For proud read lazy when it comes to sponsorship.
As in “proud sponsors of”.
You can tell they’re lazy.
It takes no effort to describe your relationship with a sponsored entity as “proud sponsors of”.
And if you put no effort into describing your relationship it’s a safe bet that you put no effort into working the relationship. And certainly no effort into the entity itself.
Proud sponsors pay as little money as possible to get as much profile as possible with as little effort as possible.
They want to bask in the reflected glow of somebody else’s idea.
If a sponsor wants something to be proud of, they should create that something, or co-create it, or make something happen that otherwise wouldn’t.
A short, ranty post prompted by recent encounters with proud sponsors.