Hollis Sponsorship Bulletin

Mars’ four-year agreement to sponsor the Scottish FA was negotiated by Octagon UK. The long-term partnership - which runs until July 2014 - will see Mars involved with The Scottish FA in a number of key areas of Scottish football - as a partner with the Scottish FA over the next four years on a new initiative to encourage adults to get back into playing football,  as Official Partner of the Scottish FA and Official Partner of Scottish Teams
This partnership with the Scottish FA is part of Mars’ expanding commitment to football in the UK. In October 2009, Mars 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.
Phil Carling, Octagon’s Global Head of Football, said: “We are delighted to have negotiated this deal on behalf of Mars, which represents an exciting new addition to their sponsorship portfolio, and demonstrates their commitment to football in the UK. We look forward to continuing to deliver consultancy and expertise on a day to day basis, in order to ensure a fully integrated Scotland strategy for Mars.”

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.

As expected, the Football Association has signed a sponsorship deal with Mars which will see the chocolate company become an official supporter of the English team. At the same time, Mars has also signed up to become the official confectionery supplier for Wembley Stadium from August 2010 to July 2014, underlining the new synergy between the FA and Wembley sponsorship strategies. As part of its on-the-ground activation, Mars will also take part in the FA’s Get into Football campaign, which is aimed at lapsed male footballers over the age of 18.

It’s been an interesting week in the world of radio sponsorship - with news that Thomas Cook is to relaunch its Club 18-30 holiday brand through a deal with Kiss FM.

The deal, which will see Club 18-30 sponsor Saturday night show Kissalicious, is intended to position the brand as more upmarket - with ABC1s the primary target of the campaign. Part of the new strategy will involve marketing destinations, such as Egypt,  which are perceived to be more upmarket. 

Meanwhile, Mars chocolate brand Planets also unveiled a new radio sponsorship deal this week. The brand, which has aligned itself to Global Radio’s Xfm network, is supporting Dave Berry’s drive time show for a year from March 9th.