Hollis Sponsorship Bulletin

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.”

Leading insurance company and long-term athletics supporter Aviva knows it has quite a task on its hands taking over from Guinness as title sponsor of Premiership Rugby – a deal announced at the end of last week. Guinness had five years to stamp its brand on the sport.  But as Louise Cheetham, sponsorship manager at Aviva told the Bulletin: “Along with the roll out of the new Aviva national grassroots programme, we’ll be looking to capitalise on the big occasions in Aviva Premiership Rugby during the season to stamp our brand on the competition, starting with the London Double Header at Twickenham on Saturday 4th September which involves the four London clubs – London Wasps, London Irish, Harlequins & Saracens.”

The initial four year deal, worth £20 million, will see the two organisations work together on the elite end of the professional game in England via Aviva Premiership Rugby, but also through a significant investment in community programmes, increasing the reach and effectiveness of the Aviva Premiership Rugby clubs in their communities.
Commenting on the deal, Mark McCafferty, Chief Executive at Premiership Rugby said “A title sponsorship deal with Aviva, which is such a strong international consumer brand, is another significant milestone in the growth of Premiership Rugby and provides us with a long term partnership commitment to our sport and to our work in the community”.
Mark Hodges, Chief Executive of Aviva UK added, “This is a fantastic sponsorship which is going to give us great opportunities to reach many of the people and businesses we work with across the UK, through what is arguably the most competitive and exciting rugby competition in the world.
“We’ve invested a lot of time and effort looking for and researching the right sponsorship opportunity and we know that rugby, the fastest-growing participation sport in England, fits absolutely with Aviva. It appeals to many of our customers, intermediary partners and to the other businesses we work with in the UK, so this sponsorship will give us exciting opportunities to connect with them and deliver significant business benefit.
“And through the roll out of a new Aviva national grassroots programme we are proud to be helping develop and inspire the next generation of rugby players to take up the sport.”
Jon Varney, Commercial Director of Premiership Rugby said, “Our partnership with Aviva marks the beginning of a very exciting chapter in the growth and continuing professional development of the club game in England, as we commence new broadcast contracts for the first season of Aviva Premiership Rugby with ESPN, Sky and ITV.
“Premiership Rugby’s values reflect those of Aviva and we share its vision to further strengthen the professional game whilst recognising and supporting the role local communities play in the growth and long term success of the sport.”
The deal, which was negotiated by Aviva with Hill & Knowlton’s Sports Marketing team, begins immediately and will be officially launched closer to the start of the 2010/11 Aviva Premiership Rugby season. Hill & Knowlton will be responsible for developing and implementing a strategy to activate Aviva’s rugby sponsorship alongside their ongoing sponsorship of UK Athletics.

While sponsorship spend in Ireland defied gravity in 2009, experiencing an estimated 2% growth to €133m across last year – 2010 will see this growth reversed, with an estimated 6% dip expected in sponsorship in Ireland this year - according to a new industry study released from leading Dublin consultancy Onside Sponsorship. This decline in Irish sponsorship spend is expected to be driven in large part by a reduction of fees paid for rights with 70% of sponsors surveyed by Onside expecting rights fees to decrease this year.

2009 proved a relatively positive year for sponsorship in Ireland, with spend on sponsorship still showing a modest upward trend, albeit slowing from the double-digit growth of the boom.  According to the Onside consultants new study last year’s overall growth was fuelled by some major landmark deals including Aviva’s commitment to Irish Rugby and soccer, Puma’s new IRFU partnership, as well as a series of high-profile renewals.

John Trainor, Managing Director of Onside notes: “The nature of sponsorships multi-year deals in most cases certainly insulated this area from dramatic cut backs, although large scale reductions in spend were more so evidenced on activation spend around sponsorships. Our research into the Irish sponsorship industry reveals that while one in two Irish sponsors will curtail their spend on sponsorship generally in 2010, one in five will be increasing their investment in this tool.

Through its sponsorship of both The O2 and The Irish Rugby Team, O2 was viewed by the industry as the best in class sponsor of 2009. Meanwhile the Guinness partnership with the GAA All-Ireland Hurling Championships was singled out by the industry survey as the Best Sponsorship of the Past Decade.

With the 02 now firmly established in the Irish market and with the opening of the new Aviva Stadium in 2010, the Onside research also reveals that the Irish sponsorship industry is overwhelmingly in favour of naming rights to music venues and sports venues – with support of Naming Rights to a Music / Entertainment Venue up 6% to 95%, while those behind a Sports Venue naming deal has increased 5% to 83%.

