Hollis Sponsorship Bulletin

A new study commissioned by The Brewers of Europe has concluded that thousands of public events across Europe which depend heavily on the nearly €1 billion sponsorship from European brewers could be put at risk if the drinks companies were no longer permitted to lend their support.
While major high-profile sports sponsorships grab the headlines, 62% of brewer-supported events take place at local and regional level, reports the study by Sponsorship Ideas, which counted over 8,000 events supported by local brewers. Less than 12% went to major sports.
At a time of deep public budget cuts as a result of the economic crisis, community events need support more than ever from the private sector including brewers, who have played an important social, cultural and economic role in Europe for centuries, said Pierre-Olivier Bergeron, Secretary General of The Brewers of Europe, whose organisation represents Europe’s 3,300 brewers.
Speaking at the launch of the report in the European Parliament, Bergeron said, “Europe’s brewers are traditionally close to their local communities and have a stake in ensuring the social and cultural well-being and prosperity of the community. The 8,000 examples of community involvement by Europe’s brewers reflect that commitment and the benefits that this kind of support brings to event organisers, citizens and brewers.”
The €928 million funds a broad range of activities including the arts, culture, innovation and science as well as sport, sometimes even without explicit reference to the brewer sponsor, the study said. This is in addition to the better-known social responsibility activities such as anti drink driving campaigns that Europe’s brewers have run for decades.
Welcoming the report, Séan Kelly MEP said “In a time of economic austerity, the support given through sponsorship by the various brewers can help rebuild the people’s morale and wellbeing. This is important for the health of Europe’s social market economy. The brewers continue to take their social responsibility seriously, something which I welcome.”
Community involvement by brewers is about many small actions involving relatively small amounts of money. Taking out the major deals, the average spend is just €8,544, with 36% of activities being local and 48% regional.The study found that only 11% of the public think that it would be easy to replace brewery sponsorship of an event.
Sponsorship Ideas collected the data from sponsors and recipients of support, and surveyed the public on their views of brewery funded support. The European Sponsorship Association provided support including in reaching out to relevant event organisers.

London is to host the city’s first ever celebration of contemporary culture from across the Arab world – Shubak: A Window on Contemporary Arab Culture will encompass over seventy events in more than thirty cultural venues throughout the city for three weeks from  the 4th to the 24th of July and is organised by the Mayor of London and sponsored by HSBC.
Shubbak (the arabic word for ‘window’) will feature a programme of visual arts, film, music, theatre, dance, literature, architecture, lectures and discussion, many of them free, hosted by leading London cultural organisations.
The Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: “London is a global city in which Arab culture has played a significant part over the centuries –the word ‘Trafalgar’ even originates from the Arabic language. This festival is a unique chance for Londoners to glimpse the breadth and excellence of contemporary Arab culture and its influence on London’s cultural scene today. At a time of remarkable political and social change, Shubbak marks an exciting moment between artists in the capital and across the Arab world. I have no doubt that it will stimulate, delight and surprise audiences.”
Zarir J Cama, Group General Manager, Group Management Office, HSBC Holdings plc commented: “Shubbak: A Window on Contemporary Arab Culture will provide real insight into the Middle East and we are pleased to announce this sponsorship as the first event of our 2011 and 2012 global Cultural Exchange programme, Arabian Journeys. Celebrating the rich and diverse culture of the region, the programme will include research with the Economist Intelligence Unit, Arabia Offscreen – an international education project involving an expedition to Saudi Arabia – and exclusive cultural experiences for clients and stakeholders, with further announcements to be made shortly.
Following our previous spotlights on the emerging markets of China, India and Brazil, our Cultural Exchange programme reflects the value we place on appreciating and understanding different points of view when building successful working relationships.”
Presenting organisations include: Arab British Centre, Arab New Trends, Arts Canteen, Barbican Centre, The British Museum, Brunel Institute of Contemporary Middle-Eastern Music, Cadogan Hall, Café Oto, Dash Arts, Delfina Foundation, English Chamber Orchestra, Foyles Bookshop, Freeword, Gate Cinema, ICA, The Idler, iniva, Land in Focus, Leighton House Museum, LIFT, London Review of Books, London Walks, MICA Gallery, The Mosaic Rooms, Museum of London, Musicstage Promotions, Nous, Poet in the City, The Prince’s School of Traditional Arts, Resonance FM, Rich Mix, Royal Institute of British Architects, Sadler’s Wells, Saqi Books, Scoop at MORE London, Selma Feriani Gallery, Serpentine Gallery, Six Pillars, SOAS, Sotheby’s, Southbank Centre, Tate Modern, V&A, Young Vic, Westfield Shopping Centre and the Zenith Foundation.

