Hollis Sponsorship Bulletin

Super League’s title sponsor, Engage Mutual Assurance, has agreed a deal that will extend its sponsorship of Engage Super League until the end of 2011.  On the eve of the new Engage Super League season, which kicks off on Friday night, Engage Mutual have decided to take up the remaining one-year option on their existing contract with Rugby League’s elite competition.

Welcoming the decision, the RFL’s Chief Executive Nigel Wood said: “The timing of Engage’s decision could not be better as we all gear up for what will be the closest and least predictable Engage Super League season of all.”

Wood said that although clubs were not immune from the economic downturn, the sport and the Super League clubs were well placed to flourish: “The salary cap continues to have a positive impact across Engage Super League while sponsorship from progressive companies like Engage Mutual Assurance and the licensing system have each brought the stability clubs need to grow their businesses.”

Rugby League is reported to be in good health, particularly in London where participation levels are at record levels and unprecedented numbers of people are playing the game at all age groups and levels.

Foreign exchange and business payments specialist Travelex has renewed its successful sponsorship of the Travelex £10 Ticket season for a further three years from 2010.  The programme encourages first-timers to the theatre.  325,000 tickets (an average of nearly 25% each year) have been bought by people who have not booked at the National Theatre before.

The millionth Travelex £10 Ticket was sold at the end of the 2009 season.  The partnership between Travelex and the National Theatre began in 2003.  For the eighth year running, tickets for the 2010 season in the Olivier Theatre (beginning in April) will still be available at £10.

Lloyd Dorfman, Chairman of Travelex, said today: “We are delighted to continue our partnership with the National Theatre and it’s tremendous to be associated with a sponsorship that grows year on year and that the general public responds to so positively.”

Nicholas Hytner, Director of the National, said: “I had a very strong instinct when I started as Director of the NT in 2003 that there were many people who would come and try anything here if the tickets were as affordable as cinema tickets.  The Travelex £10 Ticket has become emblematic of a new kind of National Theatre, which offers exciting and ambitious work to everybody, and I am immensely grateful to Travelex for their loyal and ongoing support.”

United Kingdom Athletics (UKA) and the Aviva GB and NI Athletics team has secured Revlon’s Mitchum Endurance Anti-Perspirant as official sponsor.  The sponsorship coincides with the launch of the Mitchum brand into the UK market.  The three-year deal is the first to be brokered by SMG Sports – the new media-led sponsorship consultancy formed in joint venture between Starcom MediaVest Group UK and Sports Insight.

SMG Sports has devised an integrated media plan for Mitchum Endurance with the athletics sponsorship sitting at the centre of the brand’s marketing for the next three years.  The sponsorship will play a central role in Revlon’s strategy for the brand, which is positioned as a high-performance anti-perspirant, targeting serious athletes.

The communications plan begins this month when UKA holds its first indoor athletics event of the season, the Aviva International Match in Glasgow.

SMG Sports Vange Kourentis, former Manchester United business development manager, said:  “We aim to ensure that sports sponsorship sits as part of an integrated communications plan rather than in isolation.”

UKA also secured Advantage West Midlands, the Regional Development Agency for the West Midlands, as partner for the two BBC televised athletics events staged in Birmingham this year in a deal brokered by Fast Track.  AWM will be using these events to promote tourism to the region and highlight the role the region is playing in the build up to the London 2012 Games.  AWM’s Jim Johnston said: “The media coverage of both these high profile events will consolidate Birmingham and the heart of England as a major player in the high-profile events market.”

Gatorade, official hydration partner to rugby union’s Guinness Premiership, launched its new on-pack promotion at Harlequin’s Stoop ground this weekend.  The Gatorade Gives Back programme has linked up with partners such as New Balance, Polar, Power Music, Neilson Active Holidays and The National Magazine Company to incentivise purchase of the isotonic sports drink.  Purchasers are encouraged to collect codes from the bottles which they then bank on online and via text to cash-in on a range of sports-related rewards.

Helping to launch the event were Harlequins’ players Danny Care, Nick Easter and Ugo Monye, who were each given 200 points.  Ugo Monye, who will be sending his points to his old school, said: “Hopefully, the points can be a starting point for them to get some sporting equipment and help them develop their players.  It’s a fantastic opportunity and a great way of getting people involved and getting people active, whether it be training with the Guinness Premiership Champions, or providing equipment to clubs.”

