Hollis Sponsorship Bulletin

American Express will work with the National Theatre to support the Theatre through several different strands of commercial and philanthropic activity on both sides of the Atlantic, including headline sponsorship of one prominent production each year on the South Bank in London. American Express will also support the gala performance of the National Theatre’s acclaimed production of War Horse in New York, ahead of its opening at the Lincoln Center in April.
This new partnership builds on American Express’ history of supporting arts from around the world and will form a key part of the company’s strategy of providing American Express Cardmembers with special access to memorable experiences across a broad range of entertainment categories. The relationship with the National Theatre will be a valued addition to American Express’ ‘Preferred Seating’ programme, which offers Cardmembers priority tickets and ‘meet and greet’ opportunities at many of the country’s most sought after music concerts, film premieres and other entertainment events.
Raymond Joabar, UK Managing Director, American Express, comments: “We are delighted to be working with such an internationally respected organisation as the National Theatre to give our Cardmembers access to some of the best theatre the UK has to offer. This new partnership further builds on our support for the arts in the UK and around the world, including the National’s neighbour, the British Film Institute.”
Nicholas Hytner, Director of the National Theatre, said: “I warmly welcome our new partnership with American Express, which expands and builds on our very successful established relationship. The loyalty and commitment of our corporate partners is vital in enabling the National to thrive; the generosity of American Express will help us to continue programming an an exciting and adventurous repertoire for the widest possible audience.”

HSBC has agreed a further three-year term as global sponsor of FEI Eventing to include title sponsorships of the HSBC FEI Classics™ until the end of 2013 and the HSBC FEI European Eventing Championships™ in both 2011 and 2013.
HSBC has supported the FEI Classics™ series since 2008 and will be contributing US$ 1million in prize money over the next three years, which represents the biggest prize pot on offer in Eventing on an annual basis.
Commenting on the renewal Giles Morgan, HSBC Group Head of Sponsorship, said: “HSBC has been a proud sponsor of the HSBC FEI Classics™ since its inception in 2008, as well as the HSBC FEI European Eventing Championships, and the bank is delighted to be continuing its support of these prestigious international events. As part of every sports sponsorship HSBC undertakes there is a commitment by the bank to invest in the grassroots level of the sport and over the coming years HSBC will be working closely with the FEI to help continue the growth and development of Eventing around the world.”
The HSBC FEI Classics™ 2011 series, which offers a prize of US$150,000 to the series champion, once again takes in the five four-star events – the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials (GBR), Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event (USA), Luhmühlen CCI**** presented by E.ON (GER), The Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials (GBR) and Les Etoiles de Pau CCI**** (FRA).
“We are delighted that HSBC, one of the FEI’s Platinum Partners, will be continuing its sponsorship of our flagship Eventing series, the HSBC FEI Classics”, FEI Secretary General Alex McLin commented. “The partnership of a global brand like HSBC and a series like the Classics is a perfect fit and HSBC’s continuing support of the FEI European Championships confirms them as the global sponsor of Eventing.”
The HSBC FEI Classics™ 2011 will once again run on a points system, with the leading riders at each event gaining points towards the overall standings. The series prize fund will be divided between the five riders at the top of the standings at the end of the season.

ITV is selling its first paid-for product placement – on its daytime show ‘This Morning’. The first on-air date from which the product placement will be allowed is next Monday, February 28th. ITV is running an awareness campaign to inform its viewers.
The first paid for product will be a coffee machine with coffee and offers need to be made by this Friday for the product to be available on set.

LEGO CITY is further developing further its relationship with Nickelodeon by sponsoring a strand running every weekday evening on Nick Toons in a deal by Carat Sponsorship.
Nick Toons has created humorous five and ten second CGI animations for the campaign, a first for LEGO CITY, which will run in and out of programming and ad breaks on the strand and will be on air on weekday evenings between 6 and 8pm. The sponsorship went live last Friday, February 19th.
Nick Toons has also created a microsite which will sit within Nick.co.uk which will give kids the opportunity to engage and interact with the LEGO CITY products – and give kids the chance to win prizes.
The deal was brokered between Julia Scales (Sky Media), Robert Honeywood (Carat Sponsorship) and Laura Di Bonaventura (LEGO).
The campaign will run in two bursts: from the 19th of February to the 3rd of April, and then later this summer.