The Almeida Theatre Company and insurance and reinsurance company Aspen have signed a new three year partnership to start this Summer, building on the existing long term relationship between the two companies.  
Aspen’s relationship with the Almeida began in 2004 as production sponsors of Edward Albee’s The Goat and has grown from there with support for the theatre’s productions of Macbeth, There Came a Gypsy Riding, Period of Adjustment, The Homecoming, Parlour Song, Rope and most recently House of Games.  From 2 July 2011 Aspen will become the Principal Partner of the Almeida Theatre.
According to the theatre company, Aspen’s commitment to a three year Principal Partnership will ensure continued bold programming, artistic endeavour and risk taking.  Equally as important, it will allow the theatre to keep ticket prices affordable (with up to 40 seats sold each night for just £8).  The partnership is unprecedented for the Almeida in that it also involves a commitment to support the theatre’s education and community programme, Almeida Projects, as ‘Projects Underwriter’.  The partnership will offer volunteering opportunities and staff nights alongside client entertaining, business development opportunities and brand association.
In addition to its main stage work, the Almeida works with over 10,000 young people each year as well many from the local community.  To achieve all this ambition the theatre has to now raise over £1.2 million annually which, along with ticket sales and a reduced Arts Council grant, contributes to the £3.9 million turnover required to run the Company.  

Christopher Rodrigues, Chair of the Almeida Board of Trustees commented “The Aspen Principal Partnership is of course timely from a financial perspective, but what excites us more is Aspen’s proven commitment to the ethos of our theatre and to Michael Attenborough’s (artistic director) vision of a house committed to innovative work of the highest quality.  Aspen is a kindred spirit and that bodes extraordinarily well for the future”.
Karen Green, CEO, Aspen UK, said: “Aspen has been an admirer and supporter of the Almeida Theatre for eight years.  As a local theatre with tremendous international outreach, we are very proud to work with the Almeida Theatre in delivering its innovative programme of work as Principal Partner and in fulfilling a vibrant role in the local community through Almeida Projects, in particular at this difficult time for the Arts.  We look forward to the Almeida Theatre’s continued success in bringing new perspectives to the theatre.”

Sandra Greer has recently joined Repucom International as General Manager UK & Ireland from IFM Sports Marketing Surveys where she had been Head of Research and Consultancy. Sandra will be responsible for strengthening the range of services offered by the company in terms of market research, insight and consultancy.
 “Sandra has a wealth of experience within the sports and sponsorship industry, working particularly with sponsors but also with rights holders. We are happy to have her on board”, underlines Danny Townsend, President EMEA & South Asia. “Sandra will support us in the further development of evaluation models to measure sponsors’ return on investment, as well as helping to develop strategic plans.”
Sandra will be based in Repucom’s London office but is also able to draw upon the resources of the company’s strategic partner, SPORT+MARKT. She will initially work on updating systems and processes within the fast-growing media evaluation sector of the business and also develop market research and consultancy potential for the business in sport and non-sport areas.

Savills Partners Surrey County Cricket Club

Real estate adviser Savills is to become a community partner of Surrey County Cricket Club and the headline partner for the Oval Community Plus initiative.
The agreement will see the firm giving financial support to the club’s community programme and be of benefit to children and young people across inner London.
Savills sponsorship arrangement will help to secure existing community programmes currently at risk from government funding. The firm will become overall supporter of the Ben Hollioake Learning Centre (BHLC), a state-of-the-art classroom built within the Kia Oval, which delivers numerous projects including flagship study support scheme ‘Playing for Success’, the Gifted and Talented initiative, the Howzat Education Project and the Re-engagement programme.
The agreement will also see Savills staff enter into a volunteer programme to include after school mentoring and coaching at BHLC, which attracts over 1,300 children and young people every year. The firm has committed to providing work experience opportunities for some members of the community programme.
Jeremy Helsby, CEO of Savills, says: “We remain committed to supporting charitable causes across our global business and encourage teams at country level to support local initiatives. This initiative allows our staff to get involved with volunteer work, which is a fantastic opportunity, and I have no doubt that with their energy and enthusiasm many will make a significant contribution to the programmes.”
Richard Gould, Chief Executive of Surrey County Cricket Club, added: “Surrey is rightly proud of its excellent community programmes and the support of major firms such as Savills will be a major boost in coming years.
“Schemes such as Playing for Success epitomise what can be achieved with a successful marriage of sport and education. Support of this kind will allow us to continue running them in years to come.”
In the UK Savills supports two main corporate charities, Honeypot and LandAid. Its graduate team continue to support I CAN, a charity assisting children with speech, language and communication needs by carrying out projects at the Meath School in Surrey raising money and spending a day per person at the school to work on a project to build an outdoor classroom. In addition the firm supports charitable events on a national and regional level throughout the calendar year.

