Launched in 2000 to recognize sponsorship marketing excellence, the Sponsorship Marketing Awards (SMAs) have become a cornerstone of the Sponsorship Marketing Council Canada (SMCC) and an anticipated event in the Canadian marketing calendar. The SMAs recognize and reward the work of properties, brands, and agencies that have maximized the return on their investments in sponsorship marketing. In 2022, SMCC was excited to return to a live event in not only one but three cities across Canada. We hosted the main event in Toronto, with a live broadcast streaming out to viewing parties in Vancouver, and Montreal, along with several other attendees’ tuning in Nationwide. Each event offered complimentary food and beverage and was heavily focused on networking and personal connections as we have been unable to host this even in person since 2019.  

Redstone was excited to host the first in-person SMAs since the pandemic and we wanted to ensure it was an engaging and meaningful experience for our guests from start to finish. To begin, we budgeted for a hybrid event to encourage regional engagement. As we gained a lot of traction in both Vancouver and Montreal, we decided to host live Viewing Parties and worked with the budget to accommodate this new vision and create a unique experience for those attendees. Redstone managed the entire event process including case submissions and judging processes, planning committee and subcommittee management, leading meetings, actioning requests, venue, F&B, regional logistic management, communication calendar and marketing, partner relations, registration and more. As the original budget did not include Viewing Parties, Redstone negotiated with venues and suppliers to reduce the bottom line and work within the original budgeted amount. Additionally, Redstone recommended a more user-friendly award platform to increase the case submissions and encourage participation. Throughout the process Redstone leveraged strong communication to continue to build trust with the client by diligently reporting progress, ensuring targets were surpassed, and delivering an incredible result.  

The live event was extremely successful. As networking was high priority, Redstone helped SMCC shorten the formal award program to one hour, which maximized time to connect with one another. The attendees at live Viewing Parties were able to mingle and view the award show while networking and enjoying being back in person. The planning and judging chairs were all extremely pleased with how seamless the event was, and attendee raved about the short program, venue, ability to network and overall event experience.