The 2012 annual Leaders in Sponsorship conference, taking place on 10th and 11th October 2012, launched this week with a cutting-edge agenda, new “Brands-Only” forum and expanded programme.

The exclusive, invite-only event is now in its 4th year and has a track-record for bringing together the very top names in sponsorship to discuss global best practice across a range of topics, including activation, negotiation and measurement. In recent years the guest speakers have included: Adam Silver, Deputy Commissioner, NBA; Des Johnson, Global Brand Director, Castrol; Mark Waller, Chief Marketing Officer, NFL; Tara Looney, Brand Director, American Express and Boutros Boutros, Divisional Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications, Emirates.

Guess what. The stars are finally aligning. MIPTV 2012 recognised a tipping point and a potential new world order... or perhaps that is a new media order.

The subject of course is Branded Entertainment -­‐ discussed by so many, undefined by most, dismissed by skeptics, resisted by most programmers and traditional TV networks. This article will take you through our take-­‐outs and learnings from the 2012 market, touching on global best practices, current trends and shifts in the marketplace, and how we believe they will start to impact the Australian marketplace.

Firstly, we saw three major indicators that a shift in the market is gathering speed.

For years, N.B.A., M.L.B., N.F.L. and N.H.L. teams have changed their uniform styles and designs to increase merchandise sales, keep up with fashion trends or herald a new era, as the Miami Marlins just did. Patches have been added to remember a former player or manager who died.

But advertising has not broken through. After Major League Baseball considered putting logos on players’ sleeves in 1999, Commissioner Bud Selig rejected the idea.

Adam Silver, the N.B.A.’s deputy commissioner, said in an e-mail: “If we add sponsor logos to jerseys, we recognize that some of our fans will think we’ve lost our minds. But the N.B.A. is a global business and logos on jerseys are well established in other sports and commonplace outside the U.S.”

Can the Olympics control social media, easy to publish and access content, ambush marketing, and millions of people?

How people are connecting today never ceases to amaze me, the constant evolution of social media, the internet, platforms and channels to connect and engage are simply exiting, and in turn always placing challenges on sensitive information - private and public.

These channels and the ease it is to connect is inevitable, the benchmarks will always be raised, where technology meets curiosity and creativeness, the boundaries are constantly questioned.