Columbia's Tour de France sponsorship 'an unqualified success'.

A great article in 'The Orgeon' today about a last minute sponsorship deal that delivered great value for money.

The recent deal by outdoor apparel company Columbia to sponsor the Team High Road cycling team after previous sponsor T-Mobile pulled out due to a doping scandal resulted in Chief Executive Tim Boyle saying "The sponsorship was an unqualified success by any measure."

Despite initial objections from European managers, the deal to promote Columbia's Omni-Shade Ultra-Violet-ray-protection material resulted in results that were pleasing to management.

For one, Boyle said, the sponsorship boosted company morale. More importantly, statistical measures and anecdotal impressions suggest the team and its five stage victories thrust Columbia's name and the yellow-flared trademark of its Omni-Shade fabric into broad exposure in the prized markets of intense Tour de France fandom.

Although Columbia does not actually make cycling apparel, they still wanted to make the link between the fabric and the world famous cycling event. Columbia's sales and marketing team came up with the idea of placing "Omni-Shade" beneath the company's logo on the jerseys.

Columbia would not say how much it paid for the sponsorship, but industry experts say it likely cost more than $3 million -- much less than T-Mobile probably paid.

"No other team had anywhere near as many stage wins, which is what gets the majority of the daily coverage globally, and all the coverage in the rider's home market," Boyle said. "When you add in the coverage we're likely to get with the riders in the Olympics, this is better than a grand slam home run."

Columbia spokeswoman Leslie Constans said more than 11,000 articles in 85 countries mentioned Team Columbia in some fashion this month.

French and Spanish newspapers devoted more pages than ever, both in print and online, to this year's race, with Team Columbia's five stage-victory salutes figuring prominently, said Carlton Reid, owner of Quickrelease.tv, a U.K. cycling news Web site.

"You'd be hard-pushed to sponsor a minor soccer team for a season for the money Columbia would have spent on this team," Reid said.

Reid and others think Columbia's three-year deal will continue to pay dividends.

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Lawyers still the only participants in Americas Cup.

The on again, off again, on again legal battle over the America's cup has taken another turn. The quarrelling little schoolboys look set keep up the farce of seeing who can make the rules, not who can produce the best team of designers and competitors.

One wonders how the marketing departments at UBS and BMW feel about being involved in such high-profile non-sporting activity.

A panel of five judges split three to two to overturn a previous decision which had granted Larry Ellison's San Francisco-based BMW Oracle the sole right to challenge the Swiss holder Ernesto Bertarelli's Alinghi.

The Appellate Division of the New York Court ruled that the original, specially organised Spanish challenger, the Club Nautico Espanol de Vela, did indeed fulfill the terms required and threw out judgments made in both March and May this year by Supreme Court Judge Herman Cahn.

In theory the 10-month clock for the next Cup is re-set, but it is expected that, especially as the panel was split three to two, that Ellison's challenging vehicle, the Golden Gate Yacht Club will seek a further appeal.

"We are surprised and disappointed by this ruling," said BMW Oracle spokesman Tom Ehman.

Alinghi has already said that it could not now stage the next America's Cup in Valencia next year. "We are delighted with this result," said Bertarelli. "We can now continue with our vision of a multi-challenge event."

No apologies then to the fans of sailing as a sport, or to the industry who used to be able to point to a competition that was on the brink of rivalling Formula 1 for class, technological innovation and skill. No concept of the gradual destruction of a brand that has existed for over 100 years, just a bunch of guys in suits who used to be sportsmen.

Cowes Week Still Without a Sponsor

The annual Cowes Week kicks off this week, but the organisers have not managed to find a title sponsor to replace Skandia, whose long running partnership ends this year.

Skandia's sponsorship of Cowes Week has run for 14 years including this year's event, which takes place at the beginning of August. It was known as long ago as March 2007 that its support would finish this year.

Cowes Week Limited, the company that runs the event, today issued a statement saying that it had not been able to finalise a new partner before this year's event.

Stuart Quarrie, Cowes Week's chief executive, said: "Although discussions are progressing well, we are not in a position to make an announcement before or during the regatta.

"However, we do have every confidence that Cowes Week will have a new partner in place in good time for the 2009 regatta."

Skandia Cowes Week will this year take place over eight days from August 2 on the Isle of Wight. The event, which attracts about 1,000 boats, 8,500 sailors and a full gamut of celebrities, first took place in 1826 and is the world's longest-running sailing regatta.

Think of a sport. Now think of an Airline.

A nice article in the Independent today about how Emirates have used sponsorship to create a household name in the UK.

As well as title sponsorship of the state of the art stadium for Arsenal football Club in north London, Emirates have added title sponsorship of a roundabout to their list of properties.

More interesting to me than the fact that the Concord Roundabout will now be the Emirates Roundabout is that sponsorship makes up 50 percent of the £150m Emirates spends on marketing, including advertising and public relations. This is up from a spilt of 90% to 10% in favour of advertising.

