Consumer-facing brands ‘fight back’ as fastest-growing front of shirt sponsors

The last five years has seen a significant shift back to consumer-facing brands appearing on the front of shirts across professional football, cricket and rugby teams in England, according to the latest annual study by sponsorship intelligence firm caytoo

The six fastest-growing sectors who feature as the main front of shirt sponsor all target people rather than businesses - Hotels & Cruise Lines, Clothing/Footwear brands, Home/Garden products and Gambling brands. In contrast, three of the four sectors with the biggest decline are business-facing - Energy, Specialist Business Services and Logistics companies.

Gambling remains the most common sponsor - accounting for 15.5% of (or nearly one in six) – front of shirt sponsorships. This is heading towards double the share it held five years ago (8.5%). Over half (11 of 20) of this year’s Premier League teams have a front of shirt gambling sponsor. This will fall to zero in a few months when the voluntary ban on front-of-shirt gambling sponsors takes effect.

Following gambling, four of the next top six sectors are now consumer-facing – Household electronics/Appliances, Car Retailers and Airlines. In contrast, the four sectors tailing gambling last year were all business-facing - Manufacturing/Engineering firms, Specialist business services, Construction and Logistics companies.

“This fight back is driven by various factors, such as deals becoming more sophisticated in how consumer brands can ‘activate’ the sponsorship, particularly through digital channels. This makes it easier to measure the return on investment so they’re more comfortable signing a deal,” said Alex Burmaster, caytoo’s head of research and insights. “There’s also the ‘entertainment-ification of sports’ - think what cricket’s The Hundred is doing - which fits more with consumer brands. Fanbases are also becoming more international, which is slightly easier for them to harness than business-to-business firms. Overall, it’s resulting in a more familiar feel for fans towards the companies ‘badging up’ their teams.”

In conclusion, Burmaster said:“It remains uncertain how the landscape will change in a year when gambling logos will no longer be on the front of Premier League shirts. Health insurer Vitality is replacing Bournemouth’s gambling sponsor, job search website Indeed is replacing Brentford's while other replacements reportedly close to signing deals include a country tourism board and an online trading platform.”