fisher, was the timeframe — showcasing skiing and snowboarding at the end of the winter season.

Last week she said: "They (ESPN) were challenged with the April time-slot because there was such strong competition coming from the summer destinations. So, from their perspective there was maybe a little bit of concern — is April too late in the season to keep the excitement and momentum of winter going?"

Still, the World Ski and Snowboard Festival has become a crucial part of the winter lineup in Whistler, attracting thousands, generating buzz about the resort with a big economic spin-off locally at a time that's traditionally slow.

Eckersley has never asked for public funding for the festival, relying on sponsorship and ticket sales to balance the books.

Until now.

She is planning on canvassing the municipality for Resort Municipality Initiative (RMI) funding. Council had pledged to give $250,000 in RMI funds to the X Games.

"The reality is the RMI funding is built exactly for an event like ours," said Eckersley.

Council has not made any decisions on the allocation of the 2013 RMI funding.

- with files from Clare Ogilvie