While the company gives an indication that they are looking for a 6-7 times return on investment, they admit that it is an 'exposure' model of sponsorship, counting logos and then comparing it with how much it would have cost if you had bought that space on television or in the newspapers.

Even for a big player in the sponsorship game, they admit "It's not too scientific, it's a finger in the air type of measurement. But when you sponsor quite a lot as we do, you get more than a gut feeling of whether the sponsorship is doing well or not."

Surely the digital age can bring more clarity than that!

Measurement becomes Mainstream?

One of the promises of an integrated digital media offer, powered by the Internet, has been tons and tons of useful measurement that can be used to make content relevant and advertising efficient.

Most companies don't actually use this data. They make users fill out registration forms, collecting information about gender and age and postal code, with an implicit undertaking to provide a more customised experience, but in reality this data is rarely used.

There have been notable exceptions. You probably don't want to know the level of detail about your habits resides in the Google databases. Bolt.com, one of the early Social Networks employed a team of statisticians to analyse teenage behaviour that was then sold to blue chip marketing brands.

Now the big-boys are waking up, perhaps. NBC have announced that they will use next month's broadcast of the Olympics to research how their audience consume media across several platforms including mobile (cell phones).

The 'billion dollar research lab' may go towards producing what NBC calls a "TAMI" -- Total Audience Measurement Index, which takes into account TV, online, video on demand and mobile phone usage. It may eventually be used to negotiate deals with advertisers across several platforms at once.

2008. The technology is available. The knowledge is available. And yet, words like 'eventually' and 'may be' are still used. Perhaps content providers don't want to know that nobody is watching or that the advertising is not relevant.

Digest - Nascar, Premier League, LG and the NEC

NASCAR

Office Depot to Sponsor Stewart.

The two-time Cup champion Tony Stewart, has reached an agreement that would make Office Depot a primary sponsor on his car if he finalizes a deal with Haas CNC Racing. Office Depot will be the primary sponsor for a potential NASCAR team part-owned by driver Tony Stewart, above. An announcement could be made as early as the weekend of the July 27 race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. More...

US Army will continue to sponsor Earnhardt.
Dale Earnhardt, Inc. President Max Siegel expects to retain the U.S. Army sponsorship for his team's No. 8 Chevrolets next season. More...

Chevrolet reduces NASCAR sponsorship.
A US newspaper has reported that Chevrolet will reduce its sponsorship in NASCAR stock racing. The American Charlotte Observer newspaper says that the manufacturer is looking to reduce its sponsorship of race events, pace car deals and trackside advertising and is not planning to renew any track sponsorship that expire at the end of this season or in the future. More...


UK Football

Thomas Cook renew with Manchester City.
Thomas Cook has announced that it will extend its shirt sponsorship agreement with the Manchester City Football Club. This will mark the sixth season the travel operator has sponsored the Manchester City club. Thomas Cook’s chief executive officer, Manny Fontenla-Novoa, said: “We are delighted to continue our relationship with Manchester City as it builds on our position as one of the UK's best known brands. More...

OTHER

LG to Sponsor Birmingham Arena.
LG has announced an eight-year sponsorship deal with Birmingham’s NEC Arena that will see the venue renamed as 'LG Arena’. As part of the deal, the manufacturer will contribute to a £28M revamp of the site. New hospitality suites, bars, restaurants and improved backstage areas will all be installed, and the re-brand is expected to be active from autumn.

LG said that the agreement will allow it to engage with an additional one million consumers per year as it bids to increase its brand visibility.

According to UK marketing director, Andrew Warner, the deal shows the shift in the manufacturer’s focus from being a product-driven organisation to a marketing-driven one. He said: ‘Consumer alignment to a brand is no longer simply about preference for that brand’s products. It’s about how the brand makes a consumer feel. More...

Wimbledon by Numbers

As the champions are about to be crowned for another year at the famous grass courts of the All England Club, time to reflect, not just on the tennis, but the business of the event.

Wimbledon is global brand that made almost £25 million profit after tax last year. The event is watched on television in over 562 million homes in 178 countries. Nearly half a million spectators, paying anywhere from £5 to £60 per ticket, will pass through the gates in the leafy outer suburb of London. And the spending won't stop once they are inside - visitors will buy 17,000 bottles of champagne and 31 tons of strawberries, 100,000 pints of beer and 130,000 lunches.

Sponsors include Rolex, IBM and HSBC - big names who are aiming their products at a global, affluent market and taking advantage of a rare week of sunshine in July for some hospitality and deal making. Some of the sponsorship monies are being used to bring the centre court up to super-modern standards. Work due to be completed in 2009 will increase the number of seats to 15,000 and allow the roof to be closed so rain (which so often delays the event) does not stop play.

And what of the other 50 weeks of the year, well organizers have opened 34 Wimbledon stores around the world, (14 in China alone) that sell everything from logo-bearing towels to diamond-encrusted jewellery. It's a long way from a gentlemanly game in white in 1877.

Sponsorship News Round Up

Some sponsorship stories from around the world in recent days.

