Hollis Sponsorship Bulletin

Icon:MEI, the event production arm of branding specialists Icon, has been instrumental in the design and implementation of Aviva’s ‘The Big Picture’ campaign. This innovative, global campaign has involved wrapping and projecting a selection of customers’ images onto major buildings in cities around the world.

Richard Dale, Director of Icon:MEI explains more; “We were involved with this project from its inception. Identifying suitable sites was the first step, followed by complex, and in many cases protracted, negotiations with building owners, occupiers and planning authorities in each of the cities. Having successfully completed this, the physical design and implementation of each of the installations was relatively straight forward. However the unpredictable weather, not least in London, did provide additional challenges for our technical installation teams.” He continues; “The varying construction materials used in each of the buildings meant we had to utilise a range of different solutions to achieve a coherent appearance for the campaign. Methods used include one-way vision, brick vinyl and standard PVC wrap and the biggest technical challenge was presented by Sea Containers House in London.” The total amount of self-adhesive vinyl used in the worldwide project, amounts to over 12,000² m.

Throughout the project the company worked closely with its client Not Actual Size to ensure that the core message and key elements of the Aviva brand and campaign were epitomised in the final installations. The global sites included London, Paris, Singapore and Warsaw, and the buildings that were wrapped include The National Theatre in London, CNIT in Paris and Hotel Intercontinental in Warsaw.

A second phase of the campaign ran for a week in London, when visitors were able to have their image projected live on to The National Theatre building on the South Bank. A webcam recording of the personalised image being projected onto the building was then sent direct to the individuals’ computer as a memento of the experience. Icon:MEI arranged the installation and projection facilities for this element of the campaign and designed the software to enable the storage and transmission of the numerous pictures that were generated during the week. “Each hour we projected 360 images, and the London installation ran for 5 hours each night so in total approximately 12,600 images were projected and captured by the system,” added Richard Dale.

Video footage of the installations can be seen at: www.icon-world.com/content/aviva-you-are-big-picture and on You Tube.

Sports nutrition brand Maximuscle has agreed a sponsorship deal with British female weightlifting star Zoe Smith.
The Hemel Hempstead-based company, which is part of Maxinutrition group, will provide Smith with tailored nutritional support to complement her lifestyle, training and competition cycles in the build-up to the London 2012 Olympic Games.
At the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, Smith became the youngest weightlifting medallist in the competition’s history, as well as England’s first-ever female medallist, when the 16-year-old claimed the bronze in the women’s 58kg discipline.
Sponsorship Manager for Maximuscle, Mark Morgan, is confident that the sports nutrition group can help Smith fulfil her Olympic ambitions. He said: “Maximuscle has identified Zoe Smith as one of the UK’s most exciting sporting talents and we are extremely excited to be able to help her achieve her performance goals.”

Cheltenham Racecourse has announced that two of the biggest races at The Festival will be worth more than ever before in 2011. The totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup reaches the milestone of £500,000 in total prize money (up from £475,000 in 2010), and the Ryanair Chase will be run for £260,000 (£250,000 in 2010). Both of these increases are largely due to additional input from the race sponsors.

Cheltenham’s Managing Director, Edward Gillespie, said: “The totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup is the most important race of our season, and we are delighted that it will become the first ever £1/2 million race run at Cheltenham.

“The race has been enthusiastically supported by the Tote since 1980 and, in that time, has produced some of the most memorable moments in Jump racing’s rich history. We are very grateful to totesport for their generosity.

“A further increase in the value of the Ryanair Chase is also terrific news, especially as this is a race that has blossomed under the Ryanair banner.”

Trevor Beaumont, Chief Executive of totesport, said: “We are thrilled to reach this historic prize money landmark for our most significant sponsorship. Our relationship with the team at Cheltenham is excellent and for us to be backing the first £1/2 million race at the home of Jump racing is something of which the totesport team is very proud.”

Michael O’Leary, Chief Executive of Ryanair, added: “Ryanair flies more people to The Festival than any other airline and we are delighted to support the Ryanair Chase, which continues to go from strength to strength. It is now firmly established as a major target at racing’s favourite meeting.”

Prize money at The Festival in 2011 will be £3.4m, an average of over £125,000 per race.

The Festival 2011 runs from Tuesday, March 15 to Friday, March 18.

Paul Vaughan is to become the new CEO of England Rugby 2015, effective January 4th 2011. Vaughan moves across from the RFU where he has been Business Operations Director for 10 years, during which time he grew the commercial revenues from £43m to £119m and played a major role in creating the commercial partnerships with Compass Group, Marriott Hotels and Virgin Health that underpin the new South Stand development. He also had board responsibility for the ticketing strategy that has seen Twickenham Stadium regularly sold out. Prior to the RFU he held executive roles at Whitbread plc and Octagon.

The role of CEO of England Rugby 2015 required a very specific range of skills given the need to deliver an outstanding tournament and maximise ticket income. Vaughan will take up the role from January 2011 but will continue to fulfil his current role at the RFU to ensure an appropriate period of transition through to the middle of the year. The RFU is looking at how they will replace him and will announce its intentions for that early in 2011.

With a little under five years to go until England hosts RWC 2015, the foundations for delivery of rugby’s showcase event are under way with the RFU and Rugby World Cup Limited collaborating to develop the strategy and master plans that will guide the delivery of RWC 2015 in England.

The Strategic Plan will ensure all legacies are realised and where possible exceeded, both in the UK and throughout Europe. It will also provide the focus for planning moving forward, while the master plan will deliver the framework for the delivery of the specific strategic goals.

