Non-dues revenue growth strategies are one of the most important challenges that associations need to address. One of the biggest opportunities is the fact that their yearly conference is often the Super Bowl for that industry.
Over 127 million football fans and marketing enthusiasts watched our hometown Eagles win the Super Bowl on February 9, 2025. According to Nielsen, this was the largest audience simultaneously watching a single network telecast in TV history.
It got me thinking about our partnerships with leading event organizers and how the Super Bowl’s – a marketing sensation that demands $7 million for a 30-second ad – was similar to the power of industry conferences and association event sponsorship packages.
Many conferences will achieve their own record setting event attendance numbers in 2025. Worldwide attendance at in-person events is projected to grow 69% this year according to Momencio.
Your event could generate additional revenue by leaning into the power of gathering your industry’s target audience in one location for a specified amount of time. And, if you are an exhibitor, this will help your team consider conference marketing and think about the must-attend events in your portfolio where out-of-home, OOH may have the most success.
Let’s explore how business events are the “Super Bowl” of every industry by discussing the potential marketing power of a targeted audience of industry professionals. It will uncover the non-dues revenue growth strategies for both event organizers and their industry partners and share how business events outperform the Super Bowl.
A Powerful Audience for Industry Partners
Event organizers of all types including association, non-profit, and for-profit organizations have a powerful strength. They bring together industry leaders and decision-makers. Exhibit halls, banners, lanyards, and program ads are examples of promotional media industry partners secure to reach your attendees who are their target audience. Event attendees enter the conference prepared to receive marketing messages that improve their performance, support their patients and customers, or help them save time and money.
From a marketing department’s perspective, event organizers provide the place and promotion from the classic 4 Ps of marketing and it includes people if we consider the expanded 7 P’s. That creates a few other “Ps” in the words power, profit, and potential for the event organizers and their industry partners who exhibit and sponsor the event.
Revenue Potential and ROI:
At its core, the Super Bowl is a citywide event—even if it is a television spectacle. The venue is a stadium, and fans fill hotel rooms throughout the city. There is a half-time show like many concerts put on at business events. Who enjoyed Gwen Stefani in Houston during PCMA Convening Leaders in January or Nelly at ASAE in Cleveland last year? Since business events and Super Bowl Sunday are so similar, what lessons can sponsorship professionals gain to guide non-dues revenue growth strategies and help their industry partners grow their business?
We hope the event produced is creating revenue for the organizer. Business events also generate revenue for the exhibitors and sponsors. EMC Outdoor helps event organizers, exhibitors, and sponsors increase that ROI. An OOH media sponsorship helps event organizers interested in Expanding Non-Dues Revenue accomplish that goal by providing control of the type of media sponsors can secure in the destination, the visibility to approve the creative design, and marketing messages targeting their attendees.
Exhibitors appreciate the added visibility of billboards, airport, or citywide ads inviting attendees to their booth, and highly memorable experiential activations like drone shows, sponsored restrooms, or interactive AI recycling units that increase recycling efficiency to 95% accuracy.
Our team develops Out-of-Home Media for Conference Marketing annually, and we have over 250 media partnerships to continually help event marketers reach attendees in new and exciting ways! This innovation helps sponsors create memorable marketing campaigns to complement their exhibit and attract new customers.
Industry Conferences are Powerful:
- Highly Targeted Audience: Business events attract professionals and enthusiasts dedicated to specific industries or interests, ensuring sponsors reach the right highly relevant audience.
- Extended Interaction: Unlike the fleeting nature of a Super Bowl ad, conventions provide sponsors with multiple days to engage attendees through various touchpoints.
- Networking Opportunities: Sponsors can interact directly with potential clients, partners, and industry leaders, fostering relationships that extend beyond the event.
- Brand Integration and Repeat Messaging: Combining traditional OOH ads as event sponsorships allows brands to be seamlessly integrated into the event experience through signage, speaking opportunities, the exhibit hall, static and digital touchpoints throughout the city.
Business Events Outperform the Super Bowl
While one Super Bowl ad might capture millions of viewers for mere seconds, business events provide sponsors with days of direct engagement with a highly targeted audience. The ability to interact one-on-one with potential customers, industry leaders, and decision-makers offers exhibitors and sponsors a marketing opportunity that outperforms a few seconds of exposure, instead creating meaningful engagement and repeat impressions in a concentrated period.
Understanding the potential of business events and the reach of OOH media can help event sponsorship teams unlock new revenue and offer innovative media engagements to their industry partners creating my favorite business scenario a win/win/win/win event hosts win, sponsors win, EMC Outdoor wins (when selected as an event’s OOH partner), and attendees win by being exposed to products and services that help them advance their business.
Using OOH Media as a Sponsorship Game-Changer
A Super Bowl ad might seem like the ultimate marketing investment, but it costs millions for just 30 seconds of airtime. In contrast, the game-changing potential of OOH media can help event sponsors:
- Out-of-Home Delivers 7.5x more reach and 10x more CPM value than a Super Bowl TV ad by incorporating Digital OOH. (OAAA)
- Provides longer-lasting exposure, reaching attendees before, during, and after an event.
- Creates memorable, high-impact brand impressions that resonate far beyond the event space.
- Amplifies event marketing initiatives by reinforcing digital and social media campaigns, making sponsors’ messages more impactful, memorable, and far-reaching.
By providing association event sponsorship packages that include strategically curated Out-of-Home choices event organizers provide their exhibitors with strong, relevant packages that can help drive their KPIs.
One Final “P”:
This one might not be in the marketing mix—partnership. It is a common theme in business events, marketing, football, and sponsorships. Partnerships make great events and campaigns possible. A partnership with EMC Outdoor delivers unparalleled opportunities to develop non-dues revenue growth strategies for event organizers, and highly desirable, and effective options for sponsors. By leveraging the concentration of people gathered in one place for a business event, sponsorship teams unlock significant value that drives business results. Attendees learn about new products and services, and industries advance.
Let’s partner on the next event or conference marketing initiative! Contact us and we can walk you through the process, share our insights on association event sponsorship packages and provide some real world scenarios based on your next conference market.
And also…. GO BIRDS!
About the Author
Dana Johnston, MS, CMP, is the Vice President, Client Partnerships, Trade Show Marketing at EMC Outdoor. Prior to her work in this capacity, Dana led corporate relations and sponsorship teams at two medical associations over a 15-year career. She serves on the Leadership Advisory Board for The Professionals for Association Revenue, PAR and is an active member of ASAE, IAEE, and PCMA. Dana is excited to create partnerships that help event organizers, industry partners, and conference attendees win through the power of OOH.
