Eva Gerritse is Insights Professional of the Year

Congratulations on your award! How did you convince the judges of your qualities?

Thank you! I consider it a tremendous honor to be Insights Professional of the Year. The jury report states that the jury saw that I have a clear vision of sponsorship research, with which we are very successful and have built a nice client portfolio. They also appreciate that I think it is important not only to do good research, but above all to communicate research results in an impactful way and to make sure that our clients actually get to work with those results.

Can you talk a little more about that vision that the jury is talking about?

I have a clear vision of sports sponsorship and how you should know if sponsorship works for a brand. It is a vision that differs from what is common in this industry. When you talk to sponsorship managers about research, they usually think about measuring the media value of their sponsorships. That then often involves how long your logo has been in view. Other research firms that specialize in sponsorship research often focus on that as well. I want to help sponsors increase the success of their sponsorships by giving them insight into how they can get closer to their customers through the sponsorship by responding to the emotions that fans experience around sports.

Our studies therefore focus on the extent to which sponsorship allows brands to strengthen their relationship with consumers. In doing so, we help sponsors understand how to ensure that sponsorship has a real impact on the brand.

What makes your team so successful at this?

I think that's mainly because we don't just look back, but rather help our clients to always take the right next step. In sports sponsorship, research is often a "snapshot" of the past. We believe in looking forward, in always getting better and never standing still.

Moreover, not only do we help our clients get better and better, but we never stand still ourselves. Our methods and analyses are always evolving. We are always working on how to do things even better. We are constantly developing new models to provide insight into how sponsors can continue to optimize the success of their sponsorship in a changing world.

In the past year, for example, we introduced the Sponsorship Involvement Model, which gives our clients concrete areas for improvement that contribute to brand growth. Our Sports Media Profiler has also been a great success. We map in detail how sports fans behave when it comes to following sports. Sponsors let their media agencies determine strategy based on the insights from our Sports Media Profiler.

You are Business Lead of the Sponsorship Impact team. That team has grown significantly in recent years. What does your role currently look like?

My main job is to translate our vision for sponsorship research into a clear strategy. I determine the steps we need to take to get closer to our goals. That plan includes people, products, methods and collaborations.

I want to give the team a clear focus, so that they know what is needed to achieve our goals. And that we dare to choose not to do certain things anymore. I also try to motivate everyone to get the best out of themselves and each other. In our team there is a lot of room to develop yourself, to develop new methods or products, to come up with ideas and also to make mistakes.

The jury report also states that you also regularly go on stage to tell your story. How do you make sure you reach your target audience?

I try, on the one hand, to listen carefully to the market and, at the same time, to talk a lot about what we do. As much as possible, I talk to people working in the world of sports and sponsorship. These can be sponsorship managers, marketers at sports associations and sports marketing consultants, for example. In addition, we ourselves regularly publish infographics and reports that show what we can do with market research. I am also a columnist for a number of trade magazines and websites. What I also find important is to share our knowledge and experience with future professionals in our market. That is why I regularly give guest lectures, for example at the Johan Cruyff Institute.

Finally, you already work for some of the biggest sports sponsors and sports organizations in the world. What ambitions do you have for the future?

Indeed, we already work for wonderful brands that everyone knows and also for the biggest sports associations and events in the world. Our research covers sports and competitions such as Formula 1, European and World Cup soccer, UEFA Champions League and Europa League, and we conduct research in more than 40 different countries.

My ambition with Blauw Sponsorship Insights is that sponsors and sports organizations see a partnership with us as a prerequisite for the success of their sponsorships. I believe we can really help brands to always make the right decision to make sponsorships more successful. I want to engage the biggest sports sponsors worldwide. These are big international brands who, like me, believe in the power of sports sponsorships and whose strategy is to use sponsorships for brand growth. I hope we can help many more of them with smart research in the coming years.

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