Synergy has appointed Liz Brown as Senior Account Manager. Brown arrives at Synergy after five years at Fast Track where her role focused on strategic planning and activation for consumer brands including Texaco and Lucozade Sport.
Having spent eight months on the graduate training scheme at Johnson & Johnson at the start of her career, Brown has more recently worked with Texaco on their 2010 “CABANGA” World Cup campaign and sponsorship of the Football League Championship. Other campaigns included developing integrated communications strategies for Lucozade Hydro Active and assisting with the launch of the Lucozade Sport brand in India and Nigeria.
Tim Crow, CEO of Synergy, said:
“Liz is

The shortlist for the prestigious Hollis Sponsorship Awards has been announced and tables are selling fast for the Dinner on March 29th 2011 at the London Marriott Grosvenor Square. To make sure that you do not miss the opportunity to join the celebrations, please visit www.sponsorship-awards.co.uk and click on Attend The Awards. The evening will be hosted by the BBC’s sports presenter Rob Bonnet.

Sponsored by the European Sponsorship Association, the Barrie Gill Award For Most Promising Young Executive is seeking nominations for young executives (must be under 25 at application) working within agencies, client companies or rights holders who are already making a significant impact with your organisation and the sector at large. The shortlisted candidates will be invited along to the Hollis Sponsorship Awards on March 29th. To find out how to nominate your outstanding executives, please email info@sponsorship-awards.co.uk.

A fantastic number of entries of the highest calibre were received for this year’s Hollis Sponsorship Awards resulting in an excellent shortlist for the ceremony on March 29th 2011. The Hollis Sponsorship Awards seek to recognise excellence across all sectors of the industry from high-end, big budget campaigns to tightly-crafted, low budget niche programmes. To view which campaigns succeeded in winning a place on the highly-competitive shortlist, please click on the following link http://www.sponsorship-awards.co.uk/roll-of-honour. For more information on the Awards and how to attend on March 29th, please visit www.sponsorship-awards.co.uk.

888.com has been secured as sponsor of Premier League Darts by the Professional Darts Corporation. The 888.com Premier League Darts, featuring eight stars of the sport, began last Thursday at The O2 in London and will travel around the UK for 15 successive Thursday nights, culminating in the championship play-off in Wembley Arena on May 19th.
Over 80,000 fans are expected to attend the event, which was won by Phil Taylor last May when he hit an historic two nine-darters in the final against defending champion James Wade.
“We are delighted to welcome 888.com back into darts as the title sponsor for the Premier League Darts,” said PDC Chairman Barry Hearn. “This tournament has emerged as the biggest indoor sporting event in the country in recent years and we look forward to welcoming a record number of fans to the country’s 15 biggest arenas.”
888.com previously sponsored the inaugural Premier League Darts season in 2005, which was won by Phil Taylor when he defeated Colin Lloyd in the final in Manchester. Adi Soffer, Managing Director of 888.com, said: “Over the years the Premier League Darts has grown substantially and now with an international reach we feel it’s the perfect time to align our brands again.”

Highland Spring is reported to be ending its sponsorship of Andy and Jamie Murray. Sally Stanley, Group marketing director at Highland Spring Sally Stanley is quoted as saying: “We have been privileged to work alongside Andy and Jamie over the past four years and delighted with the results we have achieved together. Highland Spring is committed to investing in British tennis through our partnership with the Lawn Tennis Association for many years to come. We wish Andy and Jamie the greatest success in their tennis careers and we will continue to be big fans.”

Highland Spring has recently increased its involvement in rugby by signing a new partnership with Scottish Rugby which sees it become the official bottled water partner to the national team as well as Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh Rugby.
The three year deal will see Highland Spring provide water for the Scotland team as well as keeping the Glasgow and Edinburgh teams hydrated during matches and training. In addition Highland Spring will be the official bottled water partner to the Emirates Airline Edinburgh 7s when 16 countries including the Scotland 7s team play in the finale to the HSBC Sevens World Series at Murrayfield on 28 and 29 May 2011.