Ask the Collective
The questions independent drinks founders ask most — answered. Distilled from years of community knowledge so the good stuff never disappears in the feed again.
When sponsoring events with product stock, how do you ensure you receive quality content, photography and social media coverage in return?
Event sponsorships often result in minimal content delivery despite organisers' promises. Members recommend setting clear, measurable deliverables *before* sending stock, and verifying the event's capacity to deliver. **Pre-event agreements:** - Draft a formal sponsorship agreement (members suggest using ChatGPT to create a template) outlining specific content commitments - Request branding on all pre-event communications and verify this *before* sending stock - Confirm they will tag you in all social posts on the evening of the event **Specific content deliverables to request:** - A product-focused Instagram Reel (not generic story posts) created to your content brief and hitting your comms pillars, co-posted from their largest account post-event - A committed number of collaborative social media posts if they have a good following (competitions work well to generate new followers) - Post-event email campaign to all attendees with an intro offer for online orders **Reality check:** - Several members noted that random story posts with your product are "meaningless" and rarely worth the stock investment - One founder advised it's "almost never worth it unless you can send someone there to create for you, or there is someone specific going who you want a chance of getting a photo holding your product" - Members receive dozens of sponsorship requests weekly and seldom accept them - The safest approach: only sponsor if you can send your own team to create content, or have a specific strategic reason beyond content generation
What terms should we negotiate for event sponsorship agreements, particularly around stock provision and revenue sharing?
Event sponsorship deals typically involve both product supply for on-site use and retail stock provision. One member's experience at a festival sponsorship: they supplied approximately 800 bottles of stock for cocktails served at the event, plus an additional 100 bottles for the festival to sell retail, with the organiser keeping all revenue from retail sales. Members reflected that this was generous in hindsight—providing stock for free while the event kept 100% of retail revenue felt like giving away upside. The arrangement was accepted partly due to personal relationships with the event organisers. Key considerations when negotiating: decide upfront how much complimentary stock for on-site use versus how much retail inventory the event gets, and clarify whether you share in revenue from retail sales or whether the event keeps it entirely. Members suggested being cautious about terms that give away significant stock without securing either revenue share or strong brand exposure/future benefits.