Hollis Sponsorship Bulletin

UK credit card company Capital One has agreed a new four year title sponsorship with The Football League for its showpiece cup competition, the League Cup. From the start of the 2012/13 season, the 52 year old knockout competition will be titled the Capital One Cup.

Brian Cole, Chief Executive of Capital One UK said: “We are very excited about getting behind the Capital One Cup and we’re looking forward to working with The Football League, the clubs, the players and the fans to build something amazing.
“The Capital One Cup gives clubs, big and small, a chance to compete on the national footballing stage and we look forward to introducing ourselves to millions of football fans across the country.”
Football League Chief Commercial Officer, Richard Heaselgrave said: “This is terrific news for clubs and a great way to conclude what has been a memorable domestic football season.”

Capital One opened its UK HQ in Nottingham in 1997 and is now among the top ten credit card issuers in the UK with three million

customers.

The Football League has launched a nationwide search to find the ‘npower Fan of the Year’ for the 2012 Football League Awards. Supporters are being encouraged to nominate fellow fans who have gone above and beyond the call of duty to support their club.

Previous winners include Coventry City supporter and Parkinson’s disease sufferer Kevin Monks, who won the award in 2011. Kevin was praised for his dedicated volunteering at the club which included serving on the Coventry Charity Cup Committee, giving thousands each year to nominated charities and the Covsupport News Service, helping to bring match reports to fans around the world.

The Prostate Cancer Charity has been selected as The Football League’s Official Charity Partner for the 2012/13 season.

The announcement follows a vote by more than 65,000 Football League fans, club Chief Executives and Football League staff who selected their preferred charity from a shortlist of six.

The six shortlisted charities were: Anthony Nolan, British Heart Foundation, Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research, NSPCC, The Prostate Cancer Charity and St John Ambulance.

Johnstone’s Paint has renewed its sponsorship of The Johnstone’s Paint Trophy for a further three seasons.
The announcement was made at Wembley Stadium, with the release of thousands of multi-coloured balloons to symbolise Johnstone’s commitment to ‘bringing colour to the beautiful game’ through until 2014/15, extending the premium paint brand’s association with The Football League to nine years – the longest sponsorship in the competition’s 29-year history.

In welcoming the deal, Football League Chairman Greg Clarke said: “I am delighted that we have extended our successful sponsorship with Johnstone’s Paint.

“They have worked extremely hard to help us raise this competition’s public profile and popularity with supporters. I look forward to further strengthening our relationship during this next stage of our partnership.”

The Johnstone’s Paint Trophy has gone from strength to strength during the first six seasons of the sponsorship following a package of reforms designed to raise the appeal of the competition. Changes included the scrapping of extra-time, increased regionalisation in early rounds and a renewed commitment from clubs to fielding first-team sides in matches.

For clubs in Leagues 1 and 2, the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy continues to offer the opportunity of a dream final at Wembley Stadium and for Johnstone’s the sponsorship has developed brand strength and visibility.

Johnstone’s Paint Marketing Director, Jason Metcalf, believes the sponsorship has created a huge buzz across the brand’s network of Decorating Centres and thousands of independent stockists, which have benefitted from a host of football themed community projects and ticket giveaways. He said: “More than five million fans have watched Johnstone’s Paint Trophy matches, in grounds and on television, since the sponsorship began and Johnstone’s Paint has also engaged with up to two million people through numerous community projects.

“So with this in mind, it is clear to see why we are all so thrilled to be extending our sponsorship. It has been one of our biggest success stories and we couldn’t be happier to be reinforcing our relationship with the clubs and their legions of fans.”

Successful community projects include a search to honour selfless non-league managers in 2010, along with a competition for young bloggers to write about their teams’ trophy exploits last season.

A shirt amnesty for World Emergency Relief in 2009 – where communities in South Africa were given hundreds of football shirts to train and play in – was also a resounding triumph.

Johnstone’s Paint also present a number of popular, long standing awards which continue to generate huge interest amongst fans, including the regular Ultimate Finish and Team of the Round trophies which are presented after each round of the competition.

The Football League has extended its partnership with Chevron Ltd, owner of the Texaco brand, the official Motor Fuel and Motor Oil Partner of the Championship until the end of the 2013/14 season.  The three-year renewal takes the relationship to six seasons and will see participating Championship clubs receive funding towards the cost of first team travel.

The multi-million pound ‘opt in’ deal also includes designation, club inventory – including perimeter boards – and programme advertising for all participating clubs. Texaco will remain as sponsors of the online Fantasy Football predictor game for the npower Championship and receive an online package across participating club websites and The Football League website.

Kieron Kilbride, Director of Business Development at The Football League, said: “We are delighted to have signed a new three-year agreement with the Texaco brand.  “This extension with one of our group of highly valued partners demonstrates the appeal of our partnership programme which offers brands unique access to both traditional and digital platforms.

“The Football League has a great track record of building long term partnerships and we are excited that we can now continue to work with the Texaco brand in engaging with millions of fans across England and Wales.”

