Hollis Sponsorship Bulletin

The Volvo Ocean Race has secured IWC Schaffhausen, the International Watch Company, as race sponsor and Official Timekeeper for the next edition of the Volvo Ocean Race starting in October 2011.

The partnership between IWC Schaffhausen and Volvo Ocean Race will provide another opportunity for the Swiss watch manufacturer to demonstrate its expertise in terms of engineering, technology and quality. “We are looking forward to an exciting and successful Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12”, said Georges Kern, CEO IWC Schaffhausen.

IWC Schaffhausen will present the 24-hour record prize per race leg, which will be awarded during the prize-giving ceremony at each Host Port. They will also award a special prize for the fastest team over 24-hours in the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12. This prize will be presented at the end of the race in Galway, July 2012. The lucky fastest crewmembers will all be awarded an exclusive IWC timepiece.

Team 2012 Ltd and its presenting partner, Visa Europe, have partnered with the News International Group to help promote Team 2012 and encourage the British public to get behind and support more than 1,200 athletes from 47 Olympic and Paralympic sports and disciplines. These athletes, who represent the best of British talent, are training in the hope of competing at London 2012 and beyond.
The partnership allows News International newspapers (The Sun, News of the World, The Times and The Sunday Times) to all carry the title ‘Official Newspaper of Team 2012’. Over the next 18 months News International will undertake a multi-channel campaign featuring Team 2012 to engage their audiences to get behind each of the athletes, their sports and their personal stories as they prepare for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Mariano Dima, Chief Marketing Officer at Visa Europe, said: “Visa celebrates 25 years of sponsoring the Olympic Games this year and in the run-up to 2012 we are committed to enabling consumers, members and retailers to connect with the Olympic and Paralympic Games in innovative ways. This wide-reaching partnership with News International enables us to engage with a large audience across a variety of channels. This is part of our integrated marketing programme which we will roll out in the next few months across the UK and Europe, using our sponsorship to drive brand preference and card usage.”
Rebekah Brooks, Chief Executive of News International, said: “This unique partnership gives our newspapers unrivalled access to the Team 2012 athletes and means we will be able to throw our full support behind the team and give our readers the inside track. We are delighted to be working with Visa Europe to generate maximum public support for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.”
Phil Lane, chairman of Team 2012, said: “News International’s online and offline portfolio will deliver widespread national awareness of Team 2012 and enlist the nation’s support in our campaign to raise vital funds to help provide our talented and dedicated athletes with the best possible chance at glory at London 2012.”
In September 2009, Visa became the Presenting Partner of Team 2012 providing essential funds to support British sport through Team 2012. Last year, Visa’s financial support of Team 2012 helped UK Sport increase their funding to 11 sports, including fencing, shooting, handball and waterpolo. This increase in funding means that athletes are now better able to target success in 2012, with some team sports able to have a genuine ambition to be represented at the Games for the first time.

The Volvo Ocean Race has launched a youth initiative which will involve children in each of the host ports. The race will take over 14,000 children worldwide out on the water to “Try Sailing”. For the experienced young sailors of these countries, there will be the Academy Team Racing Series. Finally, there will be an educational programme to allow the host port schools to become involved in the race and sailing as a sport.
The Try Sailing experience will take children from the local schools and communities out sailing in each host port, in supplied 5.6m Ludics training dinghies. They will be shown some basic sailing skills and learn about the Volvo Ocean Race. The race is also working on individual sailing projects with the local sailing associations and clubs to help leave a legacy in each of the ports, which will facilitate even more young people trying out sailing.
The competitive pinnacle of the project will be the Academy Team Racing Series, which will be held in Optimists dinghies in each of the Host Ports. The two-day regatta will be run in the Race Village harbours, and the race organisation is working with the Optimist Class to organise these regattas.
“The Volvo Ocean Race has always been committed to helping improve youth sailing and encourage young people to get out on the water. With the Try Sailing initiative we hope to get local kids energised about sailing and our race,” explained Knut Frostad, CEO Volvo Ocean Race.
“We want to leave a lasting legacy in each of the Host Ports we visit so we are working with the local sailing associations to help achieve this goal,” he added. “We will be activating an education programme in association with each of the stopover organisations, which will also allow us to bring school children down to the Race Village and help them learn about the race.

The latest incarnation of an iconic team has returned to the World Superbike Championship following the launch of the new Castrol Honda team, with the global lubricants brand announcing title sponsorship of Honda’s superbike effort for the upcoming 2011 title race.

The new team will feature riders Jonathan Rea and Ruben Xaus campaigning Honda’s CBR1000RR Fireblade, with the squad being run by the Netherlands-based Ten Kate Racing outfit, who have led Honda’s World Superbike effort since 2004.

Castrol’s association with Honda’s motorcycle racing activities goes back to the Japanese manufacturer’s first foray into the sport at the Isle of Man TT in 1959 and the two companies celebrated 50 years of racing together in 2009.

