Here’s one… I recently learnt that a traditional Chef’s hat had 100 pleats/folds, and was only given to a Chef who could ‘cook eggs 100 ways’. Go figure. These days it’s somewhat scaled back to around 50, but that’s still a lot of ways to get use out of the same perfectly formed egg…

Here’s one… If you’ve followed any of my previous musings in these Thursday Thoughts, you’ll be familiar with my ‘out of the box’ (or “Playful Protagonist” as I like to think) approach to challenging the old conventions that still govern our industry today. The role of the 'Narrative', that a lack of ‘Integration’ as the real cause of poor performance (Would Bayern x Adobe has fallen with sufficient integration?), or more recently that the only way to balance the books from a female 'Equality' and recognition perspective doesn’t actually have anything to do with money, just a few examples.

Here’s one… we find ourselves living in very interesting commercial times as it relates to access to our passions. We’ve got more of the ‘Drive to Survive’ style content (with golf, cricket, Matilda’s and tennis versions) fueling our thirst for the B-Roll, and only yesterday news of projected growth to the A-Leagues.

Here’s one… one of my greatest gripes with the partnership marketing industry as a whole is the general lack of foresight and conviction driving what we do. For the most part, we’re an afterthought; left over budget or ‘a good fit at the time’.

Here’s one… answering yes or no, do you have a clearly defined narrative in your approach to partnership marketing? If “yes”, I doff my cap, you are the exception. If “no”, you’re not alone and nor are you doing anything wrong, you’re just missing a massive opportunity…

Here’s one… With the FIFA Women’s World Cup now in the rearview mirror, will we see the seeds of change we need to maintain the fundamentals of growth in women’s sport? Or to be more straightforward, is this the point we see more women watching more women’s sport? Allow me to elaborate…

Here’s one… Imagine your creative agency coming into your offices to present their latest efforts at your brand TV campaign. They’ve been working on the brief for a few weeks, put the best agency talent on it and commissioned the best production teams in town to bring their vision to life… You’re excited, they’re excited. You sit in the viewing room as the account director awkwardly recaps the brief before clicking ‘play’...

Here’s one… Over the months of Thursday Thoughts I’ve written to date, I’ve raised concepts around the merits of sponsorship, the value, the measurement and the overall potential it’s capable of as a business strategy (Read: it’s more than a marketing play…). Today’s thought draws our attention towards its ability to provide differentiation that’s hard(er) to copy.

Here’s one… A trend I’m predicting to gather momentum this year is the inclusion of a third party to partnership marketing. As the creative standards grow within the sponsorship sector, the demands for uniqueness and originality grow with it.

Here’s one… How many of you are working to a clearly defined partnership/sponsorship strategy framework? Maybe it was created specifically for a particular opportunity, or a more holistic approach across the organisation. It might have come from the Rights Holder, or be a retrofit from the broader comms/marketing strategy. Regardless of where it came from, operating without one is a fool's game.