Hollis Sponsorship Bulletin

 The Co-operative Insurance sponsorship of The Scottish Football League will end after this season’s Cup Final on Sunday 20 March 2011 and will not be renewed.

Commenting on the decision, David Longmuir, Chief Executive of The Scottish Football League said:  “Obviously I’m disappointed that The Co-operative Insurance sponsorship will end but I fully understand and accept the decision.  The company has always been an active and involved partner in what has been a highly successful sponsorship which has allowed us not only to raise the profile of the competition but also that of Scottish football.

“The current contract ends after this season’s Final and we will now be working to secure a new sponsor for the tournament.  There’s no doubt after the excitement of last week’s round three games, the Cup offers a great promotional platform at the heart of Scottish football.

“As a strong sponsor of Scottish football, Co-operative Insurance will be missed and I wish them every success in the future.”

Sponsorship specialists Four Communications is staging its own arts exhibition and has called for submissions for the inaugural show.  To open in November, the exhibition will be hosted in the agency’s Leicester Square offices, with subsequent exhibitions planned for Spring and Summer 2011.

Rachel Clarke, Head of Arts, said; “Four has a reputation of working with leading arts organisations and sponsors, and we want to provide a platform for raising the profile of emerging artists too. We hope that the exhibitions will provide enjoyment and inspiration for all those who visit our offices, as well as encouraging them to invest in pieces they love.”

Artists are being invited to submit a series of pieces, with submissions to be considered for all three planned exhibitions.  For further details please contact Emily Hewitt on emily.hewitt@fourcommunications.com or 0870 626 9914.

Think!Sponsorship has just 10 tickets remaining for the event taking place on  October 12th 2010 at the British Museum, London. 
The speaker line-up includes Lesa Ukman, Chairman of  US based IEG who will deliver her keynote presentation on sponsorship’s digital future.  Ukman, the co-founder of IEG is considered to be one of the world’s foremost experts on sponsorship.
The conference has drawn together a range of expertise from both the digital and sponsorship sector and will debate topical issues facing sponsorship today including  managing cost effective digital activation strategies, understanding the value of your audiences, the role of value in kind in the current sponsorship economy and the changing face of the rights market. The event also offers an opportunity for those new to sponsorship (or simply looking to hone pragmatic skills) to take part in the Sell Your Sponsorship! Workshop – an five module course that assists sponsorship seekers in identifying sales prospects, structuring sponsorship propositions, managing sponsors and delivering creative sponsorship campaigns. Attendees on the Sell Your Sponsorship! Workshop can also participate in the structured networking opportunities at the conference.
To see the full line-up of speakers and view video highlights from previous Think!Sponsorship conferences, visit www.thinksponsorship.com . 
To book one of the remaining places at the discounted rate of £240 +VAT,  e-mail catherine@thinksponsorship.com quoting TSF2 or call 020 7485 2111

Cheltenham Racecourse has agreed a significant deal with bookmakers Stan James. The five-year deal sees the company backing The Grade 1 Stan James Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham in March, and three other major two-mile hurdle races on the road to The Festival, namely The Grade 1 StanJames.com Fighting Fifth at Newcastle in November, The Grade 2 StanJames.com International at Cheltenham in December and The Grade 2 StanJames.com Champion Hurdle Trial at Haydock Park in January.

Making the announcement, Cheltenham’s Managing Director, Edward Gillespie, said: “This is great news for Cheltenham, for Newcastle, for Haydock Park and for British racing at a commercially challenging time.

“It has long been an ambition of ours to strengthen the narrative running through the Jump racing season and, having a single sponsor backing four of the most important two-mile hurdle races, will enable a continuity to the promotion of that category.”

Denis Kelly, Chief Executive of Stan James, added: “We have always looked to support racing through key events and high-profile sponsorships so we are delighted to be backing The Stan James Champion Hurdle, the biggest and most valuable hurdle race of the entire season.

“We share the goal of the industry,through Racing For Change, to bring racing back into the public’s line of vision and I hope that our sponsorship of three of the races on ‘The Road to Cheltenham’, including major races at Newcastle and Haydock Park, will help to achieve that aim. This is a significant investment for us and demonstrates our commitment to racing for the long term.”

How simple is it to constantly churn out creative ideas when promoting an unexciting brand? How easy it is for a company to stand out from the crowd at a world class event? These questions will be among those raised at the next ESA Skills Workshop, ‘Creativity and Brainstorming Techniques’.