Trainor said: “In terms of what sponsors are aiming to achieve with sponsorship, four in ten sponsors outline stimulating sales / trial / usage now as their most important objective. This movement to using sponsorship beyond pure brand affinity building is a trend that has deepened significantly over the past year.”

In terms of the prospect of a rebound in spend on sponsorship beyond a 2010 blip, Trainor notes that “on a longer term basis it is too early to call.  Major sponsor categories like auto brands, banks and other sectors are still at the planning stages of recovery.  New money will come in from some companies ready to fill the void while these established sponsor sectors get back on their feet.  Rugby World Cup 2011, The Solheim Cup in Ireland and the new cycle of GAA Football Championships deals will be just some of the prospects for a possible return to slow growth in the industry beyond the down year ahead.”

United Kingdom Athletics (UKA) and the Aviva GB and NI Athletics team has secured Revlon’s Mitchum Endurance Anti-Perspirant as official sponsor.  The sponsorship coincides with the launch of the Mitchum brand into the UK market.  The three-year deal is the first to be brokered by SMG Sports – the new media-led sponsorship consultancy formed in joint venture between Starcom MediaVest Group UK and Sports Insight.

SMG Sports has devised an integrated media plan for Mitchum Endurance with the athletics sponsorship sitting at the centre of the brand’s marketing for the next three years.  The sponsorship will play a central role in Revlon’s strategy for the brand, which is positioned as a high-performance anti-perspirant, targeting serious athletes.

The communications plan begins this month when UKA holds its first indoor athletics event of the season, the Aviva International Match in Glasgow.

SMG Sports Vange Kourentis, former Manchester United business development manager, said:  “We aim to ensure that sports sponsorship sits as part of an integrated communications plan rather than in isolation.”

UKA also secured Advantage West Midlands, the Regional Development Agency for the West Midlands, as partner for the two BBC televised athletics events staged in Birmingham this year in a deal brokered by Fast Track.  AWM will be using these events to promote tourism to the region and highlight the role the region is playing in the build up to the London 2012 Games.  AWM’s Jim Johnston said: “The media coverage of both these high profile events will consolidate Birmingham and the heart of England as a major player in the high-profile events market.”

Insurance brand Aviva is to sponsor ITV primetime drama premieres. The move, which follows Aviva’s absorption of the Norwich Union name at the start of June, will also include activity via interactive TV and the internet.

Part of the rationale for the deal is to raise the profile of the Aviva brand - by focusing on life-defining moments. But the campaign will also promote the group’s range of products. Commenting on the deal, Gary Pepler, marketing, brand and communications director for UK Life, Aviva said: “This is a great opportunity for us to increase awareness of Aviva as a market-leading provider of life insurance, investments, retirement and healthcare solutions. As the UK’s biggest insurer, most of our TV advertising has been focused on motor and home insurance. By adopting this approach we believe our customers can benefit from understanding the full range of solutions Aviva offers.”

Sportswear giant Adidas has extended its sponsorship of UK Athletics beyond the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The partnership now runs until 2013. 

The new deal will see adidas providing more support at UK Athletics’ flagship events - such as the Aviva London Grand Prix where the company will be an official partner for the first time. A new kit will be worn for the first time at the European Team Championships in Portugal (June 20/21).

Robin Money, head of sports marketing, adidas UK and Ireland said: “adidas is extremely pleased to continue to support UKA. We will make sure British and Northern Irish athletes have access to the ultimate in sports kit so they can perform to their very best and hope our investment in the sport will enable more young people to take part.”

In the UK, insurance group Aviva is best-known as the sponsor of UK Athletics. But over in the Republic of Ireland, it has just hit the headlines because of its decision to sponsor the new national rugby union and football stadium.

 Under the terms of the deal, Aviva has secured the naming rights to the new stadium for around 40 million Euros over 10 years. Although the opening of the Lansdowne Road replacement venue is planned for August 2010, the Aviva brand will benefit immediately from PR related to the deal.

All told, the naming rights deal will cover around 10% of the budget of the stadium. At the same time, it will come as a welcome boost to the sponsorship industry – which is striving for stability amid the current volatility. For rights holders and consultancies, it’s a welcome reminder that hot properties are still in demand during economic downturns.

The beauty of the deal from Aviva’s perspective is that it is not just a domestic opportunity. It will also allow the brand to associate with international showcase events such as the Six Nations Rugby Union Championships and the FIFA World Cup/UEFA Euro Qualifiers. Not only that, the stadium’s owner wants to host the 2011 Heineken Cup final.