Sponsorship News

BDS has recently been appointed by SPICEUP, the world’s biggest touring exhibition of Spice Girls memorabilia, to deliver and execute a company sponsorship strategy and business plan.

SPICEUP is the biggest touring exhibition of Spice Girls memorabilia in the world, featuring hundreds of iconic costume pieces as well as many thousands of items of merchandise and memorabilia. As well as the exhibition, there will be other activities and events taking place within and around each exhibition location. The exhibition will be opening on 28th July at the Business Design Centre, Islington in London before travelling to Manchester 24th August-4th September.

The Spice Girls were instant global superstars when they released their debut single Wannabe in July 1996, selling over 10 million copies globally and going to number 1 in 37 countries. The single became the most requested music video ever in the history of music channel ‘The Box’ and their debut album ‘Spice’ remains the biggest selling album ever by a female group with 31 million copies sold – 19 million were sold in its first year, making the band at the time the fastest selling British act since The Beatles.

The Spice Girls remain the biggest selling girl group of all time worldwide having sold over 85 million records and are the only act in music history to have their first six singles go to UK number 1. They also successfully broke into the notoriously difficult American music market, becoming the first British band since The Rolling Stones to have two top 10 albums in the US Top 100 Billboard chart at the same time.

The timeless impact of the Spice Girls remains today through their independent, feminist stance of “girl power” as well as their influence on fashion through five very distinctive individual styles which remain popular today.

BDS has recently been appointed by Natural England as the sponsorship agency responsible for undertaking a sponsorship feasibility and scoping study for the Bat Advice Service. The objectives of the Bat Advice Service are to protect bats and roosts from harm, promote co-existence of bats and people, educate roost owners about bat conservation and persuade people to find ways to live with bats. Each year, the service receives over 6,000 calls and works with a network of volunteers to deliver solutions for a broad number of privately owned buildings and churches etc. throughout the country.

BDS’ scoping study provides an evaluation of the sponsorship potential of the Bat Advice Service and also identifies other potential income streams, including licensing & merchandising, events and education programmes.

One Healthcare have appointed BDS as their sponsorship consultancy. One Healthcare are a new, but highly experienced, developer and operator of modern purpose-built private hospitals. Following the success of their first hospital in Ashford, Kent, their second hospital, OneHatfield, has recently opened in Hertfordshire. It possesses the latest in medical technology from operating theatres to specialist rehabilitation physiotherapy and outpatient diagnostic facilities including fast track access to X -Ray, MRI and ultrasound.

From Walk-in GP services to Musculoskeletal operations, and with expertise and treatment from over 200 hundred consultants across most medical disciplines, OneHatfield is proving in great demand particularly from the rapidly growing self-pay market who are often the self-employed.

BDS are working with One Healthcare on a very targeted company sponsorship programme, in the Hatfield catchment area, to both raise the profile and the expertise of OneHatfield.

BDS Sponsorship have been employed by Mash Media to undertake a brand sponsorship strategy of their current sponsorship assets and to identify ways in which they are able to capitalise on their sponsorship proposition through the audience that attends their events.

Mash Media is acknowledged as the leading UK publisher of magazines and directories for the events industry, covering all its segments: exhibition, conference and live and outdoor. Publications include Conference News, Exhibition News, Conference & Meetings World, Exhibition World and Access All Areas.

They also run, and own, a number of events including Internatonal Confex, The Event Production Show, office and The Festival and Outdoor Events Show.

Their largest event, International Confex, is the UK’s leading event for organisers looking for inspiration planning both national and international events. Next taking place on the 26th & 27th February at Olympia, London, Confex provides the largest buying forum for the events industry with venues, destinations, suppliers and buyers networking and seeking new business ventures.

Attracting over 8000 visitors including big corporate brands such as BT, Harrods, BBC, IBM, BP and VISA to name a few, Confex provides a platform for businesses looking to expand their reach.

BDS Sponsorship have been employed by SALUTE as the sponsorship agency set to undertake sponsorship sales in the search for partners for this pioneering music competition.

Having started in 2017, SALUTE launched the UK pilot of a unique, technology driven competition to find the most innovative and diverse makers of original music across all genres. Targeting in particular the hard to reach 16-34 year olds this pilot achieved an astounding 3.5million+ direct engagements and 3 million+ video streams.

Following on from this huge initial success of the pilot, SALUTE will now roll out and also be further enhanced with the introduction of various new elements including Live Tours throughout the UK and then launching SALUTE in Europe over the next two years and followed shortly after by Asia, Americas and Australasia.

Enabling participants to discover new songs and artists before they can be found on Spotify, SALUTE have a unique partnership with Facebook and have pioneered a whole new way of audience voting. This has been delivered through ‘amplify’ – a new technology platform that fundamentally alters how people experience and share music.

Showcasing song writing talent from all genres, as well as celebrating diversity and inclusivity, SALUTE is working with the PRS (Performing Rights Society) to encourage more female song writers to take part and build further on the 51 ethnic groups that entered the UK pilot programme. A further aim is to continue building SALUTE’s partnership with UNILAD whereby the competition content is streamed through UNILAD’s social channels which have over 30 million followers.

BDS Sponsorship has been employed by Culture Event Creative to create a company sponsorship strategy and sponsorship sales materials for their Sea Creatures exhibition.

Sea Creatures opens at the Royal Horticultural Halls, Lawrence Halls, in London between July 20 and August 30 before touring the UK. This tour will see fifty ethically sourced, real-life specimens of creatures including a Baleen Whale, Whale Shark, Great White Shark, Dolphin, Seal, Octopus, Penguin and Sting Ray on display, allowing visitors to glimpse inside the majestic beasts, learning about the complex life systems within and why we need to protect precious ocean life.

Sea Creatures gives visitors the chance to learn about the animals who inhabit the same planet as us but very rarely, if ever, cross our paths.