London Irish and Powerday plc have signed a new three year deal which sees the recycling company become the new principal sponsor of the Aviva Premiership side until the end of the 2013/14 season.

The agreement is Powerday’s first major sponsorship within professional sport.  From the 2011/12 season, it will take over as main shirt sponsor with its logo also appearing on all first team training and coaching staff wear.  The agreement also includes match day branding and in-stadia signage at the Madejski Stadium and the club’s Sunbury-on-Thames training ground, corporate entertainment and access to players for marketing and PR purposes.

Powerday is a long term supporter of London Irish, which includes an eight year patronage of the London Irish Academy.  They will continue to sponsor the Academy, AASE (Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence) and London Irish Amateur RFC. 

Mick Crossan, Chairman of Powerday plc said: “The Club has made huge strides forward in recent years both on and off the field and we can clearly see the many commercial benefits this sponsorship will bring.  We are building on a long and very successful association with the Club – the London Irish family is a close one which we very much feel a part of and their family values are ones that fit perfectly with our own business ethos. We look forward to being part of the Club’s future success.”

Richard Marsh, Commercial Director London Irish added:  “Activating this sponsorship will allow us to raise the bar and engage with our respective markets in some exciting and innovative ways – with the ability to further raise the awareness of professional rugby and environmental issues amongst young people across the UK.  We are looking forward to working with Mick and his team. ”
 A family owned business, founded in 1980, Powerday provides recycling and waste management solutions to organisations across London and beyond. Providing an environmentally responsible approach, Powerday has grown significantly and has doubled the size of its business in the last three years.

A £200,000 carrot is being dangled in front of Derbyshire County CC’s players this season as the result of a lucrative new incentive scheme set up by local businessman Peter Gadsby. Success in all three domestic competitions would see that amount added to the players’ existing prize money by Mr Gadsby’s Ark Capital Group of property and investment companies with £100,000 for winning the Friends Life t20 competition which starts next month, £50,000 for winning the LV = County Championship Second Division title and £50,000 for lifting the Clydesdale Bank 40 over trophy, in which they have made a promising start.
The players do not need to make clean sweep of trophies to boost their bonus pool, however, since the new scheme also offers payments for finishing runners-up in the three competitions and for finishing as the losing semi-finalists in the twenty and forty over tournaments.
“It is a novel opportunity for the players and the more I have to pay out, the happier I will be,” says Mr Gadsby, who played for Derbyshire at Colts and age group level and has a long affiliation with the County and with local cricket. We wanted to make the scheme realistic so we have scaled payments from the bottom up and made it possible for reasonably attainable levels of achievement to be rewarded.
“The players benefit from having extra incentives and the club benefits because this sort of scheme will inevitably make it more attractive to new talent as they try to achieve higher standards on the field.”
Gadsby continued: “I have been a club sponsor for many years and this new incentive scheme is in addition to the already existing forms of support provided by two of my companies, Radleigh Homes and Miller Birch.”
This will not be the first time the former Derby County Chairman has put up cash for success at the County Ground. He was Derbyshire’s main sponsor in 1993 and put up bonus payments when they beat Lancashire in the final of the Benson & Hedges Cup so the omens for the new scheme are good.
Derbyshire captain Luke Sutton greeted the new incentives as “a shot in the arm for everybody in the club” and added: “It is not just the additional prize money that benefits the players. The knowledge that a major figure in the local business community is committed to supporting you is also important in helping to create good morale”.
“A similar scheme was in operation at Old Trafford when I played for Lancashire so I know from experience how much it is appreciated and how much difference it can make in the dressing room. It represents a great opportunity for the players.”
Derbyshire Chairman Chris Grant added: “This is a major boost for Derbyshire after a difficult week in which hard decisions had to be made in order to point the club towards greater long-term success on the field.

The European Sponsorship Association has secured Chris Ward, Chairman of Blue Dot World, to speak at the ESA Insights Forum ‘Optimising Social and Digital Media’ being held in London on the 25th May.

