Hollis Sponsorship Bulletin

The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) has added tennis equipment brand Babolat VS to its commercial programme in a three-year partnership deal.
As the Official Equipment Supplier to the LTA, Babolat will provide technical, product and stringing support across the organisation. The Babolat TEAM ball will now become the LTA’s Official Ball and will be used at all of the LTA’s major national tournaments.
Babolat and the LTA will also be working closely together to assist the club and county networks with their ball and equipment requirements.
Babolat has a long heritage in stringing services and, as well as being appointed the Official Stringer of the AEGON British Tennis Series, will also be offering support and advice to stringers and tournaments up and down the country.
As the top junior performance brand, Babolat has built relations with some of the world’s best players, including World No. 1 Rafael Nadal, Andy Roddick, Kim Clijsters, recent French Open finalist Samantha Stosur and winner Francesca Schiavone.
Bruce Philipps, LTA Director of Communications and Commercial, commented: ” We are particularly looking forward to exploring how the brand’s widespread appeal to junior players can be used to help us increase the number of children competing and participating in our sport.”
The LTA launched its new commercial programme in May 2008 and in September 2008 AEGON, one of the UK’s leading financial services company, came on board as the first ever Lead Partner for British Tennis. Underpinning the Lead Partner are a series of Official Supporters including BNP Paribas, Highland Spring and recently Thomson Reuters. The LTA’s Official Suppliers include Nike, Lucozade Sport, IHG and now Babolat VS.

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.

Adidas, Nike and Puma are the best-known football sponsors in the five largest European football markets, according to a survey by sports marketing analysis and evaluation company Sport+Markt among 3,000 European football fans.

Unsurprisingly, “Jersey sponsors and kit suppliers dominate European communication in football”, says Hartmut Zastrow, Sport+Markt’s executive director.  Adidas is the top football brand, according to Zastrow who expressed surprise at seeing Audi in number eight position and commented:  “Audi pursues a decentralised football strategy, with partnerships with many European clubs and is even outstripping rival automobile supplier Ford, as a sponsor.”  Another reason, however, for its position could be the press coverage following the company’s purchase of shares in FC Bayern Munich.

The top twenty sponsorships are an illustration of the variance in sponsorship strategy that European companies can use to gain the attention of European football fans.  A global group such as Coca-Cola is ranked fourth and is omnipresent as a sponsor in football and sport in general, although it has no shirt sponsorships, whereas Emirates (ranked fifth) do have shirt sponsorships and the naming rights of Arsenal FC.  Moreover, it is a FIFA World Cup Partner.

The UK is the only market where shirt sponsors, namely AIG and Carlsberg, score higher than the actual kit suppliers or technical partners; only Barclays as the league title sponsor is able to compete at such a high level.  Internationally, the popularity of the Premier League and the success these clubs enjoy in the UEFA Champions League has enabled these sponsors to reach overseas fans.  For more information on the report, visit www.sportundmarkt.com

As widely reported, American telecoms giant AT&T has followed Accenture by pulling out of its multi-year sponsorship of US$1billion golfer Tiger Woods, and they won’t be the last. There’s talk that luxury watch brand Tag Heuer is also considering its relationship with the tarnished Woods due to his admission of infidelities and his indefinite leave from golf.

Tiger Woods is gradually being phased out of Gillette‘s advertising until he returns to the public eye and Gatorade has suspended its Tiger-themed sports drinks.

And it is not just corporate reputation that is at stake. The Financial Times reported that two economics professors at the University of California had tracked eight publicly listed sponsors for 13 trading days and calculated that Tiger Woods‘ departure from golf had cost the companies up to US$12 billion in stock market value.

Standing firm behind their man, at least for today, is British Columbia-based video game giant Electronic Arts Inc. According to research group NPD Group Inc, titles featuring Woods have generated US$675 million in US sales for America‘s second largest video game company and they are set to launch Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online later this month. Peter Moore, president of EA Sports, is reported as saying: “Regardless of what‘ s happening in his personal life, and regardless of his decision to take a personal leave from the sport, Tiger Woods is still one of the greatest athletes in history.”

Nike Inc. and Upper Deck Co have also maintained support.

Meantime, the PGA Tour is without its biggest star and the golf in general may find its ticket sales, ad and TV revenues impacted by the beleaguered star‘s absence from the world‘s courses although the Tour‘s expectations remain bullish.

Positive news for the sport comes from Qatar Airways which has agreed to extend its sponsorship of the Commercialbank Qatar Masters presented by Dolphin Energy.

Not for the first time this year, sponsors have come out in support of a badly behaved sports star. Following the flurry of negative reports surrounding Tiger Woods’ private life, the likes of Gillette, Nike and Gatorade have all said that their relationships with the golf star will not change. For Gillette, it’s the second time in a month that the company has had to support a star after Thierry Henry’s handball dumped the Republic of Ireland out of the World Cup.

Woods, who earns around £60 million a year from sponsorship, has apologised profusely for his personal failings and promised to make amends to his family and supporters. However the thing that his sponsors will really be looking out for is his level of performance on the golf course and his ability to attract huge television audiences.

UK Athletics’ new Super8 series launched this week in Cardiff. However the city versus city format was hit by a row with Nike which led to three athletes being withdrawn.

The problem came because Nike wanted Kelly Sotherton, Hannah England and Greg Rutherford to wear its own branded kit. However UK Athletics said all competitors should wear vests which only carry the event logo and team name. Nike pulled its athletes from the event as a result.

UKA refused to let the dispute undermine its launch. In a statement it said: “There are more than 140 athletes competing at the inaugural Super8 event in Cardiff and sponsorship obligations have led to just three athletes having to withdraw. However, we believe we can find a solution with all interested parties for the future of Super8. In the meantime we’ve got an exciting format that we believe is good for athletes. spectators and the sport.”

The Super8 concept was devised by UK Athletics chief executive Niels de Vos and is billed as athletics equivalent of cricket’s Twenty20. The Cardiff event was a pilot - but it is hoped that other UK cities will want to run Super8 teams and host events. Over time it is hoped the fast and furious two hour competition will grow to eight events, with each team hosting either an indoor or outdoor fixture.

At the unveiling of the Super8 concept, de Vos said: “For athletics to be successful at an elite level, it is essential that we have the strongest mix of domestic competitions. It is also important to present that competition in a style that is attractive to TV, sponsors and public. The Super8 format is also designed to be adopted by schools where time pressure on the curriculum makes the staging of a full scale athletics matches increasingly difficult. The two-hour format of Super 8 can be adopted for inter-class or inter-school competitions with boys and girls in the same team.”

Manchester United superstar Cristiano Ronaldo is rumoured to be on the verge of signing a £6m-a-year sponsorship deal with sportswear giant Nike. If this is right, the deal will be the biggest endorsement ever in the world of soccer. Ronaldo is the hottest property in football right now. Last month, he became a global ambassador for Castrol in the run up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

Scottish Premier League leaders Celtic have secured a £25 million kit sponsorship renewal with Nike. Commenting on the new deal, which commences in 2010 and runs through to 2015, Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell, said: “To once again secure a partnership of this kind with the world’s leading sports brand is tremendous news for Celtic Football Club. It extends our global profile and will bring great benefit to the club. It is most satisfying that the club is making such progress and striving forward in this manner.”