Sponsorship tiers

Tiers matter because they do psychological work that flat price lists can't. A sponsor comparing gold and silver isn't just comparing deliverables; they're deciding how they want to appear relative to competitors on the same sponsor page, and that comparison reliably pulls money upward. Tiers also make internal selling easier for your champion inside the sponsor: "we're going gold" travels through an approval chain better than a custom line-item list. Designing tiers well means real differentiation: each level should have at least one benefit the level below visibly lacks (a keynote slot, category exclusivity, a dedicated activation), not just larger logos. Cap the top tiers; scarcity is the point, and "one of four platinum sponsors" is worth more than "one of eleven." Price gaps between tiers should be big enough to matter but small enough that the jump feels reachable. The common mistake is tier inflation over the years: adding diamond above platinum, then titanium above diamond, until the labels mean nothing and legacy sponsors feel demoted without spending less. The honest nuance: some of your most valuable sponsors don't fit tiers at all and shouldn't be forced in. Run tiers for the middle of the market and handle the top two or three relationships as bespoke partnerships.