At ZangaBee, we like to sponsor something every now and then. This year, we decided to support a local scouting group with their summer camp trip to the Czech Republic.
Of course, sponsorship usually comes with something in return. Whether that is visibility, promotion, or simply meeting the requirements that come with sponsoring, there is normally an expectation of getting something back.
But this time, we started thinking a little differently.
Instead of asking ourselves what business objective we could achieve through the sponsorship, we asked ourselves a different question:
What could we do that would benefit a good cause?
And there was one cause that felt like a natural fit for ZangaBee: bees.
Bees play a crucial role in our ecosystem and are an important part of a healthy planet. They are also, of course, at the heart of our name. So we asked the scouting group if they could use their time and energy to do something that would support bees and the people working to protect them.
They took that idea and ran with it.
As part of their summer camp preparation, the scouts supported a local beekeeper. They got involved, rolled up their sleeves, and spent time helping out. As you can see in the pictures, it was a great way to turn a sponsorship into something that had a positive impact beyond the original agreement.
And that is what we really like about this story.
It has a pay it forward feel to it.
ZangaBee supports the scouts. The scouts support a beekeeper. And ultimately, the bees benefit too.
Maybe that is a concept we should see more often in sponsorships. Instead of thinking only about what do we get back?, perhaps we should also ask what can we help pass forward?
Because sometimes the best return on a sponsorship is not something that comes back to you at all.
It is something that keeps moving forward.
And in this case, we were very happy to see it buzzing in the right direction.
