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UK News
The summer
months are a time for football players to
relax and their managers and chairman to work
long hours on in proving the quality of their
teams. Speculation
as to which players will be playing at which
football club, with which football clubs has
been rife.
The largest has been the £25 million
exchange of Manchester United and England ace
David Beckham to Real Madrid. Any activity
involving the icon is an excuse for the
commercial world to make money and this was no
exception. In a deal worth £250,000 (€353,747)
Beckham’s medical, which is usually a
‘behind closed doors’ private affair, was
sponsored by Sanitas, a Spanish Healthcare
company. The whole medical was broadcasted on
Real Madrid TV.
In a deal
worth £50 million (€70
million) for five and a half years, Budweiser, the American lager, has announced a deal with
English Formula 1 team, Williams. The deal
concludes the beer brand’s lengthy search
for an affiliation with a Grand Prix team,
which is in line with the current advertising
strapline “King of Sports”.
The race at Silverstone on 20th
July saw the first outing for the new
partnership.
BMW Williams, said little before the
British Grand Prix, but did indicate that:
“an awful lot of advertising and promotion
[will be done].”
Williams’
Formula One Team is already sponsored
by GlaxoSmithKline’s Niquitub CQ, Allianz,
Castrol, FedEX, Hewlett-Packard and Reuters.
More information regarding motor sport
sponsorship and in particular tobacco
sponsorship can be found in this edition’s
Spotlight.
The
Tussaud’s Group, operators of some of the
major leisure attractions and theme parks in
the UK, including the London Eye, Madame
Tussauds and Alton Towers, has announced two
new deals. Firstly in a three year deal,
Peugeot has become an official sponsor of the
Tussauds Group. The deal will guarantee the
French car company exposure at Alton Towers,
Thorpe Park, Chessington World of Adventures,
Madame Tussauds and Warwick Castle – the
combination of this visitor audience is
approximately 15 million. Steve Harris,
Peugeot’s manager, marketing partnership
enthuses: “Tussauds is an ideal medium
through which to communicate our family
vehicles to the target market.”
Benefits of this sponsorship will
include access to the Tussauds facilities for
special events, conferences and meetings and
also the implementation of a sales promotion
campaign off-site, allowing people to get
discounts for visiting the theme parks.
Additionally
in a £1 million (€1.4
million) deal, Skips, the snack food brand, is to sponsor a new
spinning roller-coaster ride at Chessington
World of Adventures. The new ride will open
next year and will circle the Land of the
Dragons and follows Cadbury’s Heroes
sponsorship of the Alton Towers ride
‘Air’, which opened last year.
Boots has
signed a £6 million (€8.5
million)
deal with GMTV, the breakfast television network, to
promote its holiday product range over the
summer. Boots, one of the largest retailers of
health and beauty products in the UK, will be
associated with all of the summer related
programmes to support the theme: “Boots
Bringing you Sunshine.”
As recently
reported in the ESN (Issue 26) household
cleaning company Home Pride are sponsors of a
number of popular ITV programmes including The
Bill and Trisha. The deal has been highly
successful with a reported 200% increase in
sales of the oven cleaning brand, Oven Pride.
The current deal, which is worth £3.5
million, is being expanded to also include
This Morning, the popular daytime television
show.
In a new
deal, worth £11 million (€15.5
million) over three-years, Carling, owned by the brewery Coors,
is to sponsor the Football League Cup.
Previously sponsored by another Coors brand-
Worthington’s. Carling, has a proven track
in football sponsorship and, up until 2001
were the title sponsors of the English Premier
League. Coors
has remained supportive of football and has
stated its intention to spend over £30
million (€42 million) on the sport over
the next three years, including the
sponsorship of both Celtic and Rangers (as
reported in the last edition of the ESN).
It was reported that Smirnoff was
looking to sponsor the League Cup, but
negotiations collapsed before an agreement was
finalised.
In a
six-figure deal Barclays Private Bank will
sponsor ITV’s arts programme The South Bank
Show. The show is a highly regarded arts
magazine style programme, which is presented
by Melvyn Bragg, and is now in its
twenty-fifth year. Barclays Private Bank marketing director Mar Guerrero-Busquets
explains the fit: “The South Bank Show is a
perfect fit for us because it focuses on
experts in their field; a valuable audience
for Barclays.”
It has also been announced that
Barclays is to sponsor London Underground’s
Bank Station, Bank Station is situated right
in the financial centre of London.
In a deal
with UK Athletics, Johnson & Johnson has
become the latest high profile company to
support the growth of the country’s
athletics. The one-year deal will involve the brand Daktarin, the UK’s
leading brand for the treatment of athlete’s
foot, and will include exposure on television
at some of the largest athletics meetings in
the UK. In
addition to this Daktarin will be running
promotions to give away tickets. Nicky
Sunshine, brand manager for Daktarin reports
the reasoning behind the deal: “The
sponsorship of UK Athletics will give us an
opportunity to raise awareness of the Daktarin
range for the treatment of athlete’s foot.
We are delighted to be involved in athletics
at such an important time.”
Following
on from news of the Daktarin deal, UK
Athletics has
announced an extension to the Norwich
Union sponsorship.
The new deal will see Norwich Union
fulfill its role of number one supporter of
British Athletics, through its £20 million
(€28 million) commitment, until 2006.
Alistair Marks, sponsorship manager of
Norwich Union, comments:
“Sponsorship, over time, reaches a
plateau of awareness and we are seeing that in
our consumer research. We therefore felt that
we had to extend our messages and try to
personalise the brand, as well as create a
meaningful platform from which many business
objectives could be met.”
The core aim of the initial agreement
was to shift brand image and thereby increase
sales. This goal was created by delivering an integrated marketing
programme, which included interaction with the
young, through the ‘Community Sports
Awards’ and ‘Do the Right Thing,’ which
ultimately looked to increase participation
amongst the young.
Cricket’s
county champions Surrey has finally announced
a deal with RAC Motoring Services.
This comes after a lengthy search.
The new one year deal grants RAC the
rights to branding on both the white and
coloured shirts as well as some other
commercial benefits.
Andrew Huntly, RAC’s managing
director of breakdown services, said: “The
partnership with Surrey County Cricket Club
offers not only a branding opportunity but the
scope for a strong commercial return.
Surrey’s track record of recent
success demonstrates their pace and ambition
– two qualities we also prize very highly at
RAC. Cricket sponsorship is a first for RAC,
but this deal represents a good fit between
the tow brand and we are confident Surrey will
do us justice.”
Tom
Baynton-Williams – UK Correspondent
twilliams.bds@sponsorship.co.uk
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