Hollis Sponsorship Bulletin

The sponsorship industry celebrated some of its finest campaigns at the Hollis Sponsorship Awards 2010 last night.  Romping home with two category wins – Brand Sponsorship and Continuity -  and the Grand Prix, the Hollis Sponsorship of the Year Trophy, was John Smith’s Grand National entered by SBI.  The Trophy was presented to the John Smith’s and SBI teams by the Rt Hon Richard Caborn, the Prime Minister’s World Cup Ambassador who urged the audience to put all efforts behind the 2010 World Cup bid.
Judges described the John Smith’s campaign as a “textbook sponsorship strategy”, one which ticked all the boxes and, with strong sales, positive PR, high-profile media exposure and excellent hospitality was a benchmark for the sports marketing industry.  During its five year partnership, the beer brand has consolidated its position as market leader through excellent consumer and business-to-business activations.
From the biggest budget to the smallest, from the most high-profile sports campaigns to fantastically creative and niche arts projects, the line-up at this year’s Awards demonstrated how this segment of the marketing business has taken on such strategic significance for brands.
The Awards recognise and reward the most creative and effective campaigns to have come out of the sponsorship industry during the last year.  To have made it to the shortlist was reason for celebration in itself, the campaigns having had to meet a strict set of commercial criteria.  Judges looked for clear objectives, evidence of innovation and proof of positive business results.
On show across all categories was evidence of how sponsorship can give a commercial edge even during downturns.  Its ability to drive sales, encourage purchase consideration and create brand engagement is tangible.  Click here to see full list of winning and shortlisted entries.  Photographs of the Gala Dinner will be posted on www.paulmellorphotography.co.uk later today.

John Smith's and the SBI team celebrate with the Rt Hon Richard Caborn, Prime Minister's World Cup Ambassador

The winners listed by category:
ARTS SPONSORSHIP (supported by Arts & Business)
Campaign: HSBC Indian Summer
Sponsor: HSBC
Entered by: HSBC

CHARITY & COMMUNITY SPONSORSHIP (supported by the NCVO)
Campaign: BOOM! Nation
Sponsor: v
Entered by: TomTom nation

EDUCATION SPONSORSHIP
Campaign: PhoneBrain
Sponsor:  PhonepayPlus
Entered by TomTom nation

ENVIRONMENT SPONSORSHIP (supported by Groundwork)
Campaign: Sense and Simplicity Lighting Partnership at the National Theatre
Sponsor:  Philips
Entered by:  The National Theatre

MEDIA SPONSORSHIP (sponsored by Sky Media)
Campaign: Samsung UK Music Strategy 2009
Sponsor:  Samsung
Entered by: Octagon

SPORTS SPONSORSHIP (supported by Sport England)
Campaign: Extra 90+
Sponsor: Wrigley’s/Extra
Entered by: MEC Access

GRASS ROOTS SPORTS SPONSORSHIP (supported by the CCPR)
Campaign: Deloitte Parasport
Sponsor:  Deloitte
Entered by: Deloitte

CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP
Campaign: HSBC Indian Summer
Sponsor: HSBC
Entered by: HSBC

BRAND SPONSORSHIP
Campaign: John Smith’s Grand National
Sponsor:  John Smith’s
Entered by:  SBI

FIRST TIME SPONSOR AWARD
Campaign: Alternative Fashion Week
Sponsor: Rescue Cream
Entered by: Nelsons

SPONSORSHIP CONTINUITY (Sponsored by Premier Print Group)
Campaign: John Smith’s Grand National
Sponsor:  John Smith’s
Entered by: SBI

THE ESA INTERNATIONAL SPONSORSHIP AWARD (Sponsored by the European Sponsorship Association)
Campaign: 2008/09 Volvo Ocean Race
Sponsor:  PUMA
Entered by:  Capitalize

BEST USE OF RESEARCH IN A SPONSORSHIP CAMPAIGN (Sponsored by Marketlink Research)
Campaign: Extra 90+
Sponsor: Wrigley’s/Extra
Entered by:  MEC Access

BEST USE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS IN A SPONSORSHIP CAMPAIGN (Supported by the Public Relations Consultants Association)
Campaign: Fan v Fan Ashes Cricket Campaign
Sponsor:  Betfair
Entered by: Betfair

BEST LOW BUDGET SPONSORSHIP (UNDER £50,000)
Campaign: Blooming Schools
Sponsor:  Southern Water
Entered by:  Southern Water

Synergy fought off great competition from highly-successful consultancies Capitalize, Four Sports, Arts & Sponsorship, MEC Access, Octagon and SBI to win the top prize Hollis Sponsorship Consultancy of the Year, a category – sponsored by Icon – which is designed to recognise the work that goes on behind-the-scenes of the great sponsorship campaigns.   Synergy has managed to buck the recession, delivering £1million in new business wins.  Now in its 25th year, Synergy’s success is evident in the breadth of its work and its success rate in holding on to existing clients.  As part of the Engine Group of companies, it has managed to retain its identity whilst also drawing on the expertise of sister groups in servicing clients.

The Synergy Sponsorship team celebrate Consultancy of the Year win.

Lucy Stout, head of development at Cardiff-based arts initiative Artes Mundi, was presented with the Hollis Award for Outstanding Contribution Award by Arts & Business chief executive Colin Tweedy.  Lucy has dedicated her career to arts fundraising.  Few people have done more to bring together the public, private, arts and education sectors in a way which benefits cultural, community and commercial stakeholders.  In a prestigious career which spans 25 years, Lucy has been development director of the Royal National Theatre in London and was Director of Development for the Welsh National Opera, establishing the department and leading the fundraising team for 13 years.   Lucy’s aim is to bring the arts together with the right business sponsors in relationships that go way beyond the money.

