As the recession bites and consumers are thinking twice before spending their precious pounds, never has ROI been so important to marketers.

If you’re going to spend on your marketing, the rule is spend wisely and take advantage of every opportunity that presents itself. When the CMO has traditionally always been under the scrutiny of the CFO it’s essential to come up with the goods.

So, if you’ve committed to sponsor an event , then getting involved beyond some simple branding on publicity literature is key.

Case in point is Europride 09, which has just ended in Zurich, Switzerland. The event is billed as one of the biggest annual gatherings of the LGBT community in the annual calendar. Numbers of attendees is difficult to pin down - but organisers put estimates at between 50,000 and 100,000.

Compared to, say, Pride in London or Madrid, that's small fry but significant all the same because of the status of the Europride brand and the event's awareness amongst the LGBT across the continent.

It's been a big deal for Swiss and Zurich Tourism, with the event being a focus of a major marketing campaign in the UK gay press. And with a conservative estimate of 50,000 revellers spending approximately £300 a head over the weekend you can under stand why. The sums add up making for a cool additional £15 million injected into the city's local economy. 

Europride has certainly got appeal for brand involvement. LGBT consumers have been shown to have more disposable income than their straight counterparts. So when previously brands might have turned their back on the Pink Pound - as the recession bites every pound, or Euro, counts.

Official sponsors this year included heavyweights British Airways, Nivea, IBM, Skyy Vodka and Coca-Cola as well as local enterprises including drinks companies.

The event took place over a month with a series of different cultural activities. But the climax of Europride took place during the closing weekend of June 5-7, with a street parade and parties held in two city centre squares, joined by a street, lined with stalls.

But the official sponsors were sadly conspicuous by their lack of activity beyond appearing on event literature. Skyy vodka had visible branding as the sponsor of the VIP bar at the street festival and BA hosted a stall where consumers could enter a free flights competition. Nivea also hosted a stall which they used as a disrtribution point for product samples.

However, come the parade and none of these key sponsors - nor Coca Cola and IBM - were to be seen hosting floats. Instead the exposure went to a number of tourist boards and local club brands, while branded T-shirts were worn by parade marchers representing accenture, UBS and Amnesty.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was a Google branded float, yes really, which generated no end of talkability simply because of its apparent randomness.

I have no doubt that the official sponsors paid big bucks to be associated with Europride, but to then take a low-key and perhaps half-hearted approach towards their marketing makes no sense.

They obviously thought being a sponsor was a good association for their brand, but to not take advantage of the exposure and engagement possibilities then presented seems insane.

Experiential marketing to brand savvy consumers has become big business and a major feature of festival life in the UK - the Strongbow Cider Room, Bacardi-B Bar DJ stages, for example.

Likewise, the Duracell Powerhouse which has offered music late into the night from top DJs as well as offering a chance to exchange old batteries for new Duracell ones for free in a super-sized battery-shaped tent.

Other successful activity has seen Orange handing out orange ponchos at Glastonbury and Wrangler offering a jeans exchange and laundry service.

These examples are just the tip of the iceberg and admittedly cost a lot but the payback is a high level of consumer engagement and innovative positioning. Other experiential marketing techniques can cost less, as a bit of clever thinking goes a long way.

This year's Europride has been and gone - and a great party it was too. But perhaps brands might think a bit more about how they can maximise the impact of their involvement in 2010.

We'll have to see when the festival rolls into Warsaw next year.

With thanks to Zurich Tourism: www.zuerich.com