Hollis Sponsorship Bulletin

Supermarket chain Morrisons yesterday signed up to become a partner of England’s bid to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup™. Morrisons will promote its support for England’s bid by mounting a campaign in its stores to collect more than two million customer signatures in an attempt to demonstrate the strength of public enthusiasm for England to host the tournament.
Morrisons has a strong presence in all 12 candidate host cities – Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Newcastle, Nottingham, Plymouth, Sheffield and Sunderland.
The partnership, which runs throughout the remainder of the bid process, was announced at Wembley Stadium by Morrisons Group Retail Director, Mark Gunter, Andy Anson, England 2018 Chief Executive and bid ambassadors including England legend, Alan Shearer.
Andy Anson, England 2018 bid Chief Executive, said: “Domestic support can play a vital role in helping to convince FIFA we would be worthy hosts of the 2018 World cup. Since our launch in May, the response of the public to the bid has been fantastic. We have a unique and heartfelt passion for football in this country and we want to be able to demonstrate this to the world. I am confident that our partnership with Morrisons, a truly nationwide company, will help us do this by gathering further support from millions of people right across the country.”

Burnley Football Club has secured a multi-million-pound shirt sponsorship deal with Chinese online and casino company Fun88. The initial two-year deal, the first time the club has attracted international interest, represents the biggest shirt sponsorship deal in the team’s history.
Burnley FC Chairman Mr Barry Kilby said: “This multi-million-pound deal is clear evidence of the global appeal of Burnley Football Club as a result of our Premier League status. We had discussions with many top international companies, expressing an interest in getting involved with the club.”
Nick Lee, spokesman for Welton Holdings Limited, owners of Fun88, added: “Sponsoring Burnley is in line with Fun88’s ambitions to move our brand to the next level in Asia, as well as giving Fun88 a key platform to reach out to the European market where it intends to penetrate in the next season.
“As part of the club sponsorship Fun88 will be launching a number of marketing initiatives in the next few months. This will further reinforce Fun88’s association with the club,” Lee added.

Mexican beer brand Corona Extra has signed an agreement for Corona Extra to become the new global premier partner of the ATP World Tour.
As part of the five and a half year agreement, which begins later this year, Corona Extra becomes the official beer sponsor of the ATP World Tour and will have significant presence at ATP World Tour events around the world, including net branding and other marketing rights.
Corona Extra has been a sponsor of ATP tournaments in Acapulco, Mexico for 16 years and Toronto, Canada for four years.
“At Grupo Modelo we are committed to promoting sports not only in Mexico but all over the world, and we are very proud to be venturing into world tennis through our Corona Extra brand and the prestigious ATP World Tour,” said José Parés, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer for Grupo Modelo, producers of Corona Extra. “We have admired the success of the sport in recent years and view the ATP World Tour as a terrific platform for us globally.”
In addition to multi-country marketing activation, Corona Extra will be integrated into programming on ATPWorldTour.com and ATP World Tour Uncovered, the Tour’s weekly television show which currently airs in 147 countries.

Royal Dutch Shell has renewed its sponsorship of Shell Classic International, a season of visiting orchestras at the Southbank Centre, for a further three years. The renewal follows on from Shell’s initial three-year sponsorship of the Southbank Centre’s Transformation project, which included the reopening of the Royal Festival Hall in June 2007.
Commenting on the renewal, Alan Bishop, Chief Executive of Southbank Centre, said: “Shell’s valuable support enables us to continue to bring the greatest international orchestras to London for our audiences to enjoy.”

Sponsorship and brand experience agency Experience Worldwide has been appointed by McCain to help activate its UK Athletics ‘Track and Field’ programme. As a UKA Principal Partner since 2008, McCain is working to encourage people to be more active through a healthier lifestyle, as well as helping UKA unearth the stars of tomorrow through the McCain Athletics Network.
The partnership, according to Experience, has already proved very successful in helping the individual governing bodies develop their own local club networks. Experience Worldwide will co-ordinate the McCain ‘Track and Field Roadshow’ which visits city centres ahead of the season’s major track and field events.

Sponsorship experts, Mike Thompson, head of Global Sponsorship at E.ON, Karen Earl, Chairman of Synergy and the European Sponsorship Association and Andy Sutherden, Managing Director of Hill and Knowlton are set to lead a panel discussion on the implications of current consumer behaviour for the sponsorship world.
Joining international trend forecasting consultancy, The Future Laboratory, for ESA’s Future Trends Forum this Thursday morning, they will launch ESA Knowledge 2010 – a programme of education and training events designed specifically for the ever-changing demands of the industry.
Tom Savigar of The Future Laboratory will discuss how emerging phenomena such as Brandtocracies and Prohibition Culture are shaping consumer behaviour, and how the industry, in turn should respond to stay in touch.
ESA Board Director and Chair of the ESA Education Working Group, Matt Rogan of Lane4 explained that the Insights Forums seek to be provoking and challenging: “The Future Trends Insights Forum is the first of four morning Forums and will provide the broad context from which the sponsorship industry will be working, with the later ESA Knowledge forums exploring how specific factors are influencing the industry”.