Adidas, Nike and Puma are the best-known football sponsors in the five largest European football markets, according to a survey by sports marketing analysis and evaluation company Sport+Markt among 3,000 European football fans.

Unsurprisingly, “Jersey sponsors and kit suppliers dominate European communication in football”, says Hartmut Zastrow, Sport+Markt’s executive director.  Adidas is the top football brand, according to Zastrow who expressed surprise at seeing Audi in number eight position and commented:  “Audi pursues a decentralised football strategy, with partnerships with many European clubs and is even outstripping rival automobile supplier Ford, as a sponsor.”  Another reason, however, for its position could be the press coverage following the company’s purchase of shares in FC Bayern Munich.

The top twenty sponsorships are an illustration of the variance in sponsorship strategy that European companies can use to gain the attention of European football fans.  A global group such as Coca-Cola is ranked fourth and is omnipresent as a sponsor in football and sport in general, although it has no shirt sponsorships, whereas Emirates (ranked fifth) do have shirt sponsorships and the naming rights of Arsenal FC.  Moreover, it is a FIFA World Cup Partner.

The UK is the only market where shirt sponsors, namely AIG and Carlsberg, score higher than the actual kit suppliers or technical partners; only Barclays as the league title sponsor is able to compete at such a high level.  Internationally, the popularity of the Premier League and the success these clubs enjoy in the UEFA Champions League has enabled these sponsors to reach overseas fans.  For more information on the report, visit www.sportundmarkt.com

Championship football team Doncaster Rovers will be on the hunt for a new shirt sponsor from the 2010/11 season.

Current shirt sponsor Wright Investments is currently in the third and final year of its three year deal with the club, the decision made by both parties not to renew the sponsorship agreement.

Commercial Manager of Doncaster Rovers, Laura Whiting said “We would like to thank Wright Investments for their support of the club during the past three years.  Since they joined the club in 2007 Doncaster Rovers have progressed massively and are now recognised as an established Championship team, renowned for playing great football.”

“Our change in league status and increased national exposure has increased our brand value and this means the club are now looking for a new deal for our main club sponsor.  Having Wright Investments as a shirt sponsor during the past few seasons has created mutual benefits for both parties and the decision to end the shirt sponsorship has also coincided with them having a change in advertising strategy.”

A PR story was born when Paddy Power this week announced its sponsorship of Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong, the first Ghanaian to qualify for the Winter Olympics.  Kwame, known as the Snow Leopard, first skied just over six years ago when he got a job as a receptionist at a snow centre in the UK.  Paddy Power has him at 500/1 to win.

Kwame is set to take on both the slalom and the giant slalom at the Vancouver Winter Games starting on February 12^th. The deal was brokered by sport agency Fuse.

Paddy Power is quoted as saying: “We love the underdog at Paddy Power and believe he will be the big story of the Winter Olympics.  We are putting all our weight behind Kwame and we are not only giving him financial support, we also want to create a huge following through the media and social networking.”

Squash tournament The ISS Canary Wharf Classic, taking place at the end of March, has confirmed that facilities services company ISS and the Canary Wharf Group plc will continue their sponsorship of the competition for a further two years.

The tournament, run by events company Eventis and fronted by squash player Peter Nicol MBE, is a popular sporting occasion in the City.

Hotels.com has signed a one-year deal to sponsor ITV1’s London Weekend Weather in a deal negotiated by MPG.

The Saxo Bank cycling team has managed to pull in an interim sponsor in the form of USsoftware group Sungard following Saxo Bank’s recent decision to withdraw its sponsorship at the end of 2010.

The British Canoe Union (BCU) has appointed Oaks Consultancy to secure sponsorship partners to generate supplementary support for the sport, from grassroots through to elite performance and GB Canoeing.

According to Chloe Nelson, the BCU’s marketing manager: “Canoeing is a unique property; there is a type of canoeing for everyone, an increasing participation base of 1.2million, a track record of international medal success and we are in a distinct position to be able to offer a sponsor headline exclusivity to own the whole sport.”