Hollis Sponsorship Bulletin

Ford has extended its long-standing sponsorship of the UEFA Champions League through to June 2015.

“Our new three-year agreement shows how strongly we feel about this partnership,” said Stephen Odell, chairman and CEO, Ford of Europe. “For a global company like ours, the UEFA Champions League is an ideal platform to connect with millions of people around common values. It is about the best-of-the-best on the ultimate stage, and that’s why Ford wants to be part of it.”

Added David Taylor, CEO UEFA Events: “We are delighted that Ford has chosen to extend their agreement with UEFA and the UEFA Champions League for another three years. Ford has been a valuable partner of ours since the inception of the competition back in 1992. This renewal in our partnership further strengthens the close relationship we have.

“The UEFA Champions League continues to go from strength to strength and we are confident that it will carry on providing Ford with excellent opportunities to connect and engage with fans on a global basis.”

The UEFA Champions League is one of the most popular sports competitions in the world. More than one billion television viewers tuned in last season, with a cumulative audience of more than four billion, more than half of which were outside of Europe.

“This may be a European competition, but like Ford’s latest global vehicles, it is shared and enjoyed throughout the world. Great football, like a great car, is universal in its appeal and this partnership generates world-wide exposure,” said Roelant de Waard, vice-president, Marketing, Sales and Service, Ford of Europe. “This is the reason why the UEFA Champions League played such big role in the launch of the new Ford Focus earlier this year.”

The UEFA Champions League was indeed instrumental in revealing the new Ford Focus to a global audience through television break bumpers, stadium perimeter boards and online channels. Activities around the competition, such as the FocusCam attraction at the UEFA Champions League Festival, allowed visitors to the Ford stand to be captured in a 180 degree ‘Matrix’ style animation using a bank of 40 cameras. Participants could then share their video with friends online using the Focus Wi-Fi hotspot, uploading to the sites like Facebook or YouTube. The 77,630 subsequent views online of these films further demonstrated how Ford and UEFA work together in front of huge audiences to bring new Ford technologies to life.

Ford’s use of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to communicate more directly with consumers will be further enhanced by the new sponsorship deal. And for all of those customers who engage with Ford on these social media platforms, there will be more chances for them to interact with the Company and its continuing partnership with the UEFA Champions League.

To celebrate the 2012 UEFA Champions League Final being held in Munich, Ford in Germany will play a major role in the support of this event. This will include the launch of “Champions” special value models, as well as the provision of 200 vehicles featuring the 2012 UEFA Champions League Final livery to support transport logistics

Adidas, Nike and Puma are the best-known football sponsors in the five largest European football markets, according to a survey by sports marketing analysis and evaluation company Sport+Markt among 3,000 European football fans.

Unsurprisingly, “Jersey sponsors and kit suppliers dominate European communication in football”, says Hartmut Zastrow, Sport+Markt’s executive director.  Adidas is the top football brand, according to Zastrow who expressed surprise at seeing Audi in number eight position and commented:  “Audi pursues a decentralised football strategy, with partnerships with many European clubs and is even outstripping rival automobile supplier Ford, as a sponsor.”  Another reason, however, for its position could be the press coverage following the company’s purchase of shares in FC Bayern Munich.

The top twenty sponsorships are an illustration of the variance in sponsorship strategy that European companies can use to gain the attention of European football fans.  A global group such as Coca-Cola is ranked fourth and is omnipresent as a sponsor in football and sport in general, although it has no shirt sponsorships, whereas Emirates (ranked fifth) do have shirt sponsorships and the naming rights of Arsenal FC.  Moreover, it is a FIFA World Cup Partner.

The UK is the only market where shirt sponsors, namely AIG and Carlsberg, score higher than the actual kit suppliers or technical partners; only Barclays as the league title sponsor is able to compete at such a high level.  Internationally, the popularity of the Premier League and the success these clubs enjoy in the UEFA Champions League has enabled these sponsors to reach overseas fans.  For more information on the report, visit www.sportundmarkt.com

Schweppes has unveiled details of a marketing campaign which will link classic Christmas illustrations to voiceovers by comic actors Martin Freeman and Doon Mackichan. The work, by Mother London, will appear first as sponsorship idents on UKTV then form the basis of a terrestrial TV ad campaign. Coca Cola GB marketing director Cathryn Sleight said the work “captures Schweppes’ personality, adding a welcome twist and a humorous slant to Christmas. It sits in a long tradition of quintessentially British humour that has always been at the core of the Schweppes brand.”

Meanwhile, Ford has signed up as sponsor of Sky Sports News’ weather. The deal, brokered by Mindshare, will promote the relaunch of Ford’s S-MAX. The deal extends a long running partnership between Ford and Sky Sports.