Phase One of the engagement is critical as it will enable the consultancy team to understand the client company’s objectives, strategy and plans. It is not uncommon during this process to discover that different areas of a company may have objectives that may not be aligned or in some cases
may be in opposition to one another.

Until recently sports, entertainment and sponsorship leverage activities were not well understood –primarily as a result of a lack of acceptable industry reports and data– and in consequence it may have not even been widely considered as an element of the marketing strategy. Leverage activities statistics confirm that sports and entertainment not only consistently attract very large audiences, but most importantly, that consumers are more likely
to take in a message that includes elements of sports and entertainment.

CNC’s history of developing highly successful leverage plans provide evidence that every company’s marketing plan should consider and should include a quota of sports and entertainment leverage activities in its marketing plan.

In consideration of a client company’s objectives and strategy, CNC will conduct acomprehensive analysis and will develop a leverage plan. A plan can only be considered final once it has been reviewed and approved by a client company and its various groups or divisions.

The discovery phase of the engagement typically lasts from 2 to 3 months and includes the following:

• First interview with key players
• Review of the client company’s objectives and strategies and corresponding historical data
• Final interview with key players
• Presentation of the discovery and assessment report
• Submission of the leverage plan draft report
• Presentation and review of the leverage plan

A typical CNC consultancy engagement is comprised of three inter-related but independent “phases”. A Client may choose to engage CNC to work on one or more of the following phases: