Hollis Sponsorship Bulletin

Jack Wolfskin has signed as presenting sponsor of the  2010 Emirates Cup. The Germany-based outdoor equipment specialists will have significant exposure on the LED inventory as well as additional presence in and around the Emirates Stadium when hosts Arsenal, AC Milan, Celtic FC and Olympique Lyon lock horns in one of football´s pre-season tournaments on July 31st and  August 1st.
Stefan Fueg, Kentaro´s Global Head of Sponsorship, said:  “The Emirates Cup Presenting Sponsorship Package guarantees unique exposure and will further boost Jack Wolfskin´s brand awareness in the United Kingdom and all over the world.”
Jack Wolfskin is one of the largest provider of functional outdoor clothing, footwear and equipment in Europe and the largest franchiser in the German specialist sports retail market. There are more than 300 franchise stores and 2,400 sales locations throughout Europe and Asia. In August, the company will open London’s first Jack Wolfskin store in Westfield.
 “As we will keep making consistent and increased investments in raising our brand recognition, the initial partnership with the Emirates Cup plays an important role in promoting the Jack Wolfskin brand in the UK,” said Manfred Hell, Managing Director of Jack Wolfskin GmbH & Co.

Think!Sponsorship,  the UK’s largest one-day sponsorship conference is back for its 14th event which will take place on October 12th 2010 at the British Museum,  London. The conference, which has been described as the trade meeting ground for sponsorship in the UK, is exploring the impact that the digital revolution is having on the sponsorship sector and will bring together specialist insight and intelligence from a variety of experts within this field.
Over 100 delegates have already registered their attendance at the event which sees contributions from organisations including British Gas, J.P. Morgan, Samsung, Aviva, Synergy Sponsorship plus many others. The conference itself will also embrace digitalisation allowing attendees the opportunity to utilise online tools to build the day best suited to their needs, follow the event on Twitter and join the Think!Sponsorship community via Facebook.
Topics under discussion at the event  include a panel discussion regarding the role of ‘rights’ in today’s sponsorship ‘content’ economy, building, activating, and commercialising digital communities, current and future digital trends, the role of value in kind and reputation management in a digital marketplace.
Hollis Sponsorship Bulletin readers can take advantage of a special discount on tickets when booking before the end of August. Simply mail catherine@thinksponsorship.com quoting HST S1 to reserve your ticket at the discounted rate of £199 plus VAT. Edited highlights from the last event can be viewed online at www.thinksponsorship.com. The full programme can also be accessed via the website.

A new report just released shows that the popularity of women’s sport is at an all-time high, but still faces a significant challenge to turn this increased interest into commercial investment and extended media coverage.
A team of leading figures including Baroness Grey-Thompson, Minister of Sport Hugh Robertson and cricketer Clare Connor have all lent their support to the findings that reveal strong demand from UK sports fans for greater coverage of women’s sport, but which also show that the commercial sport sector is failing to capitalise on the opportunities presented by this fast-growing and uncluttered market.
Fifty percent of sports fans say women’s sport is on the way up, considerably more so than men’s (36%).  Forty four percent believe the quality of women’s sport is much better than 10 years ago, 54% feel women’s sport is just as exciting as men’s and 61% of sports fans state that they would watch more women’s sport if it were televised.  Yet while the perception of women’s sport is high, this does not correlate with the levels of investment from the commercial sector via sponsorship and the report suggests brands are missing out on a captive and valuable market.
The new report by the Commission on the Future of Women’s Sport, PrimeTime: The Case for commercial investment in women’s sport, highlights the opportunity for the commercial sector, rights holders, broadcasters and government to work together to capitalise on a market that has great potential but remains under leveraged.
On an individual basis, some female sports stars have high recognition levels amongst sports fans: Ellen MacArthur (76%) is better known than Andrew Strauss (60%). Yet women such as Claire Taylor (13%) and Kelly Smith (17%) in team sports struggle to achieve profile in spite of their heroic efforts in achieving success for their national teams. The report suggests that this is due to a lack of marketing and media coverage afforded to women’s team sports and not one of a lack of appetite from UK sports fans. 
This lack of investment and marketing in women’s sport has significant health and reputational implications for Great Britain. Eighty percent of women do too little physical activity to benefit their health and only one of ten women play competitive sport. As host to the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, having 50% of our population being less active since winning the Bid, places the promised legacy of a fitter and healthier nation legacy in grave danger.
The report proves that negating the health and reputational implications highlighted is not just a moral obligation of British sport stakeholders but is one that has exciting marketing potential for the commercial sector. A creative and bold approach from rights holders is required to develop the events, which in turn will interest broadcasters to support high quality women’s sport events, and make the proposition much more compelling for brands to invest through sponsorship.
Hugh Robertson, Minister for Sport, comments: “Many of the international successes that British teams have enjoyed in the last few years have been down to women.  Just last year the England women’s cricket team and athlete Jessica Ennis became world champions, and our women’s football team was runners up in the European Championships. These successes should encourage more commercial sponsors to look to women’s sport.  London 2012 gives us a fantastic opportunity to put sportswomen in the spotlight, inspiring millions of women and girls to get more active - and businesses can play a key part in helping us to achieve this.”
In conclusion, Chair of the Commission, Baroness Grey-Thompson said: “I sincerely hope that the findings within our report act as a rallying call to all the stakeholders within British sport. Whilst it is alarming to consider the lack of commercial investment and marketing that goes behind women’s sport at all levels, it is also clear that the sporting public want more content, so there is an attractive customer base out there for rights-holders and commercial brands to engage with.”

