Until a few years ago, if you asked a law firm what constituted its brand and how that brand was promoted, you would have drawn a few blank expressions. Arguably, the simple solution used to be to ignore the first question and ‘answer’ the second question by sponsoring something.
In the early days of law firm marketing it was common for firms to sponsor charity dinners, golf days and (for the more esoteric) shoots or three-day eventing. Rather than help communicate the brand of the sponsor (or even address the question of what the brand is) this type of sponsorship more typically reinforced stereotypes of the fat cat, elitist lawyer, only interested in corporate endorsement as an extension of their entertainment budget.