Future Trends will be held at the offices of Hill and Knowlton in central London on Thursday 25th February. It will start at 8.30am with a networking breakfast and conclude at 11.30am. The Insights series has been competitively priced from £100 (plus VAT) per forum, with discounts available on all sessions for ESA members, as well as discounts for multiple bookings.
To find out more about ESA Knowledge, or to reserve a place, contact ESA on +44 (0) 20 8390 3311 or visit the website: www.sponsorship.org/knowledge.asp

Specialist football rights agency Kentaro has finalised the sponsorship programme for the latest leg of its Brazil World Tour concept by securing a presenting sponsorship package with Nike for its Nike (Red) Campaign.

Brazil will play the Republic of Ireland at the Emirates Stadium on March 2nd in a game to be broadcast live on ITV1 in the UK, on RTE in Ireland, Globo in Brazil and in over 100 countries worldwide. All worldwide sponsorship and television distribution agreements are handled by Kentaro.

Kentaro has brokered the deal for Nike to have broadcast sponsorship of the game on both ITV1 and RTE, as well as having a majority of the LED inventory and a range of other rights, including the use of a red ball and red goal nets.  The game on March 2nd will be the fifth Brazil World Tour game Kentaro has taken to the Emirates.

Tom Fox, Chief Commercial Officer at Arsenal, commented: “Arsenal is delighted to once again be working with Kentaro in bringing another international friendly match to the Emirates Stadium. We are also delighted that Kentaro has brought our existing partner Nike to this game, giving Arsenal further opportunity to be associated with the (Red) Campaign.” Other Brazil World Tour sponsors for this match include Brazilian blue-chip companies ITAU Bank, Ambev and Embratel.

The European Sponsorship Association (ESA) has responded positively to the research findings into the effects of sporting involvement and alcohol sponsorship on underage drinking reported on in last week’s Bulletin. The report concluded that a ban on sponsorship of sporting events would have little effect on youth alcohol consumption. Carried out by Dr Fiona Davies, lecturer in Marketing at the University of Cardiff, the report adds weight to the arguments put forward by ESA over recent months in response to criticism regarding the rights of alcohol brands to sponsor sporting events.
Commenting on the report’s findings, ESA Chairman, Karen Earl said, “We are not at all surprised by the findings of this report, indeed there was a similar set of results from research completed in 2008 in New Zealand. What we have always argued is that sponsorship and other marketing disciplines do not actually encourage people to start drinking alcohol or increase consumption levels. However, they can direct consumers to a particular company, product or brand but that is very different and is the fundamental point that needs to be stressed”.

A recent report on alcohol published by the UK Government’s Health Committee did not fully represent the alcohol sponsorship landscape, according to ESA. The association had submitted a detailed paper to the Health Committee outlining steps being taken by organisations involved in alcohol sponsorship with regard to responsible marketing activity. However, the report did not take into account, according to ESA, the considerable self-regulation activity currently undertaken by rights holders and sponsors alike.

The Hollis Sponsorship Awards Gala Dinner looks set to be another sell-out.  Gathering to celebrate the very best in sponsorship are representatives from some of the UK’s top high-street and corporate names through to niche theatrical groups, grass root organisations and charities.

To join us on the night, please visit www.hollis-sponsorship.com/2010awards.asp or ring 020 8891 1067 for further information.

The ECB has announced a three-year deal with Clydesdale Bank as the title sponsor for its new domestic 40-over competition, the Clydesdale Bank 40. Clydesdale has been a long-time supporter of cricket and the ECB. Clydesdale has been involved as an official partner of the domestic Twenty20 competition between 2005 and 2009 and has also established links with various counties and individual players.
The Clydesdale Bank 40 is one of three competitions making up the 2010 domestic season. The 18 first-class counties will play alongside Scotland, the Netherlands and an ECB Recreational XI in the tournament.
The Clydesdale Bank 40 is designed to appeal to sport-loving families, with the majority of matches taking place on Sunday afternoons.
John Perera, ECB commercial director, said: “The Clydesdale Bank 40 is an exciting new competition and the format is designed to comfortably fit into the busy family weekend. We will be working closely with Clydesdale Bank over the next three years to ensure it establishes itself as a key part of the summer sporting calendar and is an opportunity for families to enjoy watching high quality cricket together.”
Dean Cutbill, the director of Clydesdale Bank, said: “This continued investment underlines Clydesdale Bank’s support of domestic cricket and the growing stature the various competitions have on the sporting calendar. The 40-over competition has been adapted this year to further increase its appeal and it is exciting for Clydesdale Bank to be part of cricket’s further development in the UK. As well as traditional cricket fans, we hope that the new supporters who have taken to the Twenty20 game will join us in supporting the Clydesdale Bank 40.”