The 2010 ESA European Sponsorship Awards are now open for entry - to sponsors, rights holders and agencies.  The Awards, organised by the European Sponsorship Association (ESA), celebrate excellence across all sectors - sport, culture, entertainment, media and corporate social responsibility.
Karen Earl, Chairman of the European Sponsorship Association explained that the awards are devised to focus on the varying business objectives of a sponsorship campaign.  In a bid to attract smaller sponsorship campaigns, two new categories - Business to Consumer, (budget under €100,000) and Business to Community (budget under €50,000) - have been added for 2010. Karen Earl added that many of the previous entries featured high-profile campaigns by well-known brands with large budgets and ESA wanted to encourage successful campaigns orchestrated on lower budgets to have an opportunity also to be recognised for excellence.
Final deadline is  September 20th , but entries submitted by September 6th will benefit from a special early-bird discount.   Winners will be announced at the Awards Ceremony in Amsterdam on Wednesday 24th November, as part of ESA’s two-day annual conference, Future Sponsorship. 
For more information on the Awards, please visit www.sponsorship.org.

Carling’s announcement last week that it is to sponsor the Scottish FA in a seven-figure, four year deal, consolidates its position as a leading sponsor of sport in Scotland and in the UK. Carling is the first brand to support a wide range of the Scottish FA’s commercial activities, becoming the Official Beer of the Scotland National Team and the Scottish Cup, and also the beer of choice at Scotland’s National Stadium, Hampden Park.
Carling is the Official Beer of Scottish Rugby, invested over £20m in Celtic and Rangers during a seven-year association, was the founder sponsor of the Premier League in England and is current sponsor of the Carling Cup.
Carling plans to offer a range of marketing and promotional initiatives to continue to get football fans closer to the game and their teams, whether supporting the National Team or one of the 80 plus teams that compete in the Scottish Cup.
Paul Miller, Director of Sales Molson Coors Scotland said:  “Carling has been a major sponsor of football for many years, and we are delighted to continue our involvement with football in Scotland as a partner of the Scottish FA.
“Our recent sponsorship of the Old Firm clubs produced a high level of awareness for Carling, and we are proud of the imaginative steps we have taken to building a good relationship with Scottish consumers and our trade customers and to promote sensible drinking and consumption of alcohol. We’re really looking forward to building on this, joining with fans on the road to Hampden as they watch their team progress in the Scottish Cup, and celebrating with the nation as Scotland aim to qualify for Euro 2012.”

Promoting its official communications services partnership of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, BT’s new Phone Books will feature some of the UK’s leading athletes on the cover to celebrate two years to the start of the Games.  The first books will be distributed next week and feature BT Ambassador Ade Adepitan MBE, who won bronze as part of the wheelchair basketball team at the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games.
 The Phone Book will include London 2012 information specific to each region as the Games move closer.   Other sports personalities who will feature on the Phone Book front cover include Chris Tomlinson, World Indoor long-jump silver medallist;  Lee Pearson CBE, nine-times Paralympic equestrian gold medallist;  Lee McConnell, Olympic 4×400m relay runner; Dame Mary Peters, Olympic gold medallist in pentathlon; Leon Taylor, Olympic diving silver medallist who also invented the world’s most difficult dive;  Anne Bochmann, European Junior swimming gold medallist;  Nathan Stephens, Paralympic field athlete; Alistair Brownlee, World Triathlon Champion, and his younger brother Jonathan Brownlee, European Junior Triathlon Champion.

Red Bull has signed a four-year extension to remain the Official Energy Drink Partner to the England Cricket Team until the end of summer 2013.
As part of the renewal Red Bull, who first became an ECB partner in 2005, will supply the England team with product at all international matches. In return Red Bull receives a range of sponsorship assets that includes in-ground advertising, ticketing and hospitality, branded drinks boxes around the boundary edge and product placement around international cricket stadia.
On announcing the new four year contract Mark Pearce, ECB Head of Sponsorship said: “Red Bull is an established partner of the England cricket team and we are delighted it continues to see great benefit from its association with the team. “

Jonathan Neil has been appointed Senior Sponsorship Manager at Barclays Capital.

Mike Thompson is leaving his position as Head of Global Sponsorship at E.ON at the end of this month.

ETX Capital, the London-based financial spread betting firm, has completed a month-long partnership with Corney & Barrow Wine Bars. The campaign comprised a range of branding activities including sponsorship of each of the 13 bars’ television and projector screens for the duration of the FIFA 2010 World Cup Finals. The television branding was supported by promotional posters in each City bar.
As well as promoting the ETX Capital brand, Corney & Barrow’s clientele were given the chance to win a £2,500 account credit and runners-up prizes of £250 account credits with the leading financial spread betting firm, through business card drop boxes at each venue.
Stuart Lane, Head of Sales & PR at ETX Capital, said: “The partnership has given us the opportunity to engage with and promote our brand name to their customers. ETX Capital has experienced a surge in new business, with a significant number of new accounts opened and general enquiries made.” The promotion was managed by Revolution Sports Marketing Group.

Sports law firm Couchmans LLP was the legal firm begin the Aviva’s deal to become the title sponsorship of Aviva Premiership Rugby announced earlier this month.  This is the second major domestic title sponsorship deal that the firm has worked on this summer after representing The Football League in its title sponsorship agreement with npower.
Couchmans’ sponsorship partner Andy Korman, who worked alongside Hill & Knowlton and Aviv’s inhouse legal team, said: “This is a committed, wide-ranging dealt that gets to the very heart of top class rugby in this country.”