EDITOR’S LETTER
Dealing with protests
ON THE COVER: p50, Johnny Cash’s boyhood home
READER SERVICES
Subscriptions Denise Gildea +44 (0)1462 471930
Circulation manager Michael Emmerson +44 (0)1462 471932
EDITORIAL TEAM Managing editor Kathleen Whyman +44 (0)1462 471918
Editor Liz Terry +44 (0)1462 431385
NEWSDESK
Tom Walker +44 (0)1462 471934 Aoife Dowling +44 (0)1462 471938 Tom Anstey +44 (0)1462 471922
ADVERTISING TEAM
Publisher Julie Badrick +44 (0)1462 471919
Advertising sales John Challinor +44 (0)1202 742968 Jan Williams +44 (0)1462 471909
Attractions recruitment Sarah Gibbs +44 (0)1462 471914
Advertising production Ed Gallagher +44 (0)1462 431385
WEB TEAM
Internet Michael Paramore +44 (0)1462 471926 Dean Fox +44 (0)1462 471900 Tim Nash +44 (0)1462 471917 Emma Harris +44 (0)1462 471921
attractions-kit.net product search engine Martin Nash +44 (0)1462 471933
DESIGN Andy Bundy +44 (0)1462 471924
FINANCE
Denise Gildea +44 (0)1462 471930 Rebekah Scott +44 (0)1462 471930
THE LEISURE MEDIA COMPANY PUBLISHES
attractions, lobbying visitors in the queue lines to try to persuade them to boycott the attractions because of a specifi c sponsorship tie-up. Although they’ve been
I
peaceful protests and some- times interesting, it’s obviously not a good thing for attractions customers to be exposed to this kind of pressure. The industry attracts protesters for the
same reason it attracts sponsors – it’s high profi le and extremely engaged with its audience. The numbers are also com- pelling – attractions capture high levels of footfall and do so in a provable and segmented way, so sponsorship spend can be targeted and analysed to a degree that isn’t possible with many other types of sponsorships or marketing. With a growing desire to invest in
corporate social responsibility (CSR), corporations view attractions as being on a par with sport as an investment area that achieves CSR objectives, while also being safe in terms of image and powerful in terms of association. Today, sponsorship is a global business
ranging from Disney’s tie up with Coca- Cola to Sotheby’s sponsorship of MOMA in New York. The industry couldn’t run without it and commercial sponsorship of attractions – particularly the arts, culture, museums and heritage – has enabled decades of excellence that would simply not have been possible otherwise.
n the last few months, I’ve encountered protestors camping outside a number of
But times change and
sponsorships which were once acceptable to the public can – over time – become less so. London’s National Portrait Gallery was once sponsored by British Tobacco, for exam- ple, but that kind of arrangement would be unthinkable today.
One of the most famous benefactions
ever is the UK’s Tate – now a network of four museums – originally made possi- ble by funds from Henry Tate, one of the founders of what later became Tate & Lyle the sugar refi ner and processor. Today, sugar is acknowledged as one
of the health scourges of modern times – toxic, addictive and with little nutri- tional value apart from empty calories. It’s one of the major contributors to the global obesity crisis. But associations between Tate & Lyle and the Tate galleries faded long ago in the minds of the public, so that’s one protest that has been rendered redun- dant by the passing of time. In such a complex and ever chang-
ing situation, it’s important the industry keeps all sponsorship deals under review, walking a realistic line between listening to protests and giving them fair and due consideration and robustly defending sponsorship relationships where they feel the accusations are unfair or not born out when tested against public opinion.
Liz Terry, editor, twitter: @elizterry
The Leisure Media Company Ltd, Portmill House, Portmill Lane, Hitchin, Hertfordshire SG5 1DJ UK Tel: +44 (0)1462 431385 Fax: +44 (0)1462 433909 e-mail:
attractions@leisuremedia.com www.attractionsmanagement.com
AM 2 2013 ©cybertrek 2013
ATTRACTIONS MANAGEMENT IS THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF
SUPPORTED BY
Read Attractions Management online
attractionsmanagement.com/digital
7
IMAGE: ABC PHOTO ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96