After years of crafting event strategies for global brands, startups, and VCs that invest in both, one question consistently emerges: "Should we create our own event or sponsor an existing one?"

‘Tis the season for annual company strategy planning, and I’ve been reviewing multiple third party event prospectus’ and portfolio planning for 2025. So…for this week’s Gianna’s Gems, I'm breaking down the strategic considerations that will help you make the crucial decision between hosting your own events or spiringing for event sponsorships with confidence.

Understanding Your True Objectives

Before diving into the decision-making framework, let's acknowledge that both approaches can be powerful – but they serve different strategic goals. The key is aligning your choice with your intended outcomes while taking your budget, team resources and company’s maturity into consideration.

When Proprietary Events Shine

Building deep community engagement
Controlling the full attendee journey and audience
Generating content, photos video and customer interviews to use after the event in your campaigns or on your website/marketing materials
Creating unique branded experiences and testing innovative formats
Establishing thought leadership and relationships with key opinion formers, press, analysts and influencers
Launching major initiatives/products, and making company announcements

When Sponsorships Make Sense

Reaching pre-qualified audiences and executives who may not go to a smaller company’s hosted event
Testing new markets/personas
Avoiding the cost of not showing up where your competitors are / optics of being a player at the big events
Supporting partner brands and/or partnering with other brands to amplify reach and visibility
Managing resource constraints
Leveraging the third party’s brand and marketing to reach your audience and prospects and meet them at their watering holes

The Decision Framework

Now let's explore the key factors that should influence your choice for each primary objective below:

Brand Position & Story

Go Proprietary When:

Your brand has a unique story to tell
You're establishing category leadership (I was lucky to be part of a category launch with Airtable and hosting our first live event to announce it!)
You want to build relationships with press and analysts or investors
Your community seeks exclusive experiences

Choose Sponsorship When:

You're building market presence
Category authority comes from association
You're entering new verticals
Brand awareness is a primary goal

Audience Engagement

Go Proprietary When:

You have a highly engaged community
Direct customer relationships are crucial
Your audience seeks peer connection
You need deep attendee insights

Choose Sponsorship When:

You're prospecting new audiences
Broad reach matters more than depth
You're testing market response
Quick scale is important

Resource Considerations

Go Proprietary When:

You have an experienced cross-functional event team and a Head of Events with corporate events experience rather than field marketing events background
Long-term investment is available
You can commit to multi-year programs
You have strong vendor and partner relationships
You have a large customer database to invite

Choose Sponsorship When:

Internal resources are limited
You need quick market presence
Budget flexibility is important
You want to test before investing
You do not yet have a large and qualified customer invite base opted in to marketing and event invites

Making the Hybrid Approach Work

Sometimes, the answer isn't either/or – it's both. Enter The Portfolio Strategy: I love working with customers on building out and optimizing their event portfolios. Here is a sample strategy which is customized for each company.

Anchor with a proprietary flagship event
Support with strategic sponsorships
Use sponsorships to test new markets
Create proprietary activations within sponsored events
Evaluate the event portfolio to make sure it’s covering all of the target personas and funnel stages (or at least feeding them as part of an integrated marketing channel)

Another approach I often take, especially when working with younger startups just testing the water with their event marketing channel is The Evolution Strategy:

Start with sponsorships to understand the landscape and start building out the event framework and muscle internally
Create proprietary moments within sponsored events and establish strategic partnerships
Start with smaller proprietary events like Exec Dinners or roadshows
Scale above successful proprietary formats
As you build up your customer base and a more regular product launch schedule plus build a community, work towards your own hosted conference to drive internal alignment towards an external goal.

When it comes to Making the Decision: Below are some key questions I always ask:

Strategic Questions

What's our primary goal for the next 18-24 months?
Where are our target audiences already gathering?
What unique value can we bring to the market?
How does this fit into our broader marketing strategy?

Practical Questions

What internal resources can we dedicate?
What's our realistic timeline for impact?
How will we measure success?
What's our tolerance for risk and experimentation?

Finally - No matter what type of event strategy you’re crafting, I recommend establishing these Best Practices for either path:

For Proprietary Events

Start with a clear differentiation strategy
Build strong feedback loops (meet with sales team, survey feedback and ROI analysys)
Invest in community management
Plan for multi-year development
Create scalable formats

For Sponsorships

Choose partners aligned with your values and target audience
Negotiate for meaningful activation rights
Create unique experiences within the framework
Measure specific outcomes
Build relationships with organizers and get ahead of sponsorship launch dates so you can negotiate premium booth locations and MPOs.

The choice between proprietary events and sponsorships isn't just about resources or reach – it's about strategic alignment with your goals. Often, the most successful programs combine both approaches thoughtfully over time.

Remember: The best choice is the one that authentically connects with your audience while advancing your business objectives. Start with clear goals, be honest about your resources, and don't be afraid to evolve your approach as you learn.

What I’m loving this week: And for all my favorite vendors and partners visit: Gianna Recommends

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Read: Feeling overwhelmed? Check out this great read on the toxicity of over-productivity (I’m guilty as charged and personally trying to take at least one day a week off starting…now!)

Wishing you a cozy week and as always, reach out if I can be helpful!

XX,

Gianna

Gianna's Gems

Gianna’s Gems: Proprietary Events vs. Event Sponsorships: Making the Right Choice

Gianna Gaudini