The practical session taking place in London on Tuesday October 5th will explore the best approaches to harnessing creative thought with experts guiding delegates through a number of tried and tested methods to bring fresh inspiration to even the most challenging of brands.

ESA Board Director and Chair of the ESA Education Working Group, Matt Rogan of Lane4 explained that the Workshop will give sponsorship practitioners the confidence to practise new ways of using their creativity.  “There is always a need to invigorate on-going sponsorship campaigns as well as provide exciting ideas for new projects and pitches. The workshop will be interactive and fun and will help to bring out a creative side in everyone attending, even those who usually shy away from brainstorming or are uncomfortable about expressing their ideas.

“We are delighted to have creative experts leading the session who have the experience of working within the sponsorship industry. Our speakers from Shine Communications and Nuggets for Learning have a tremendous track record with working with big brands within our industry,” said Rogan.

ESA’s next session The Digital Evolution (Tuesday  November 9th), will examine trends, developments and opportunities in the application of digital within a sponsorship context.  The session will also look at the latest views and approaches to measuring this media. Krane Jeffery, Sponsorship Director from Carat and Kirsty Bryon, Industry Head, YouTube and Display, Google, will lead the workshop.

To find out more about the Workshops or to reserve a place, contact ESA on +44 (0) 20 8390 3311 or visit the website: www.sponsorship.org/knowledge.asp.

Recent incidents or allegations involving the Pakistan cricket team, Wayne Rooney and cricketer Kevin Pietersen amongst others might well have caused sponsors to give further thought to their sponsorship contracts.
So far most sponsors have stood by those that they have endorsed, although sports goods manufacturer BoomBoom has suspended its sponsorship of Pakistan cricketer Mohammad Amir following the allegations of match-fixing in the Test series.
A new report, Sports Sponsorship & the Law , published by IMR Publications, shows that the need for clarity in morality clauses is stronger than ever if sponsors are to minimise the impact on their brand of the bad publicity that often comes with allegations of misconduct of one kind of another.
“Sponsors need to be very clear about what type of behaviour they consider might damage their brand,” says report editor Stefan Fabien.
Warren Phelops of K&L Gates LLP, who contributed the morality clause section of the report, points out that there are further complex issues that both sponsors and rights holders need to be aware of.  “Behaviour that can be considered to be morally dubious, yet not illegal, or which is alleged, but unproven can be a grey area. This is particularly so where the contract simply states that such behaviour must cause damage to reputation before it comes within the scope of the clause.”
Care also needs to be taken that sponsors’ rights are not inadvertently waived. “Should action not be taken quickly, or not taken in response to an earlier similar indiscretion, then it might be reasonable to assume such inaction results from the behaviour not affecting brand reputation.” says Phelops.
Even in cases where the morality clauses appear watertight, it can be possible for the sponsor to find it lacks protection. “Many athletes choose to conduct their sponsorship deals through personal service companies (usually for tax purposes) rather than in an individual capacity,” says Phelops. “Where this happens, the contract’s morality clauses must cover the individual rather than the company.”
The report also emphasises the need for sponsors to ensure that contracts are specific to the relationship, rather than use templates.  “The terms that would be appropriate to one athlete might not be so to another,” says Fabien. “For example, a footballer losing his temper and perhaps being sent off in a match could be very different to a tennis or snooker player acting in a similar manner. When Andy Roddick verbally abused a line judge in the US Open, it made headline news in sports pages around the world. Footballers, however, harangue match officials almost as a matter of course. It is therefore important for sponsors to be very clear about what behaviour is acceptable to them and also to evaluate what would be damaging to their brand.”
Sports Sponsorship & the Law is a compilation of analysis and opinion from some of Europe’s leading sports lawyers. Issues covered include: morality clauses, conflicting endorsements, sponsorship termination, incentive structures, ambush marketing, sponsor boycotts and many other contract-related issues. For more information on the report, including a full table of contents, please visit the report page on the IMR website.  To view a free sample chapter from the report, click on the link below:

Special K’s Chocolate and Strawberry variety of breakfast cereal will feature as the official sponsor of the popular TV show Desparate Housewives on C4 and E4 from September with re-runs of Series 6 and then from October when season 7 will begin.

In keeping with the storylines from Wisteria Lane, the Special K idents throughout the programme created by Leo Burnett London, will centre around a “delicious secret worth knowing” and shows the lengths women go to find out how others manage to look so great – in this case Special K is their secret.

