Hollis Sponsorship Bulletin

The European Sponsorship Association’s Insights Forum: ‘Sponsorship in a New Era’, the second in the series, on April 29th will look at the swift pace of change within the digital landscape and explore the implications for the sponsorship industry and what can be done to maximise the opportunities.

Speakers Trevor Johnson, Head of Strategy and Planning (EMEA) at Facebook and a senior director for Digital Marketing at RIM/Blackberry, will provide an overview of the latest trends for social media and digital marketing.

Johnson will talk about the growing reach of Facebook, how the brand is being developed and the opportunities it presents. He will focus on social media’s unique role in being able to target consumers based on their self-declared passions and interests.

The RIM/Blackberry director will cover what the proliferation in social media and apps means for brands and how this impacts on sponsorship while also giving examples of how Blackberry is using and maximising sponsorship within its marketing activity.

Thomas Godfrey, Commercial Director of Sport England will join Johnson to add some details about a partnership the community sports governing body has entered in to with Facebook and how the ‘Sport Hub’ initiative is succeeding in reaching the public through social media.

A panel discussion will follow focusing on the opportunities and challenges facing sponsorship professionals as they incorporate digital marketing into their campaigns to add further value. The discussion and debate will be moderated by Matt Rogan, Commercial Director of Lane4, who heads ESA’s Educational and Training programme.

Rogan said: “Sponsorship works when a brand engages in a very active way with its key audiences. Increasingly this involves deeply personalised communication. Our delegates will hear about the latest advancements within digital media which enable this - be it via social networking or through a mobile device.”

ESA Insights forums are designed specifically for senior sponsorship professionals to expand knowledge and understanding across key issues at the heart of the industry. 
The morning forum will be held at the offices of The Football League, 30 Gloucester Place, London, W1U 8FL.  It starts with a networking breakfast from 8.30am and closes at 11.30am. Prices start at £100 (plus VAT). ESA members receive a special rate and there is a discount for group bookings. To reserve a place contact ESA on +44 (0) 208 390 3311.

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.

Sport England has signed a ground-breaking partnership with social networking site Facebook designed to deliver a lasting Olympic legacy of more people playing sport.

The aim is to use the social networking site’s unrivalled influence to bring people together around sport, and transform the way sports bodies reach out to the public in the run up to London 2012. Central to the partnership is the Facebook ‘Sport Hub’ which will enable national governing bodies to engage with over 20 million people who use Facebook in the UK. The partners claim that it will be possible to provide tangible measurement of the number of participants reached through the Facebook Sport Hub.

The Hub will enable sports bodies to organise and market grassroots sports events. Facebook users will also be able to challenge other people in their area to compete against them – whether in a squash match or a running race – and then share the results with their Facebook friends and networks.

The value of the partnership is put at £20 million - which breaks down as an in-kind investment of £5 million a year until March 2013. This will cover the development of the hub as well as pound-for-pound matched ad spend on Facebook for brands and NGBs to use ads to encourage people to play more sport. Commenting on the deal, Sport England chair Richard Lewis said: “This partnership with Facebook will fundamentally change the way sports engage with participants, helping them to reach out beyond existing club structures to the young people who are the future of sport. Four out of five youngsters have a Facebook account, so this is a key way to make sport a part of people’s lives.”