Commenting on his appointment, Paul Vaughan said: “It is a tremendous honour to be offered the opportunity to manage the delivery of RWC 2015 in England and one I accept with great relish. The RFU are the custodians of the tournament before handing it on to Japan in 2019 and I want to deliver a fantastic event for the game and a long term positive legacy for the RFU.”

England Rugby 2015 is the wholly owned subsidiary of the RFU tasked with delivering RWC 2015 which will begin in September 2015 and lasts 7 weeks, with 48 of games played in over 10 iconic stadia including Twickenham and Wembley.

npower and Bristol City goalkeeper David James have launched the npower First Cap scheme, which rewards children attending their first npower Football League match.
Any young fan making their first visit to a League club this season get their own cap, and have their photo taken on the pitch before the game. Commenting on the scheme, David James said: “It’s vital clubs do everything in their power to work with local communities to get the next generation of fans down to watch their local team on a regular basis.”
npower head of sponsorship Emma Collins added: “We are urging any parents who haven’t taken their children to a game to register with npower and make their first match extra special.”

The National Theatre of Scotland and the Bank of Scotland have linked together for the first time to launch The Bank of Scotland Pioneering Partnership. The Bank of Scotland will be supporting a large part of the National Theatre of Scotland’s wide reaching programme over the next two years.
The partnership will offer geographic spread and reach across productions, initiatives,
workshops and events particularly in the area of supporting creativity and emerging
talent.
Vicky Featherstone, Artistic Director, National Theatre of Scotland said:
‘National Theatre of Scotland’s success over the last five years has been built on the
talent of Scottish artists. This extraordinary Pioneering Partnership between the
National Theatre of Scotland and Bank of Scotland assures we can continue to
develop the unrivalled talent we discover as we travel throughout the country. It
enables Scotland to retain and build on its growing national and international
reputation for being cultural leaders and to give audiences the length and breadth of
the land exceptional and life-changing experiences in the theatre.’
Susan Rice, Managing Director, Lloyds Banking Group Scotland commented:
“Our investment will enable National Theatre of Scotland to further develop their
core programme and to take it to audiences across Scotland. It is estimated that in
the first year alone nearly 100,000 people will come into contact with a production or
initiative under the Bank of Scotland Pioneering Partnership banner. Our joint aim
is to encourage and support the next generation of theatrical talent, from actors to set
designers, directors to writers, reinforcing Bank of Scotland’s wider sponsorship
strategy of supporting emerging talent in Scotland and providing opportunities for our
customers and colleagues.”

IMG Sports Media, a division of global sports and media company IMG Worldwide, has been appointed to represent the World Snowboarding Championships (WSC).

The agreement will see IMG Media handle all international media and sponsor agreements for the 2012 World Snowboarding Championships, to be held in Oslo. IMG Media will work in partnership with WSC to distribute the championships to broadcasters across the world and to conclude deals with the leading brands in Snowboarding. The Municipality of Oslo has secured the event by providing a financial guarantee.

The World Snowboarding Championships is the pinnacle event of the TTR Snowboarding World Tour (TTR) and the World Snowboard Federation (WSF). Ticket to Ride (TTR) is the world’s largest collaboration of independent freestyle snowboard events working together to create a global rookie-to-professional tour. The riders start qualifying in January when the TTR World Tour takes off with the six star Burton European Open competition in Laax, Switzerland.

The Co-operative Group has signed the biggest sponsorship deal in the organisation’s history to become the Official Broadcast Sponsor of ITV National Weather.

The 12 month deal with ITV will give Co-operative Food visual and verbal branding before and after the ITV National Weather report which is broadcast three times a day. The Co-operative sponsorship will go live from 1st January 2011 and will replace the current sponsor – Topps Tiles.

With 3,000 stores across the UK, the retailer plans to use the partnership to raise awareness of what its shops have to offer locally and to encourage people to change their shopping habits. The Co-operative Food will also benefit from appearances from the ITV Weather team.

Speaking at the sponsorship launch Tim Hurrell, Managing Director Co-operative Food said “This is a great deal for the Co-operative Food and gives us a unique opportunity to encourage consumers to think about the way they shop. We are not looking at this deal as a simple media spend but as a partnership that will give us a platform to promote local shops, local suppliers and seasonal food.”

David Croft, ITV Director of Regional Sales said, “ITV National Weather has peaked with audiences of up to 7 million viewers in the early evening news slot. This sponsorship is a great brand fit and will give The Co-operative a fantastic opportunity to put its brand in front of a valuable audience on a regular basis.”

London-based marketing and communications agency Influence is partnering with Brazilian agency International Publicity with the objective of catering for the demand in sponsor interest and sponsorship activation in the run up to and during the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympic Games.
International Publicity is headed by Tamas Rohonyi, is one of Brazil’s leading experts in the marketing and management of sports events with over 30 years of experience in promoting rounds of the FIA F1 World Championship.

Castleford Tigers has secured a significant new club partnership and shirt sponsorship deal with tax specialists Probiz for the 2011 season. Probiz will feature on the Tigers’ home and away shirts as well as on club’s Reserve, Under 18’s and Scholarship shirts.

As part of the agreement, Probiz will also have a branding presence within the stadium including rooflines, perimeter advertising, home and away dug outs, the tunnel area, scoreboard as well as use of a hospitality box.

The initial one-year deal, with an option to extend the agreement, sees Probiz replace Metrel who was previously unveiled as shirt sponsor for the forthcoming season but who has stepped aside to make way for Probiz who were able to offer a more substantial deal.

Probiz has an existing association with Premier League teamt West Bromwich Albion as the Official partner for all tax and property investment solutions. It is also turning its attention to cricket and tennis.