During my placement at Qantas I was involved with the Masterchef project.
2011 is the second season of Masterchef Australia and the second time that Qantas has been a major sponsor.
My job for the second two weeks of my placement was to liase with Fremantle Media, the production company and Masterchef to organise the finer details of the filming of a Masterchef episode featuring Qantas that would take place at Sydney airport in late February.
My responsibilities were to make sure the Next Generation Q Bag Tags and Frequent Flyer Cards were ordered and delivered, boarding passes were created and that we had clearance from Sydney Airport to commence filming. I spoke with at least 10 different people and departments in Qantas and sent numerous emails to ensure the day ran smoothly. It was a stressful process, as I was still getting things organised the morning of the filming. And I needed to make sure that everything was done perfectly, as we only had one chance at the filming!
I unfortunately cannot give away details of the day, as the episode that we filmed has not gone to air. However, the particular episode that we supervised the filming of was to include a broad scope of the Qantas brand and would discretely showcase the Qantas products on offer.
Sponsorship is a very expensive initiative and we needed to ensure that our brand was represented as premium. We found it tricky at times, as it was hard to judge what the cameramen were actually filming and if they were capturing the Qantas Check-in facilities working at their full potential. There were conflicting values between the production company who's aim was to create an episode that would attract the largest audience, and us, who's aim was to ensure our product was shown as much as possible.
Overall, it was such an exciting project to be a part of. It was so interesting to discover how important sponsorship is when it's a big part of a company's marketing budget.
3 comments:
Hi Courtney
What an exciting project to work on! It is an awesome conversation starter and will look amazing on your resume.
I can understand Qantas wanting to be well represented after all the money they would have put into sponsorship. It got me thinking about when Oprah’s Aussie Adventure was sponsored by Qantas.
You said you did a lot of emails back and forth between the different departments; did you also have regular meetings? One of the things my placement does is has daily briefing every day, where the different departments meet to try and minimise some of the emails and to ensure the right message was portrayed. My placement is the Esplanade Hotels Group so I am sure that is tiny in comparison to Qantas’s various departments.
Good luck with the rest of your placement!
Hey Courtney,
This must have been such an interesting project to work on for you! Like Sarah said, it's going to look fantastic on your resume.
I used to work for a PR & Publishing firm in Malaysia and dealt alot with charity events that were sponsored by major corporate companies. In terms of sponsoring a charity event, its part of a corporate social responsibility plan but still, companies take brand representation very seriously. Despite it being a charity event, they still like their company to be represented. Which makes complete sense considering the amount of money being injected into the sponsorship deal.
How would you guys deal with clients who are fussy about the representation of their brands? Speaking in terms of maybe asking for too much brand recognition etc?
Good luck with the rest of your placement!
Hey Courtney,
I am jealous of your placement. It seems like so much fun. I think you must learn a lot from QANTAS, especially on internal networking. Masterchef is one of the most famous cooking show in Australia, I understand why QANTAS wants to sponsor. However I am really interested how they run the sponsorship.
Until I read your blog, I just realized there are lots of communications to do, and not only for external. I can’t believe you have to speak to at least 10 people / departments. I didn’t know there were many departments involved.
As you said, sponsorship is very expensive. I want to share the news to you here. Few years ago, when Chinese launched an Olympic games, Adidas was the biggest sponsorship company. However they didn’t research enough. Although they ask everyone who lit the Olympic flame wear Adidas uniform. the last person lit the Olympic flame was Li Ling. He has his own sport brand. It doesn’t matter how much Adidas spent on the games, there is not many people recognize they are the biggest sponsor company.
Every time, when I heard someone say “Sponsorship”, this example will appear in my mind automatically. Research is so important!!!
Good Luck of your rest placement!
Regards,
Yik Ming Wong
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