Ward will provide insight into how social/digital media is being used in cause-related marketing, drawing on experiences in previous roles with Comic Relief and1GOAL (South Africa 2010 legacy work). He will discuss the latest developments in social/digital media and how these platforms can be used to help deliver legacies such as London 2012.

For further information about the forum and the speaker line-up, please visit the ESA website – www.sponsorship.org.

The Jockey Club, the largest commercial group in British horseracing, has announced that it has entered into a commercial partnership agreement with Jaguar for the automotive brand to become its first ever Official Partner.

The new partnership will see Jaguar showcasing its range of cars and providing VIP transport at The Jockey Club’s Aintree, Epsom Downs and Newmarket Racecourses.

The agreement also provides Jaguar with use of The Jockey Club brandmarks and the category designation ‘Official Automotive Partner of The Jockey Club’; branding slots on-course and online; the ability to offer ‘money-can’t-buy experiences’ for customers and stakeholders; and promotion in The Jockey Club’s marketing and communications materials.

Commenting on the new partnership, Simon Bazalgette, Group Chief Executive, The Jockey Club, said: “Like Jaguar, our commitment to quality and innovation is second to none, and we’re excited about what we can achieve through this partnership for the good of racing.”

Geoff Cousins, Managing Director of Jaguar UK, explained: “This initial one-year deal sits within an overall sports strategy to encourage reappraisal of Jaguar by new customer groups. We are very proud of our current product line-up and look forward to working with The Jockey Club to encourage race goers to get close to the XF, XJ and XK.”

Simon Bazalgette told the Bulletin that The Jockey Club was encouraging a new level of partnership: “Racing has traditionally viewed its commercial partnership opportunity in terms of race sponsorships. As a sport we’ve been highly successful, as those deals offer partners excellent value and a strong platform to build their brand and entertain customers.

“Today we are embracing a new level of partnership, which we believe will prove attractive to UK and international organisations. Brands now have an opportunity to gain value from association with the heritage, leadership and innovation The Jockey Club is recognised for, while capitalising on the growth potential of Britain’s second most attended sport.”

The Hong Kong Rugby Football Union have secured Cathay Pacific and HSBC as new co-title sponsors of the world-famous Hong Kong Sevens from 2012-2015.

The four-year sponsorship agreement announced today resumes a successful partnership between these two Hong Kong institutions and the international sevens. Under the new sponsorship agreement the event title will be the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens.

Cathay Pacific and HSBC’s previous joint sponsorship of the Hong Kong Sevens ran from 1980 through to the first of two Rugby World Cup Sevens held in Hong Kong in 1997.

Mr Trevor Gregory, Chairman of the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union, commented on the title sponsorship saying: “The HKRFU is delighted to partner with two iconic Hong Kong institutions for what is undoubtedly the world’s iconic sevens event. HSBC and Cathay Pacific are synonymous with Hong Kong and like the Hong Kong Sevens do much to represent Hong Kong around the world.

“With the support of Cathay Pacific and HSBC, the HKRFU will be able to continue our efforts to grow and expand the Hong Kong Sevens. The continued success and profile of the Hong Kong Sevens also provides vital awareness and funding for the HKRFU to further expand our efforts to develop rugby at all levels of our community.”

The continued involvement of Cathay Pacific as an event sponsor strengthens a 30-year association with the Hong Kong Sevens – a unique longevity in international sports sponsorship.

Mr John Slosar, Chief Executive of Cathay Pacific Airways, said: “Cathay Pacific has had a long and happy association with the Sevens. We were there right at the beginning when the Sevens was born in 1976. And we are still supporting the Sevens some 36 years later”

HSBC’s sponsorship of the Hong Kong Sevens continues its growing support of Sevens internationally through the HSBC Sevens World Series and marks its only title sponsorship of an HSBC Sevens World Series event to date.

Mr Stuart Gulliver, Group Chief Executive of HSBC Holdings plc, commented: “The bank’s heritage here in Hong Kong, and our historic long-term investment in rugby around the world, means that this sponsorship is a fantastic addition to our international rugby portfolio. We will work in partnership with the HKRFU to use the profile and interest in the Cathay Pacific / HSBC Hong Kong Sevens to grow and develop the sport here in the Hong Kong community, as well as more broadly across Asia and the rest of the world.

The Cathay Pacific / HSBC Hong Kong Sevens 2012 will be held on 23-25 March.