Yesterday London & Partners, our new-ish promotional agency, proudly tweeted that it had signed up as the headline sponsor of the M&IT Awards.
A full list of sponsors can be seen here.
On Twitter and via an email to their press office, I asked how much the sponsorship was costing and whether this sum came from public funds.
Initially no responses came. After prompting them, I received holding reply yesterday evening.
My interest in this is that L&P has a smaller budget than its predecessor agencies so Londoners should expect it to use that to maximum effect and to be able to measure that it’s doing so.
I don’t recall if the defunct Visit London ever sponsored other organisation’s awards, but it certainly used to seek commercial sponsors for its own.
L&P refuse to say how much money was spent sponsoring the awards ceremony, insisting: “Due to the agreement with M&IT we are unable to disclose the sponsorship amount.”
They also declined a number of times to confirm or deny that the money used came from the grant City Hall gives them.
Instead they provided this statement:
“2012 represents a truly unique moment for London & Partners as the official convention bureau for London.
“The world’s spotlight is going to be firmly placed on the capital and therefore it is extremely important for London & Partners to strategically select key moments to engage and interact with the business tourism and meetings industry.
“Business tourists attending conferences, events, congresses, exhibitions and trade fairs make up around a quarter of all business tourists coming to London – worth in total £3.1m.
“For London & Partners it’s important that we engage and communicate with the business industry and therefore we are looking at both advertising and sponsorship opportunities in the business tourism sector.”
London Assembly Members have called for a re-examination of the governance arrangements for L&P. It’s willingness to ensure public scrutiny of its spending should also be looked at.
