What it means to be sponsored

My upcoming U.S. tour is being sponsored by a global shipping and logistics company called GAC.

How did I find this sponsor?

I didn’t. They found me.

One of their ten thousand employees saw me play in Glasgow a few years ago and has been a fan ever since.

He contacted me a while ago to tell me he thought his company could help me, literally, get where I am going.

Touring internationally is very, very expensive, and never more so than right now. Getting a sponsor to cover some of the costs involved is, in a word, a godsend.

In looking at how and why this sponsorship-endorsement relationship could work, two words kept popping up that we have in common: innovation and integration.

As a company, GAC is known for the innovative, integrated problem-solving they provide for their global customers.

Those same descriptive terms, innovation and integration, have been used again and again to describe my musical approach.

In the oddest way, we are a match.

They like my artistic approach. I like their individually-tailored customer approach.

Being sponsored means, among other things, being directly supported with cash by an organization that benefits from being associated with you, your brand, and your reputation.

After checking out GAC’s reputation and ethical policies, I am more than happy with that.

In addition to the financial support they are putting behind my tour, GAC is introducing me and my music to their thousands of employees and customers around the world.

And I am speaking about them in this blog and on my social networks.

Lots of big companies including GAC sponsor high-profile sporting events like football, golf, formula one racing and yacht racing.

It’s unusual, however, to see a big company reach out to an individual artist.

It has made a big difference to me and what I do.

In supporting my U.S. tour GAC is launching a new sponsorship direction: the arts.

And they seem to be genuinely excited about it.

Bravo!

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