Sponsors tiers refreshment

[derberg]

Reason/Context

We have sponsor tiers that were setup like 4 years ago and we need to refresh:

• probably we could increase the amounts expectance
• specify social media posts that we do but are not mentioned in current tiers
• clarify info about BACKERS file for Bronze
• clarify what sponsors get from us exactly
• clarify special kind of sponsors. Like for example Postman shows up as Platinum, although they do not pay money directly but sponsor full time maintainers

Description

• run discussion with sponsors
• run discussion with TSC
• clarify in docs - the easiest part 😄

[github-actions]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity 😴

It will be closed in 120 days if no further activity occurs. To unstale this issue, add a comment with a detailed explanation.

There can be many reasons why some specific issue has no activity. The most probable cause is lack of time, not lack of interest. AsyncAPI Initiative is a Linux Foundation project not owned by a single for-profit company. It is a community-driven initiative ruled under open governance model.

Let us figure out together how to push this issue forward. Connect with us through one of many communication channels we established here.

Thank you for your patience ❤️

[github-actions]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity 😴

It will be closed in 120 days if no further activity occurs. To unstale this issue, add a comment with a detailed explanation.

There can be many reasons why some specific issue has no activity. The most probable cause is lack of time, not lack of interest. AsyncAPI Initiative is a Linux Foundation project not owned by a single for-profit company. It is a community-driven initiative ruled under open governance model.

Let us figure out together how to push this issue forward. Connect with us through one of many communication channels we established here.

Thank you for your patience ❤️

[github-actions]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity 😴

It will be closed in 120 days if no further activity occurs. To unstale this issue, add a comment with a detailed explanation.

There can be many reasons why some specific issue has no activity. The most probable cause is lack of time, not lack of interest. AsyncAPI Initiative is a Linux Foundation project not owned by a single for-profit company. It is a community-driven initiative ruled under open governance model.

Let us figure out together how to push this issue forward. Connect with us through one of many communication channels we established here.

Thank you for your patience ❤️

[thulieblack]

cc @derberg

[derberg]

yup, in progres

if folks wanna learn more, please join Slack and our Marketing Working Group

[derberg]

As per @ChristopheDujarric advice shared during Marketing WG meeting, instead of focusing on tiers, let's first list items that could show up in the sponsors offer - what we can offer that is attractive for sponsors, especially when talking with their marketing departments (which is in the case of the majority of sponsors)

Logo visibility

Brand awareness and SEO. Logo must have a good file name with sponsor's name and we need to ask for proper alt text so it positively impacts SEO for the company. We always should have sponsor confirmation what link they want to have there on the website.

Note

There is one sponsor that sponsors us just because of this SEO topic

We should not promise that we will increase traffic to sponsor website - that is not the goal

• Logo visible in spec readme
• Logo visible on website

Badge

Sponsor badge that sponsor can show on their website or slides or socials. A confirmation they are sponsor, and what kind of sponsor.

Note

There are sponsors that put effort in showing how much they support open source initiatives. Sometimes companies have Open Source Program Office that takes care of these things and badge would be useful for them. Also some sponsors are proud to support AsyncAPI and they could use it on social media. And last but not least I know at least one sponsor that would have it on sales slides.

Conference sponsorship discounts

We can offer different levels of discounts to be AsyncAPI Conference sponsor. Always make it clear that these are multiple events throughout the year so logo of sponsor and name of sponsor is regularly mentioned and visible. Also logo topic shows up again as then sponsor is visible on conference website - so another website.

Social media

Post on AsyncAPI social media accounts. We promise to:

• share link to sponsor, the same we have on website
• put alt text info in the post

Newsletter and status update blog

Sponsor announcement, one-time visibility for the sponsor, like in the case of social media post. We promise to:

• share link to sponsor, the same we have on the website
• put alt text info in the content

Priority for hosting AsyncAPI Conf on Tour

AsyncAPI Conf on Tour is a set of events around the world, hosted in different locations, might be some sponsor office, or dedicated space at some conference. It is still community-driven, but a good feature for sponsor to show their engagement with the project.

If there is a company that wants to host the event but they are not sponsors, they will not be selected if some sponsor want to do it.

Dedicated sponsorship announcement with blog post

Dedicated blog post on asyncapi.com/blog with explanation on why you sponsor, no marketing.
It gives additional visibility as automatically it is mentioned again on social medias and other channels mentioned above.

Dedicated sponsorship announcement as live stream

Properly marketed live stream, that can be prerecorded, that is in a form of an interview, on why sponsor supports the proejct. It gives more visibility than just a blog post, because we announce that it will take place, so extra social media posts are done before it.

Product placement

Different options here:

• A paragraph about product, of course marked as "sponsored". Up to the newsletter author if any graphics are allowed and what size, to make sure it fits the newsletter style. Up to the sponsor to decide what month it should be published, unless some other sponsor booked that spot already. Limit of like 250 characters.
• Since we explore Carbon Ads, why not just have our own Ads? Carbon Ads might not bring too much revenue because of this issue with Google Zero-Click and other issues. We can have a section on website, where we display sponsor logo, and even make alt text visible. Of course marked as sponsored and visible it is paid ad.

Something we would probably have to confirm with Linux Foundation 🤔 or just at least double check if some FOSS project does that already.

Note

Some sponsors already asked for it when we talked about "what would convince them to pay more"

Marketing Advisory Board

Maybe we could offer that every sponsor by default gets invited to Marketing Working Group. They delegate someone to join conversations. We in exchange offer to transform the group into a meeting that follows Chatham House Rule. Meetings would not be recorded, no AI connected and there would be no risk that some sensitive company/speaker content could be leaking to the public without control.

These meetings would probably go outside Marketing Working Group as for now, anyone can join WG but because of Chatham House and privacy concerns, we would have to limit the audience of the meeting

The board would not make any decisions, but it could share official recommendations on various topics:

• marketing strategy
• budget spendings
• sponsors package

For us, it would be a great opportunity to get sponsors closer involved, and making sure they extend their support. Also, these would be usually very experienced people in marketing and not only - so having their opinion that would be focused on AsyncAPI context would be super helpful

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What else do you think we could offer?

[thulieblack]

We need to set timelines. If we are to prioritize them, they must decide before the end of the first quarter of the year if they want to sponsor for that particular year.

Priority for hosting AsyncAPI Conf on Tour
AsyncAPI Conf on Tour is a set of events around the world, hosted in different locations, might be some sponsor office, or dedicated space at some conference. It is still community-driven, but a good feature for sponsor to show their engagement with the project.

If there is a company that wants to host the event but they are not sponsors, they will not be selected if some sponsor want to do it.

So far everything looks good, @iambami maybe pick a few things here for the 2025 AsyncAPI Conf prospectus

[derberg]

for conference prospectus, there is also option for sponsored talk