Hollis Sponsorship Bulletin

BT is to be the headline sponsor of BT London Live, a celebration of sport, music and other entertainment in Hyde Park, Victoria Park and Trafalgar Square this summer as part of the city’s London 2012 celebrations. BT London Live will be free apart from the Opening and Closing Celebration Concerts at Hyde Park.
There will be outdoor screenings of the sporting action, entertainment every day of the Games and the opportunity to ‘have a go’ at free sport participation zones. As a result of its sponsorship of London Live, BT customers will have 48-hour priority access for tickets for the special Opening and Closing Celebration Concerts held at Hyde Park on 27 July and 12 August, via www.bt.com/londonlive.
Gavin Patterson, CEO, BT Retail, said, “London 2012 will not just be about sport – it’s also about people experiencing the amazing atmosphere the Games will bring to the capital. Through BT London Live we’ll give close to a million people a fantastic free experience this summer. Priority access is a great way to say thank you to our customers and employees and we’re delighted to offer this starting with the Opening and Closing Ceremony Celebration Concerts. Everyone will remember where they were when British gold medals were won – it’s great that for many people, those memories will be of BT London Live.”
Acts and ticket details for BT London Live will be announced over the coming weeks.

BT has become the Official Communications Services Partner of St George’s Park, the first of a number of tiered partners of The Football Association’s new National Football Centre, under development in Burton upon Trent.

In a five year, multi-million pound agreement, coaches, players and business users of St. George’s Park will all benefit from a state-of-the-art, high-speed BT iNet voice and data network plus BT Openzone Wi-Fi.

David Sheepshanks, Chairman of St. George’s Park, said: ““St. George’s Park will be at the very centre of coach education and young player development and for The FA to be delivering its philosophy and agenda it needs the very best technology infrastructure and facilities. We look forward to working closely with BT.”

Graham Sutherland, Managing Director, BT Business, said: “We are very proud to support St. George’s Park and to help The FA develop the next generation of sporting greats. With the best communications technology at the heart of this project, English football can build a competitive advantage on the field.”

Rob Ray, Group Director of Digital & Information Technology at The Football Association, said: “St. George’s Park is designed to be cutting edge in every way and technology is a key component, making this partnership with BT all the more exciting. There is little doubt that they are best placed to deliver this expertise and we are delighted to be able to partner with them to enhance St. George’s Park’s status as a centre of sporting excellence.”
broadcast services support The FA Cup, Wimbledon and Rugby Union, among 3,500 headline events, each year.

BT joins a growing list of commercial partners, headed by lead partner Umbro, as well as Hilton Worldwide. The centre is on track to open in the summer of 2012.

Forming part of its campaign running up to Olympic Games, London 2012 Official Partner BT is sponsoring Road To 2012 – Changing Pace at the National Portrait Gallery, London – an exhibition of portraits of those helping to make London 2012 happen.  The exhibition runs from July 25th 2011 to September 25th 2011.

Double Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes and Wenlock, the official London 2012 Olympic mascot, were at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre yesterday to launch BT’s search for members of the public to become the storytellers of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The BT campaign is looking for people from all walks of life to share their experiences and thoughts about the London 2012 Games in a variety of creative ways. Whether they are budding writers, keen social networkers, amateur photographers, film-makers, artists or musicians – anyone with an interest in London 2012 is invited to participate.
People are invited to register on the new storytellers’ website (www.bt.com/london2012), with applications open from today until June 2011. Then, the chosen storytellers will be invited to submit their stories, tweets, photos, film clips and blogs to be published on the dedicated website from 27th July 2011, which will mark the official one year to go countdown to the London 2012 Olympic Games, right through to the end of the Paralympic Games in September 2012.
The chosen storytellers will have exclusive access through BT to events and people connected to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Their work will be showcased on a dedicated website, and could also be published through mainstream media.
Suzi Williams, director, BT Group marketing and brand said: “The Olympic and Paralympic Games are all about creating stories that will last through the generations – and there is nothing more important than sharing these stories with each other. The greatest show on earth deserves the greatest storytellers, and we’re delighted to be starting the search for them today.”

Promoting its official communications services partnership of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, BT’s new Phone Books will feature some of the UK’s leading athletes on the cover to celebrate two years to the start of the Games.  The first books will be distributed next week and feature BT Ambassador Ade Adepitan MBE, who won bronze as part of the wheelchair basketball team at the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games.
 The Phone Book will include London 2012 information specific to each region as the Games move closer.   Other sports personalities who will feature on the Phone Book front cover include Chris Tomlinson, World Indoor long-jump silver medallist;  Lee Pearson CBE, nine-times Paralympic equestrian gold medallist;  Lee McConnell, Olympic 4x400m relay runner; Dame Mary Peters, Olympic gold medallist in pentathlon; Leon Taylor, Olympic diving silver medallist who also invented the world’s most difficult dive;  Anne Bochmann, European Junior swimming gold medallist;  Nathan Stephens, Paralympic field athlete; Alistair Brownlee, World Triathlon Champion, and his younger brother Jonathan Brownlee, European Junior Triathlon Champion.