THE 40th running of the Midlands Grand National at Uttoxeter Racecourse on Saturday , 19th March is to be sponsored by the Tote for the first time. The four-and-a-quarter mile marathon in which the horses complete three circuits of the Uttoxeter track is one of the longest races of the year, exceeded only by the Grand National itself.
Previously associated with the supporting races, the Tote will now be sponsoring the entire seven-race card on Midlands Grand National Day.

The Uttoxeter showpiece fits in well with other high class staying chases sponsored by the Tote, including the totesport.com Becher Chase at Aintree in November, the totesport.com Classic Chase at Warwick in January and the totesport.com Grand National Trial at Haydock in February.

Totesport is also the official betting partner of the John Smith’s Grand National itself, so this addition to the Tote’s sponsorship programme is a natural fit for the company.

Sports and entertainment consulting firm Octagon has unveiled the newest iteration of its proprietary, research initiative Passion Drivers® 3.0., an interactive tool which aims to manage and measure sports and music sponsorships.

Simon Wardle, Octagon Worldwide’s Chief Strategy Officer, explained the latest evolution of the research initiative he created six years ago. “We began by providing the industry’s first quantified understanding of why fans are fans which allowed marketers to understand their target consumers when they are in ‘fan mode’. Since then, we have studied 60,000+ avid fans of 30+ sports in 11 countries on six continents,” he said.

Wardle said the agency evolved the 2.0 version of the Passion Drivers® initiative to allow clients to conduct proprietary research using its proprietary methodology to understand why each of their consumer segments emotionally connects with their passions, helping clients see how to better leverage their sponsorship investment to connect their brand to their target consumers.

“Now, with our latest iteration of Passion Drivers® 3.0 research, we can instantaneously provide marketers with updated data and detailed media consumption by overlaying what we know about fans’ passion with a database of 40,000+ consumer metrics,” Wardle explained. “With this new tool, corporate sponsors can focus on not just the fan, but on their target consumer as the fan, giving them real-time insights into their target consumers and fans while they are consuming the sports and music they love.”

More than six months in development, the newest research extrapolates surveys with some 5,400 consumers against a database of 52,000 respondents. The launch of the Passion Drivers® 3.0 database currently encompasses fans of 13 sports. Later this year, the research also will be applied to Hispanic consumers and their passion for soccer.

For more information, please go to www.passiondrivers.com to download a Passion Driver® Profile.

Guinness strengthened its relationship with rugby last week by becoming Official Beer Partner of the RBS 6 Nations. The brand is the 6 Nations’ first beer partner in its 100 year history. The signing follows Guinness’ successful partnership deals with the RFU, WRU and SRU during the Autumn Internationals.

The RBS 6 Nations rugby campaign will be fronted by England flanker and Rugby World Cup winner Lewis Moody, Welsh full-back Lee Byrne and Scottish speedster Sean Lamont, who will give fans the inside track on their team via video diaries and featuring in point-of-sale branding in pubs and stores around the UK.

John Roscoe, Marketing Director, Guinness GB said: “The new partnership with the RBS 6 Nations gives us our largest ever presence in rugby with over 120 million in TV audiences watching the RBS 6 Nations and demonstrates our long term commitment to the sport.”

Rugby League celebrated another sponsorship success last week when Emirates was named as the Official Airline of the RFL, Super League and the England Rugby League team.

Paul Kimberley, the RFL’s Commercial Director, said: “The RFL is delighted to have this partnership with Emirates, a company which shares many of the same core values as our sport.

In 1987, only two years after its inception, Emirates began to build up its sponsorship portfolio, which now includes partnerships with the IRB (International Rugby Board), FIFA and the ICC (International Cricket Council).

“We are very proud to now carry the title of Official Airline of the RFL, the Super League and the England Rugby League team and look forward to a very successful partnership with them,” said Emirates’ Vice President, UK & Ireland, Laurie Berryman.

“Emirates Airline has been involved in Rugby League as a partner of the Warrington Wolves for a number of years now and we see this as a very important avenue to reach both sports fans and Emirates customers alike in this region.”

Think! Sponsorship’s 15th conference will be held at The Kia Oval on April 12th 2011 with a programme entitled ‘Sponsorship’s New Dawn’. The conference will address the significant shift in terms of investment patterns, activation strategies and sponsorship rights fees within the industry over the last five years. For more information on the programme, please visit www.thinksponsorship.com.

Sponsorship Consulting (www.sponsorshipconsulting.co.uk) is looking for a London-based Senior Consultant with experience in delivering consulting projects, identifying, recruiting and servicing new clients and helping a business to develop. We are looking for demonstrable success in identifying prospects’ and clients’ needs, structuring projects, implementing action plans and being accountable for results.
Although we anticipate the successful candidate will have a passion for the sponsorship industry, Sponsorship Consulting is an Equal Opportunity employer and we encourage flexible working practices. Please send your resume and a covering letter summarizing your motivation and how you would contribute to the business to:
pippa.collett@sponsorshipconsulting.co.uk. Closing date for receipt of applications: Midday Friday 4th February.