Hollis Sponsorship Bulletin

Final deadline for the Hollis Sponsorship Awards is almost upon us – Monday 23rd January 2012. These highly-prized Awards champion the excellent work of rights holders and sponsors across the sponsorship industry and help to create benchmarks for others to aspire to.

The Awards recognise excellence and effectiveness across every sector no matter what the budget. Winning a Hollis Sponsorship Award is a ringing endorsement of a campaign conducted to the highest specification – a stamp of approval from the industry and a fantastic pat on the back to all the members of the team.

This is your opportunity to demonstrate just how effective your sponsorship campaigns are/have been in achieving both the client and the rights holder’s objectives – whether that might be selling product, increasing visibility, changing brand focus, motivating staff, engaging stakeholders, etc.

Please note that new categories have been added this year, so please take time to consider the most appropriate one for your campaigns.

For full information on the Awards and how to enter, please visit www.sponsorship-awards.co.uk or email info@sponsorship-awards.co.uk

Marketing services gropu Chime Communications PLC and Essentially Group Limited (Essentially) have acquired 85% of the share capital of Essentially France.

Essentially France was established by Chime, specifically to acquire the Rugby player agency businesses of Pascal Forni, Miguel Fernandez, Laurent Laffitte and Nigel Geany (the ‘founders’). France is the largest player management market in world rugby and Essentially France is now the leading rugby player agency in France.

The new business will trade as Essentially France and is a subsidiary of Essentially Group Limited, itself a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chime. Essentially France represented 14 of the 2011 Rugby World Cup squad for France. In addition, the company represents such luminaries of the game as Sebastien Chabal, the new France coach Philippe Saint-Andre and has a strong presence in Argentina where their clients include Captain Felipe Contemponi.

brandmeetsbrand has been briefed to secure a long-term title sponsorship for the Prince Charles Cinema, London.
Voted London’s favourite cinema by Time Out, the Prince Charles Cinema (PCC) is the only non-subsidised repertory cinema in the UK. brandmeetsbrand will help to build the PCC’s brand through corporate sponsorship, whilst maintaining the PCC’s independent approach and values.

Online betting firm StanJames.com has announced that it will sponsor the Chester Cup at Chester after agreeing a three-year deal with the racecourse. The deal will see the race renamed The StanJames.com Cup until 2014. The first StanJames.com Chester Cup will be held on May 9th2012, the first day of Chester’s annual May Festival on what is now called StanJames Raceday.

Buxton Natural Mineral Water is to continue as Official Water Supplier to England cricket teams for a further two years. The company, which first became an ECB partner in 2008, will continue as the exclusive supplier of bottled water to the England men’s and women’s cricket team for all home international matches until the end of the 2013 season.
In return Buxton receives a range of commercial assets that includes access to England cricketers for promotional purposes, specific branding opportunities around England cricket teams, in-stadia advertising and a variety of rights across England’s fan community, TwelfthMan.
On announcing the two-year extension, ECB Head of Commercial Partnerships Mark Pearce, said: “We’d like to thank Buxton for their continuing support for English cricket. This is the second time in four years that the company has renewed its agreement with ECB and their nationwide in-store marketing activity has played an important role in raising the profile of our England teams.”
On the announcement, Jenny Bond, Head of Marketing and CCSD, Nestlé Waters UK said: “We are proud to continue as the official water supplier to England men’s and women’s teams. Like cricket, Buxton Natural Mineral Water is quintessentially British, and the sponsorship remains a fantastic opportunity to promote Buxton and drive sales for our retail partners.”

ITV has agreed a new two-year deal with The Football Association for the broadcast rights to the pick of The FA Cup and England internationals, including home qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup, from the 2012/13 to 2013/14 seasons.

As part of the new agreement with The FA, ITV1 will continue to broadcast the first pick of FA Cup games throughout the season from the 1st round to the final; as well as the third choice game pick in the 5th and 6th rounds and the fourth choice pick in the 3rd and 4th rounds. ITV1 will also have first choice of replays from the 3rd to 6th rounds. In total ITV will broadcast up to sixteen live games across each season in addition to comprehensive highlights from every round.

ITV will also continue to be the free-to-air home of England internationals including all home qualifying games for the FIFA 2014 World Cup and all home and away friendlies during the two year period. Away qualifiers are sold by opposition associations and therefore do not fall under this FA agreement.