Stuart McBride, Texaco Brand Specialist, said: “The Football League Championship remains a great fit for the values of our brand, and we are delighted to be continuing our relationship. A continuous programme of activity on forecourts, at the football grounds and in the media over the last three seasons has really helped to keep the Texaco brand profile high and ultimately drive customers to our forecourts. We are looking forward to building on the relationships we have developed with the clubs and their fans over the next three seasons.”

npower and The Football League have launched  ‘Home Town Heroes, a new community initiative that aims to put the power into the hands of the fans.  The £2 million 2m Home Team Heroes initiative – which will be run over the course of the three year sponsorship – will ask communities around the UK’s 72 Football League grounds to vote on how this money should be spent, in order to make the most impact in their local area.
Communities can choose from one of three projects for children:
• A ‘respect’ training workshop for ten year-olds run in schools with a focus on team work and citizenship
• Football skills training for 4 – 6 year-olds run by the club’s community coaches
• Improvement/clean up of a local park into a more football friendly space
The public will have until the end of December to decide and then each Football League club will work with npower to implement the project their fans have selected, before the end of the season.  The 72 clubs will be supported in this initiative by The Football League Trust which oversees the League’s community and youth development programmes
Fans can cast their votes by clicking onto the npower website, texting; filling in postcards at their local Football League club or one of npower’s touring event stands in the local area; or by logging onto their club’s official website.
Volker Beckers, RWE npower’s CEO, said: “This scheme is all about giving power to the fans. As a new sponsor, we didn’t want to come in with a ‘one size fits all’ approach. Instead, we’re asking the communities around each club to vote and tell us which option suits them best.”
Greg Clarke, Chairman of The Football League, said: “Football League clubs are an integral part of their local communities, demonstrating that football has the power to make a difference to peoples’ lives.  Whichever project each community votes for – be it respect workshops, football training or the improvement of local playgrounds – our clubs will be actively engaging with local children to encourage them to get involved in football.”
npower’s home team heroes programme aims to engage over half a million children over  three years. Fans can vote for their club to run one of the three options in their local area.. Voting will take place during November and December by one of the following methods:
• Completing postcards available from each Football League club
• Texting – free text to 81000 with club name and project choice i.e. respect, playground or coaching
• npower Website – the public can log onto www.npower.com/hometeamheroes to vote
• Email – email hometeamheroes@npower.com with club name and project choice i.e. Respect, Playground or Coaching

Energy supplier npower is tipped to announce today that it will take over from Coca Cola as sponsor of the Football League in a deal thought to be worth £2 million more to the FA.  npower will sponsor the Championship, League One and League Two. 
Last week, npower put its name to the England 2018 Bid by signing as an Official Sponsor. npower will be calling on its customers to get behind the bid and pledge their support for a World Cup in England in 2018. It also plans to combine football with footprint by helping businesses in the bid’s 12 host cities cut their energy use and carbon footprint.
npower commissioned research which indicated that businesses would benefit from a £3.2 billion cash injection and morale would be boosted as a result of winning the bid.  More than 82% of company bosses polled believed that a World Cup would be good for business, with 55% saying it will deliver major financial benefit, while 63% say it would boost morale.
Managing Director of npower retail markets Giuseppe Di Vita said:  “We’re absolutely delighted to be supporting the bid to stage the World Cup in England and excited by what a successful bid would mean for the country. We work with all of our customers to help them improve energy efficiency and many of our business customers have realised savings of thousands of pounds off their bills.  Bringing the 2018 World Cup to England is another way of boosting businesses’ bottom lines.”

West Bromwich Albion and Nottingham Forest sported the same sponsor this weekend when bookmaker Victor Chandler took up the one-off opportunity to sponsor the Football League Champion side. West Bromwich Albion is in its second season without a shirt sponsor and is attempting to woo partners with single or multiple game deals.

E.ON, FA Cup title sponsor and Football League partner, has signed England goalkeeper David James to front the brand’s new ‘Great Saves’ environmental marketing campaign.

The Football League is looking for a new title sponsor following the news that Coca-Cola is to end its support for the league at the end of this season. The soft drinks brand has been the main sponsor of the league since 2004 and was a driving force in the restructuring of the competition.

In a joint statement, the two sides said: “Both the Football League and Coca-Cola Great Britain have valued their relationship and are committed to continuing discussions about an ongoing commercial partnership. The Football League would like to thank Coca-Cola for its support and commitment. Coca-Cola GB has invested heavily and created innovative, high-profile promotional campaigns to raise awareness of the Football League and its 72 clubs and generate excitement among its fans – such as the Win A Player promotion and Club Colours TV ad campaign.”

There’s no suggestion that Coca-Cola’s decision is a vote against soccer sponsorship in general. It still has partnerships with Wayne Rooney, Wembley Stadium, the FIFA World Cup and the UEFA European Championships. There are even rumours that it may sign a deal with the FA to replace E.ON as the sponsor of the FA Cup. However there has been no official comment from Coke on this.

As for The Football League, it claims to be in discussions with a number of companies about the title sponsorship. As one of the most-watched soccer leagues in the world, it is well-placed to find itself a strong commercial partner. Indeed, there are reports that it was the league which decided to call off the partnership because it believes it can generate more than the £6 million a year that Coca-Cola is willing to pay.