Hollis Sponsorship Bulletin

The 2010/2011 UEFA Champions League Tournament was followed by 1.1 billion football enthusiasts around the world. Through MasterCard’s sponsorship promotions people in over 60 countries were given the chance to connect to one of the most popular sporting events of the year.
For the new cycle, MasterCard will place renewed focus on the fans, offering multiple ways for the tournament‟s followers to benefit from its involvement as a sponsor. This ranges from the cardholder offers made available on the UEFA Champions League MasterCard webshop through to ‘priceless’ experiences designed and delivered especially by MasterCard.
In the last two years, thousands of fans experienced their own ‘priceless’ moment of sporting history, which included parents getting the chance to see their child accompany a sporting hero onto the pitch, or winning exclusive access for their child at special pre-match practices. MasterCard further enhanced the experiences by creating joint promotions with other UEFA Champions League Tournament co-sponsors, showing the power of partnerships within sponsorship where fans can benefit from multiple sponsors at the same time.
New for this cycle, MasterCard will also offer UEFA Champions League experiences directly for fans with a link to those cities hosting the matches. Cardholders living or visiting these locations around Europe will be able to have direct access to the club tournament.

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

The global advertising market is set for a rocky 2009 – but there are signs that some blue-chip sponsors see value in marketing their way through the current recession.

EDF, for example, has just announced it will be renewing its sponsorship of ERC-controlled European club rugby tournaments, the Heineken Cup and European Challenge Cup. A four-year extension to the current deal means EDF will now back ERC until the end of the 2012/2013 season.

Explaining the rationale for the renewal, EDF communications officer Dominique Lagarde said the partnership with ERC provided “a powerful communication platform to generate positive brand exposure and to organise quality hospitality programmes in key European markets”.

This week also saw Mastercard renew its sponsorship of UEFA’s Champions League until the end of the 2011/12 season. Underlying the desire among big brands to hold on to top properties, Mastercard Europe’s president Javier Perez said sponsorships were a critical component of Mastercard’s marketing approach. Heineken, Sony and UniCredit have already signed up as CL partners for the 2009-2012 contract.