The football season’s traditional curtain raiser, The FA Community Shield, will also return to free-to-air television in 2012 and 2013 under the new deal. ITV will also extend its commitment with The FA across the two seasons to encompass live coverage of six games from The FA Youth Cup on ITV4, including the semi-finals and final of the competition.

ITV Director of Television, Peter Fincham said: “The FA Cup and England internationals are events with huge resonance and appeal for our viewers. I’m delighted that we are extending our partnership with The FA and that ITV1 will continue to be the home of live football on free-to-air television.”

Stuart Turner, FA Group Commercial Director said: “We enjoy a great relationship with ITV and this extension to our agreement underlines that. Having The FA Cup and England alongside other ITV content such as the Champions League and World Cups shows that our football content holds its own in exalted company. It further confirms ITV’s position as the home of free-to-air live football.”

All broadcast rights across the new term are platform neutral and live matches, highlights and clips will be available on ITV.com and the ITV Player.

The Football Association announced last week that it has awarded its European broadcast rights for the 2012-2018 period to sports marketing agency Pitch International. The deal grants Pitch the exclusive right to distribute matches from FA competitions and home England internationals from the beginning of the 2012/13 season throughout Europe.

The agreement does not include England home qualification matches for the 2014-18 period, as these will be centrally marketed by UEFA.

The deal sees The Football Association extend its long-running relationship with Pitch International, The FA’s current partner in selected countries in Europe and Australasia alongside brokering The FA’s relationship with Middle Eastern broadcaster, Al-Jazeera. In addition, Pitch manages The FA’s footage archive and the technical and satellite requirements of The FA’s international broadcast partners.

The Rugby Football Union has announced a new partnership with consumer healthcare company GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare (GSK). The deal will run to 2016 and sees brands Lucozade Sport and Maximuscle, part of the Maxinutrition portfolio, partner with the Elite England Rugby Squads as Official Hydration and Sports Nutrition partners respectively. The deal represents the first collaboration between the two companies since the GSK acquisition of Maxinutrition in February 2011.
Alongside elite rugby, the two brands are committed to supporting adult rugby outside of the professional game and will bring their enthusiasm and expertise to players and clubs throughout the country.
Peter Harding, General Manager of GSK Consumer Healthcare Great Britain and Ireland, commented,“We are delighted to announce the beginning of an exciting partnership with the RFU in what is a promising time for not only the senior England team but English rugby as a whole. GSK are positive that our significant experience in delivering outstanding sports nutrition will help the team maximise its potential, starting with the RBS 6 Nations.”
Sophie Goldschmidt, RFU Chief Commercial Officer, said, “We are excited about our new strategic partnership with GSK’s Consumer Healthcare business. Lucozade Sport and Maximuscle are leaders in their field and are highly respected within the industry. This partnership will benefit all levels of the RFU’s elite game, providing products and tailored nutritional expertise to England’s Senior, Saxons, Sevens and Women’s squads – this reinforces our commitment to excellence across all levels.”

Newcastle United sported its new sponsor Virgin Money on its shirts on Wednesday in its winning match against Manchester United. The Virgin Money logo replaces that of stricken bank Northern Rock which Virgin Money bought at the beginning of the year.
Virgin Money has taken over the old contract and extended it by a further two seasons.

Khan Consulting has been appointed by broadcasters Manish Bhasin and Rishi Persad to help them secure sponsorship and promotional based endorsements. Manish and Rishi co-hosted this year’s ICC Cricket World Cup highlights programme held in Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh on the BBC and have just been chosen by the BBC to present the 2012 Olympics.

Happy New Year from the Hollis Sponsorship Awards team.

We are sure you don’t need it but just a gentle reminder that we are two weeks away from final deadline for the 2012 Hollis Sponsorship Awards. Full details can be found at www.sponsorship-awards.co.uk. If you need any assistance with criteria or category selection, please do not hesitate to get in touch by emailing info@sponsorship-awards.co.uk or ring us on 020 8891 1067.
The Awards recognise excellence and effectiveness across the spectrum of the industry and entries are sought from clients, rights holders and consultancies. We also have categories dedicated to consultancies and individuals working in the industry.
If your campaign achieved great results, using the most creative methods and you have evidence in black and white, then you should start working on your submissions today. We look forward to hearing from you.