BT has made a long term commitment to Paralympic sport in the UK, helping to secure a lasting legacy for the country’s Paralympic athletes through the London 2012 Paralympic Games and beyond.

BT will continue to support the British Paralympic Association (BPA) after the London 2012 Paralympic Games, for the period 1 January 2013 until 31 December 2016, supporting ParalympicsGB athletes as they compete in Sochi in 2014 and Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

As part of the agreement, BT is working with the British athletes to create communications services to enhance and support their training and team interaction.   BT has secured the highest level of sponsorship rights and benefits including association with the ParalympicsGB team, tickets and hospitality rights at the Paralympic Games of 2014 and 2016 and at other official Paralympic events, and branding and recognition across BPA marketing materials. 

BT is a long term supporter of the BPA and was the association’s first commercial partner when it was founded in 1989. BT is the Official Communications Services Partner to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. BT is also title sponsor of the BT Paralympic World Cup, the largest annual international multi-sport competition in elite disability sport.  The event is taking place in Manchester from now until the 31st of May 2010, and features BT Ambassadors Oscar Pistorius and Liz Johnson.

UK soul queen Mica Paris is donating her single Hold On as the official anthem to this year’s BT Paralympic World Cup. Mica contacted BT to offer her support to the BT Paralympic World Cup.
The track will be used throughout the tournament, taking place from 25-31 May, and the singer will attend this year’s event as a special guest, which will see over 400 competitors from over 31 countries scheduled to compete.
BT Group marketing and brand director Suzi Williams said, “We’re really pleased BT can help bring this new dimension to the BT Paralympic World Cup this year. This is just the first of many new initiatives we hope to bring to the event between now and 2012.”
BT is the title sponsor of the Paralympic World Cup; the sponsorship runs up to and includes the 2012 BT Paralympic World Cup.
The BT Paralympic World Cup is sanctioned by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), the Cerebral Palsy International Sports & Recreation Association (CPISRA) and the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) and supported by BT, ParalympicsGB, the FA, Manchester City Council and the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA).
The BBC, the official televised partner to the event, will broadcast live from the Manchester Aquatics Centre on Monday 31 May 2010 on BBC Television.

John Lewis yesterday became the 26th domestic sponsor to join the London 2010 team with the title Official Department Store Provider.  As a Tier Three Provider to London 2012, John Lewis will offer its staff the opportunity to work at LOCOG in the build-up to the Games, help to furnish lounge and reception areas at Games-time venues, and provide warehouse space.  The John Lewis shop on Oxford Street and  a new shop due to be opened in 2011 adjacent to the Olympic Park at Stratford are set to become key retail outlets for Games-related merchandise.  These shops will give back all net profit to London 2012 on Olympic merchandise sold.

London 2012 Chairman Sebastian Coe commented: “We are thrilled that John Lewis has chosen to join us on the journey to 2012.  They supported us during the bid and so it is fantastic to have them on board as a sponsor.  They bring a wealth of retail experience which will  be invaluable to us as our merchandise programme ramps up and crucially, members of their staff will join our own to provide expertise and ensure those visiting our Games receive the warmest of welcomes in 2012.”

Andy Street, Managing Director of John Lewis commented: “Sustainability and community are at the heart of our business and we are therefore delighted to be involved with the regeneration of east London through anchoring the Olympic development in Stratford with our latest full-line department store as well as helping to fund the most exciting sporting event for a generation.”

Contributing to LOCOG’s budget of £2 billion for staging the Olympic and Paralymic Games are seven Tier One Partners – adidas,  BMW, BP, British Airways, BT, EDF and Lloyds TSB, six domestic  Tier Two Supporters – Adecco, Cadbury, Cisco, Deloitte, Thomas Cook and UPS.  There are now 13 domestic Tier Three Suppliers and Providers – Airwave, Atkins, Boston Consulting Group, Crystal CG, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, GSK, Holiday Inn, John Lewis, McCann Worldgroup, The Nielsen Company, Populous, Ticketmaster and Trident.

The Worldwide Olympic Partners signed up for London 2012 are Coca-Cola, Acer, Atos Origin, GE, McDonald’s, Omega, Panasonic, Samsung and Visa.

Five charities across the UK have taken part in a project to help people master technology in their neighbourhoods. Using awards received under the BT Community Connections scheme, this year’s five “Connectors” are: Breakthrough Youth Project in Glasgow; the Lisieux Trust in Birmingham; Hardwick in Partnership in Cleveland; Honeycroft in Hove and Siawns Teg in Powys, Wales.

Beth Courtier, head of BT’s Charity Programme, says the charities offer support services from youth, disability and unemployment services to childcare and cultural diversity support. “The scheme has worked well for our BT Community Connectors and we are delighted at the commitment they have shown. The success stories coming from each charity highlight that knowledge and training are a great way to have a lasting impact on local communities.”

The BT Community Connections scheme reopens for applications from March 17. With more than a thousand award packages on offer, community and voluntary groups have the chance to move into the world of technology just by filling in a simple application form.  Go to: www.btcommunityconnections.com for information.