On St. Patrick’s Day, which is next Saturday, everyone is a little bit Irish, including corporate sponsors for parades that anchor festivities in markets from New York to Scranton.

To find out how to get your client’s message out in front of those celebrating the wearin’ o’ the green, read on.

This is one in a Media Life series on buying the new out-of-home venues. They appear weekly.

Fast Facts

What
Sponsorship of St. Patrick’s Day parades.

Who
For this article we spoke with parade organizers in New York, San Diego, Cincinnati and Denver.

How it works
The two primary channels for corporate support of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations are parade sponsorship and advertisements in print programs.

Programs vary locally, from neighborhood businesses chipping in to cover expenses in exchange for carrying a parade banner to multi-level sponsorships that include naming rights.

Local businesses and regional representatives of national companies march alongside bagpipes, bands and Irish dancers. In many markets supporters pay a fee to march and carry a banner. For instance, in Cincinnati businesses pay $50 for their parade entries.

“Up until a couple years ago we had handshakes with the city of Denver, but no more. We even had to pay $2,500 for the little bags they put over the parking meters,” says Denver parade organizer Trudy Insalaco.

The Denver parade, one of the largest outside New York, with 11,000 marchers and 250,000 lining the route, has a major sponsor this year to help pick up costs. The Bellco Credit Union also launched a media blitz, co-branding with the 45-year-old parade.

Parade officials allow sponsoring nonprofits to carry banners as they march, but not businesses. “There are no ads on the stands or banners,” says parade chairman John Dunlavy. Ads are printed in the free programs that are distributed along the parade route and are broadcast with television coverage.

“For 246 years we’ve done it all with volunteers,” Dunlavy says. “Contributions come in from $25 to $5,000. Like the sun rising in the East and setting in the West, they come in.”

Corporate advertising supports the four hours of parade coverage on NBC.

A parade stretches into a weekend of festivities in some markets. A foot race, costume contest and evening parties are elements in Austin's first-time parade weekend. Eleven levels of sponsorship support the activities.

San Diego sponsors have signage rights on the grandstand, get passes to the grandstand, and mention the parade in their ads, says Irish Congress board member Scott Dodge. “The parade spills over into our Irish festival, and our sponsors support both.”

Parades can take on local flavor. For example, the Denver parade’s theme this year is “Irish Roots and Cowboy Boots.”

Markets
St. Patrick’s Day parades are held in small as well as major markets. The 117 affiliated with the parade day web site (www.saintpatricksdayparade.com) span the continent from Baton Rouge to Buffalo, Houston to Hoboken, and San Diego to Scranton.

Numbers
New York's St. Patrick’s Day parade expects 170,000 to 190,000 marchers and is known as the world’s largest civilian parade, according to Dunlavy.

How it is measured
Police estimates provide crowd counts.

What product categories do well
Irish products and services like beer and spirits, pubs and travel top the list. Financial institutions, insurance, communications, food and beverages are also active.

Most parades also have media sponsors.

Demographics
A broad demographic of parade spectators are targeted.

Making the buy
Lead time for major sponsors is approximately six months. Cost ties into sponsorship level.

Who’s already sponsoring parades
Guinness and Aer Lingus are sponsors.

What they’re saying
“We saw a dramatic lift in membership, almost 20 percent, in the three months after last year’s parade. This year we are the parade’s first title sponsor. What’s cool about St. Patrick’s Day is that everybody is Irish and everybody has fun.” – Laura Higgins, director of marketing for the Denver-based Bellco Credit Union

Web site info
www.saintpatricksdayparade.com