The Hollis Sponsorship Awards recognise not only the best sponsorships but also seek to recognise talented individuals.  The Barrie Gill Award, supported by the European Sponsorship Association, seeks out the up and coming talented and motivated young executives who are making a difference to the sponsorships they are working on, their companies and the professionalism of their sectors.  On the shortlist this year were Nick Marsden from the Royal Albert Hall, Jasmine Sall from agency Generate and Sarah Steel from Sheffield Football Club.  Of these three extremely talented individuals, Nick Marsden was deemed the winner and presented with champagne and a cheque from ESA’s vice chair and Sponsorship Consulting’s  Managing Director Pippa Collett.
To find out how to nominate your talented members of staff, please email rsarginson@wilmington.co.uk.

The Scottish FA today announced a new four-year partnership with the Mars brand to become an Official Partner to Scotland Teams until July
2014. Together, Mars and the Scottish FA will campaign to encourage over 18s to play football more often.

There has been a decline in football participation among adults in recent years and Mars’ primary focus will be addressing this in close
association with Scottish FA through various inventive schemes and initiative.

Gordon Smith, Scottish FA chief executive, commented on the announcement: “The aim is to develop a long-term strategy that will
encourage adults of all abilities to play football; whether it’s returning to the game or playing for the first time. The relationship
with Mars will extend even further: working jointly to ensure the fans have greater access and input to what we are sure will be an exciting
new era. As we look forward to the UEFA Euro 2012 qualification campaign, we’ll be working jointly with MARS to get Scotland fans
closer to the team.”

Colin Hendry, former Scotland captain and ambassador for the Mars brand, said: “There is a growing optimism around the national team and
its fans and we want to embrace and harness this for a number of reasons. Not only do we want to get people playing football but we also
want to get the whole nation behind Craig Levein and his squad.”

Fiona Dawson, managing director of Mars Chocolate UK, added: “This is the single biggest announcement the Mars brand has ever made in
Scotland. We’re huge football fans ourselves so we can’t wait to start working with the Scottish FA on some exciting new initiatives.
MARS is committed to encouraging its consumers to lead a healthy, active lifestyle so partnering with the Scottish FA to inspire adults to play
football gives us the perfect opportunity to do this. We are extremely proud to support the Scotland national team in their quest to reach
Ukraine and Poland in 2012.”

This partnership with The Scottish FA is part of Mars’ expanding commitment to football in the UK. In October 2009, it announced a
long-term partnership with The FA in England, which made the brand Official Supplier to the England Team until end of July 2010 and,
subsequently, Supporter of the England Team from August 2010 to July 2014.

More university students are to be encouraged into playing more sport thanks to a new £10 million National Lottery funding round called Active Universities launched yesterday by Sport England.
According to Sport England, just under three in ten university students currently play sport regularly. Active Universities is a drive to get 100,000 more students participating at least three times a week by creating accessible sporting opportunities for the 72% who say they would like to do more sport.
The Active Universities fund is the third of Sport England’s competitive themed rounds aimed at addressing challenges to grassroots sport and opportunities to increase participation.  Sport England is calling for innovative applications from universities and others that will tackle the barriers to student participation.

LEGO UK has extended its affiliation with VUE cinemas for the third consecutive year in a deal conceived and negotiated by Pearl & Dean and Carat Sponsorship.  Building on the success of previous years, the brand has renewed its sponsorship with Vue Kids AM between March 2010 and February 2011.
Negotiated by Joe Copeman of Pearl & Dean and Krane Jeffery of Carat Sponsorship, the LEGO UK sponsorship of 2010’s most anticipated family films includes on-screen activity, as well as a strong in-foyer presence with a ‘Chuck Standee’, quad posters and film listings leaflets. Vue’s website will also feature an online promotion on its homepage and an individual LEGO UK landing page.
LEGO UK remains the sole sponsor of Kids AM, screenings which take place at all VUE sites on weekends and half-term holiday mornings, showing recent family films for a discounted cost of 95p per child and adult.

Tom Gladstone has joined Synergy Sponsorship as Account Director after seven years at IMG where his role focused on consulting, integrated marketing and sponsorship activation for a number of major sponsors of international sport.
Most recently responsible for O2’s sports sponsorship strategy and activation, Tom also advised a wide range of clients including British Airways and Visa. Gladstone joins Synergy to work on the consultancy’s portfolio of clients as well as business development.
 Tim Crow, CEO of Synergy, said: “Tom is one of the industry’s finest young strategic talents, exemplified by his work with O2, so I’m incredibly pleased that he has joined us.”

Cycling retailer Halfords has taken title sponsorship of city centre racing series, The Tour Series, organised by SweetSpot.  The Halfords Tour Series will take place from 25th May to the 24th June in 2010 across ten cities and will see ten top British professional teams battling it out to be crowned the best cycling team in the country.

The RFL has secured specialist sports apparel company 2XU as the official suppliers of compression clothing to the England team.   Mike Trees, the Managing Director of 2XU UK, said: “Our association with the RFL and England is the dawn of a new era for 2XU. The opportunity to work with the country’s best Rugby League players, and to develop our products even further to help them to achieve their full potential is a proud moment for 2XU.”