O2 Named Hollis Sponsor Of The Year As Awards Celebrates Its 18th Annual Event

 

 

O2’s live venue partnership with Academy Music Group has been named Sponsorship Of The Year at the 18th Hollis Sponsorship Awards, held in front of a packed audience at the London Marriott Hotel on Tuesday, March 27 2012.

The mobile firm also won the Brand and Entertainment & Event Categories to complete a hat-trick of wins. Sharing top billing was cosmetic brand TreSemme, which won the Best Use of Research, First Time and TV Sponsorship categories for its sponsorship of the Next Top Model franchise.

A number of changes to the Awards structure brought a 40% increase in entries and a bigger turnout on the evening. Commenting on the increased numbers, Hollis Awards organiser Rosemary Sarginson commented: “The range and quality of this year’s entries show that sponsorship has become an indispensible part of the brand marketer’s tool-kit. I’m thrilled to see such a positive response – particular for our new digital categories which were won by Ericsson and Nivea. My friends and colleagues in the sponsorship industry have negotiated the fragile economic situation through a mixture of innovation, creativity and courage.”

Other winners on the night included Sponsorship Consultancies of the Year Synergy and Limelight and Personality of the Year Suzi Williams from BT. In London’s Olympic year, former Olympic hero Alan Pascoe presented Karen Earl with an Outstanding Achievement Award to mark her career at the forefront of the sponsorship industry. The first ever Innovation Award went to BP and the Tate Movie Project.

Aside from partnering Tresemme in its three wins, Sky’s growing significance in the field of sponsorship was evident in the shape of two other wins (Green Category and Education & Learning Category). The prestigious Arts Award went to Deloitte and its Royal Opera House sponsorship.

Other big brands to win awards included GE, RBS, Barclays, Nintendo, Ericsson, MasterCard, Nike, Aegon and Aviva, which was rewarded for for its landmark partnership with the UK Athletics. There was also a win for Volunteer It Yourself in the Low Budget Category. Best use of PR went to the amusingly entitled Betfair Bum-vertising campaign.