Last night, I accidentally tuned into what was a much-anticipated event to seemingly everyone else: the Jake Paul/Mike Tyson boxing match.

I know next to nothing about boxing which pretty much guaranteed I’d focus on the real star… marketing.

Sponsorship logos were everywhere—on shirts, ropes, pads, you name it (pun intended). Why would a company pay for that kind of visibility?

As a direct/data-based marketer by trade, if someone asked me whether they should sponsor an event — I’d ask them at least these questions:

• What goal(s) does this support?

• Is the target audience actually there (in person or online)?

• Will we really be noticeable?

• How will we measure impact?

• What’s our plan for handling the searches and interest?

Because I was genuinely curious, I pulled Google Trends data for just four of the event sponsors I noticed —Experian, Spate, Draft Kings, and Dimopoulos Law—to see how sponsorships impacted searches over the last 90 days in the host country. Without access to site or sales data, this can still provide some interesting insights.

Notice something? Three of the four saw a post-event spike in search interest. The one that didn’t? Experian. 

Why do you think this is? 

Would you sponsor an event like this? And if you have, did it pay off?

We also have opinions on the fight itself and the pomp and circumstance, but the marketing was a lot more fun to focus on!

AI & Other Tools We Love

Check next week's edition for a summary of the AI tools we've shared so far + one new one suggested by one of our subscribers!

Not AI (yet), but if you liked the charts above, take a peek at the Google Trends tool for your brand, search terms, industry trends, or just to spy on what the world is curious about—it’s free, easy, and fascinating to explore. Comparing two terms (like AC vs. Air Conditioning) and seeing what's trending now are two of our favorites. (https://trends.google.com/trending)

If you have a tool you think other marketers could use or that you'd like us to test, just email us at [email protected].