ADVERTISING & SPONSORSHIP
SOS is one of the leading musical theatre companies in the South, having achieved nominations and awards at all levels from the Southern Daily Echo Curtain Call to the National Operatic and Dramatic Association and International Gilbert & Sullivan Festivals.
The Society was founded in 1924, making it the oldest musical society in Southampton. Those of us who are involved today believe that SOS has stayed the course by finding shows that will please the audiences of the day, keeping the production standards high and performing in professional theatres. With each show, we provide a creative outlet for up to 100 people (when you add up the actors, dancers, creative directors, orchestra and teams working behind the scenes on lighting, sound, scenery, costumes, hair and make-up, marketing and more). Together, we deliver top quality yet affordable entertainment for many hundreds more, twice a year. There is always a level of anxiety around the budget – as with all artistic endeavours, no-one is in it for the money! We are therefore especially grateful when local businesses agree to advertise in our show programme and even contribute to the production costs through sponsorship.
ADVERTISING
We produce a top notch A4 ‘West End style’ souvenir programme for each of our shows, which is sold at every performance and packed with show and cast information, articles of interest and advertising from local businesses.
Our Advertising Rates start at just £40 for a 1/8 page, £50 for a quarter page (our most popular format) going up to £160 for a full page. Full page advertising comes with the promise of *exclusivity*, meaning we would not accept another advert from one of your competitors.
If you are interested in advertising your business we can either accept your own ready-made artwork or we will create some for you at no extra cost. Whichever you choose, advertising offers a way to put your company name in front of our audiences while showing your generous support for local amateur theatre.
SPONSORSHIP
Sponsorship is getting harder to find these days, and we appreciate that companies are pulled in all directions by organisations seeking their patronage. We are therefore especially grateful when local businesses dip deeper into their pockets to help towards our production costs.
In recent years we have received generous support from business advisory company Quantuma (Sister Act 2019) and legal experts Paris Smith LLP (Beauty and the Beast 2013, Oh What A Lovely War 2018, Legally Blonde 2021). Paris Smith have also booked many full page advertisements with us over the years, and we cannot stress enough how grateful we are for their generous and ongoing support.
We do not have a set sponsorship ‘package’ option with stipulated sums and terms, as we feel this would be quite off-putting – and frankly, we are grateful for any help anyone can offer. Instead, we work with our sponsors to agree what we can do in terms of recognising their sponsorship for the sum they have in mind. This could be full show sponsorship (with the company logos on all of our marketing material) or sponsorship of a particular element, such as costumes or the souvenir programme.
Now that our shows are being performed at MAST Mayflower Studios, one of Southampton’s leading professional performance venues, we believe that future sponsors will benefit from additional opportunities to provide corporate hospitality for their employees and clients while enjoying a show they have helped to deliver.
INTERESTED? WE’D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU!
If you may be interested in advertising in our programme, or supporting a production through sponsorship, please email us at committee@sospresents.org and someone on our business team will be delighted to provide all the information you need to make a decision.