Sarah Cumming, senior brand manager for Special K, said: “Desperate Housewives is a perfect fit for the Special K brand and to raise awareness of our chocolate and strawberry variety which is aimed at shape watching women who want a delicious low fat treat.”

The sponsorship is running from September 13th to late December 2010 , then restarting for part 2 of season 7 in early March 2011 and was negotiated by Maria Donaldson of Carat Sponsorship.

Professional basektball club, Guildford Heat, is seeking a headline sponsor for the 2010/2011 season.

The sponsorship deal will involve brand visibility on Sky TV,  local and national media coverage, online branding opportunities and a strong brand profile at home and away games. The sponsor’s logo will be on all player shirts for home and away strips and the sponsor’s name will be in the Guildford Heat title, just as through One Health’s sponsorship of Sheffield Sharks, the team is now call One Health Sheffield Sharks.

In addition, as part of the Heat’s work in the community to help tackle obesity and anti-social behaviour, the Heat’s sponsor will gain brand exposure in primary schools and secondary schools throughout Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire. Last season, the Heat worked with over 10,000 children throughout the region, offering basketball coaching and mentoring as well as educating them about healthy lifestyles through its Hoops 4 Health programme.

The Heat is a registered charity and is clubmarked (the sporting equivalent of ISO9000). The sponsor will also become title sponsor in the Heat in the Community Programme, delivered by the Heat Charity Foundation

Alan McClafferty, chairman of Guildford Heat, commented, “There are twelve clubs in the premier league and we are one of only two who is yet to find a sponsor. There is a perception that Surrey is a wealthy county, with thriving businesses and privileged children and I think this has been a big barrier to us finding a headline sponsor. The reality is that there are huge pockets of deprivation in Surrey which benefit from our programmes and we are running the club as a struggling business.”

For further details, contact Kate Lester, sales and marketing director of the Heat on 01483 812020.

Kellogg’s Special K has signed a deal to be the new sponsor of Desperate Housewives. Its Chocolate and Strawberry variety of breakfast cereal will feature as the official sponsor of the popular TV show on C4 and E4 from September with re-runs of Series 6 and then from October when season 7 will begin.

Sarah Cumming, senior brand manager for Special K, said: “Desperate Housewives is a perfect fit for the Special K brand and to raise awareness of our chocolate and strawberry variety which is aimed at shape watching women who want a delicious low fat treat.”

The sponsorship will begin from September 13th  to late December 2010 , then restarting for part 2 of season 7 in early March 2011 and was negotiated by Maria Donaldson of Carat Sponsorship.

Notes to editors:
For more information or images please contact Louise Davies in the Kellogg’s Press Office on 0151 869 5500.

Aviva, the world’s sixth largest insurance group, has announced a new partnership with the National Theatre as sponsor of National Theatre Live in cinemas in the UK and worldwide.

The sponsorship agreement will run for three years and is a significant investment in the National’s initiative to broadcast live performances of plays to cinemas and performing arts venues around the world.  The first season was seen by 180,000 people on 320 screens in 22 countries.

The second season of NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE begins this autumn and features new NT productions of Hamlet, Fela!, Frankenstein and The Cherry Orchard.  For the first time, the season will also include two collaborations with other British theatre companies: Complicite and the Donmar Warehouse, whose productions of A Disappearing Number and King Lear will be filmed respectively at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth and at the Donmar. 

Sally Shire, Global Brand Development Director, Aviva plc said:  ‘We’re delighted to be supporting National Theatre Live, bringing the best of British theatre productions to international audiences in the comfort and convenience of their local cinemas.  As the world’s sixth largest insurance group, Aviva is well-placed to share the National Theatre’s ambition to grow this innovative programme in scale and stature.  We look forward to seeing audiences increase over the coming season and enjoying the ‘National Theatre experience’ on the big screen.’

Nicholas Hytner, Director of the National Theatre, said:  ‘We are hugely grateful to Aviva for their support.  We could not have initiated the experimental pilot season of  National Theatre Live without Arts Council investment;  its success has now enabled us to attract a generous corporate sponsor.  I very much look forward to a long and exciting international collaboration.’

National Theatre Live performances are filmed live in high definition and broadcast via satellite to over 300 cinemas around the world, live in Europe and some US cities, and time-delayed in countries further afield.  There are over 90 venues in the UK alongside venues in the USA, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Scandinavia and Europe.  The performances at the National are nominated in advance to allow cameras greater freedom in the auditorium.