Hollis Sponsorship Bulletin

With the domestic Twenty20 cricket competition set to begin on 1 June, Friends Life has enlisted the services of Generate Sponsorship to help raise its profile as the leading sponsor of the tournament.
The competition will run throughout June and July with a total of 97 matches being played including the season highlights of the quarter, semi-final and final fixtures set for 25 August in Cardiff.
Peter Foster, Director Corporate Affairs and Brand, Friends Life said:
“I am delighted to have the team at Generate working with us. I have long admired their work and their reputation within the field of sports sponsorship speaks for itself. I am confident they will do a terrific job in helping promote Friends Life’s association with cricket.”
Andy Muggleton, Managing Partner, Generate Sponsorship added:
“We are very pleased to be working with Friends Life to activate its sponsorship of Twenty20 cricket. It’s a very exciting time for the brand and there is a great team in place committed to delivering business benefits through sponsorship. We have a real passion for the sport and look forward to developing a long-term partnership with Friends Life.”

Recent innovations in cricket such as the Twenty20 format have created a more broad-based appeal for the sport. It has caught the imagination of women, the young and old alike according to results from the Sponsoring 21+ study conducted by Sport+Markt in the four key cricket markets of India, United Kingdom, South Africa and Australia. It is evident that cricket is beginning to draw a much younger and wider demographic base on TV.
 
“Cricket is finally attracting the attention of non-traditional cricket audiences – the more hard to reach demographic groups of women and youth”, states Ravi Chavan, cricket expert at Sport+Markt. There has been a significant increase in women following cricket on TV in
the United Kingdom (+12%) and South Africa (+6%) between 2008 and 2009.

Similarly, during the same period, cricket has also experienced an increase amongst the target audience of 16-29 year olds in countries such as Australia (+5%) and South Africa (+4%), whereas there was a marginal decrease of one percentage point in India and the United Kingdom. However, given the fact that there has been an overall increase in the following of cricket on TV in India (+ 5 %) and the United Kingdom (+1%),the total number of 16-29 year olds following cricket on TV has nevertheless increased in 2009 as compared to 2008. This trend is further expected to continue, as the Twenty20 cricket format matures and attracts a greater number of viewers.

“Twenty20 format is primarily designed for television and with its high octane contests appeals to women and young people, whose attention is much craved by sponsors and advertisers alike”, the Sport+Markt project manager emphasised.
 
Interesting to note is the considerable decline in the 30-44 years old age category in all the countries. This can be partly attributed to the fact that this category represents the traditional cricketing audience, which are more inclined towards the longer version of the game and have a cynical view towards the new format. On the other hand there has been a considerable increase in the 45 plus age category in all the countries.

However, from a long term perspective, according to Ravi Chavan, the challenge for cricket’s governing bodies will be to sustain the spectator appeal of these valuable new found audiences, and more importantly to find a way to resurrect the declining interest in Test cricket.

Telecommunications company Worldcall is the title sponsor for the Pakistan v England Twenty20 International matches at Dubai Sports City on 19th and 20th February.  Moreover, Bank Alfalah has confirmed as presenting sponsor for the series, repeating its role from the One-Day International and Twenty20 International series between Pakistan and New Zealand in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in November 2009.
The series at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium will be known as the WorldCall T-20 Challenge presented by Bank Alfalah.

While England has managed to sign up Brit Insurance as its team sponsor, Twenty20 cricket also continues to be of great interest to brands. This week, for example, saw Indian telco Airtel sign up as title partner of the new Twenty20 Champion’s League tournament which starts in October of this year.
Airtel has signed up as title partner for five years in a deal with the event’s commercial rights holder ESPN Star Sports. The deal is said to be worth £4.2 million over the five-year period – though this hasn’t been confirmed by the rights holders.

The event will involve 12 teams from India, Australia, South Africa, England, West Indies, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. They will play 23 matches in 16 days, competing for £4 million in prize money. Commenting on the deal, Bharti Airtel marketing director Shireesh Joshi said: “We are delighted to announce our partnership with ESPN for the title sponsorship of the Champions League Twenty20 cricket tournament. We have seen a great synergy between our brand and cricket, since both cater for and connect to a wide spectrum of consumer segments.”