Ford cuts back on V8 funding
Ford has defended its decision to strip funding from most of its V8 Supercar teams next year, including championship-chasing Team Vodafone and the iconic Dick Johnson Racing.

In a cost-cutting move designed to save millions, the car maker announced it would concentrate its sponsorship money on just two teams from 2009 - Ford Performance Racing (FPR) and Stone Brothers Racing (SBR). Ford won't say exactly how much the move to tighten its sponsorship will save, but it is understood to be upwards of $3 million.

But Ford said its V8 Supercar outlay would remain the brand's biggest Australian sporting sponsorship. Full Story

Gulf Air signs sponsorship deal with QPR
Queens Park Rangers to carry Gulf Air branding on their shirts from next season. With Bernie Ecclestone, Flavio Briatore and Lakshmi Mittal involved the club could be destined for big things.

In the never-ending jousting among Gulf airlines, it falls some way short of Emirates but certainly tops Qatar Airways. Gulf Air is to be named as shirt sponsor of Queens Park Rangers, the sixth best football team in London.

It doesn't quite match Emirates $200m deal to sponsor Arsenal (including 15-year naming rights on the stadium), but it certainly looks more impressive Qatar Airways buying an ad on the roof of Brentford FC's Griffin Park ground (the ad could be glimpsed as planes come in to land at nearby Heathrow). Full Story

Aegon kicks off €70 mln sponsorship with Ajax
Aegon and world-renowned Dutch soccer club Ajax formally launched their new partnership with the unveiling of a giant copy of Ajax's red and white game shirt featuring, for the first time, the Aegon brand. As part of the sponsorship deal, Ajax will receive between EUR 10 mln and 12 mln a year over the next seven years from Aegon - the precise amount depending on the team's performance.

In addition to the Ajax sponsorship, Aegon also makes significant contributions to sport through its sponsorship of, amongst others, the Dutch national speed skating federation. US champion golfers Zach Johnson and Taylor Leon. UK golfer Lloyd Saltman and Czech speed skater Martina Sablikova. Full Story

Sport - The Original Social Network

Networking is the word. social networking, business networking, IP networking, the network effect, the networked economy. Everybody is doing it. Luckily, those who are into sport, know that networking is nothing new. Sport is the original social network.

Sport is a natural way for people to get together. Before Facebook and Linked-In and Yardbarker, there were yacht clubs and golf clubs and football clubs. Before the Internet made connections between profiles, people made connections with fellow participants. A recent study suggests that people who play sport are more successful partly because of the positive Social Network Effect.

For some companies, the only real reason to sponsor sport is to buy access to a network that may otherwise be impenetrable. The Monaco Grand Prix is recognised as much as a place to do business as a sporting event. As Sports Pro magazine put it last month "Nobody knows how much business is actually done on the big yachts and in the rented apartments overlooking the circuit each year, only that it outstrips every other international sporting event."

You might think that you don't need to network - that it is for salespeople and entrepreneurs, Many people find themselves at partner level of a professional firm, where they are expected not only to deliver outstanding service, but also to bring in new business. Even in the age of digital networks that populate themselves out of your outlook address book, it is better to develop long-standing relationships with people.

For those who want a crash course in how to network, help is at hand from the experts (I'm not one of them). Aquitude is one company that shows people, especially in large corporates, the benefits of developing a strong network, and for those looking for an online network with a sporting edge, check out iStadia.

Does Sponsorship Work? Ask Volvo.

I get asked a lot whether sponsorship actually works. Whether it can hold its own against other kinds of marketing spend. Apart from the metrics which show that sponsors can achieve great ROI from this form of promotion, another way of answering the question is to point to companies that obviously believe that it works.

Take Volvo for example. Volvo have taken the Round the World Sailing race and made it their own, with innovative media treatment and professional activation. But Volvo sponsor all kinds of things, so many in fact, that they have launced a website dedicated to their sponsorship activity.

A visit to the site reveals that Volvo sponsor Sport, environmental projects, culture at a global, national and local level. volvoinsponsorship.com delivers news, views, information and results from all points of the compass.

From prestigious professional golf championships such as the Volvo China Open and the Volvo Masters to the worldwide enthusiasm of the Volvo Masters Amateur, the sponsorship portal augments tournament site-specific websites, giving a flavour of the on-course drama, meets the men and women at the centre of the stories with exclusive insights behind the scenes.

Then there is sailing; the Volvo Ocean Race, Volvo's flagship round-the-world race, setting sail in October 2008 on a seven-team, nine-month, 37,500nm, four-continent 10-country, 11-port ocean odyssey sets sail from Spain on October 4th.

The Volvo-sponsored Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and the Gothenburg Opera both strike the right chord with Volvo's cultural campaign and volvoinsponsorship.com will hit all the high notes from the concert halls and opera houses at home in Gothenburg and abroad.

And it's ‘Green for Go,' with Volvo's environmental initiatives, the Volvo Environment Prize, the most coveted ecological award on offer and its junior equivalent, the Volvo Adventure with the youth of the world finding environmental improvement simply eco-logical and the sponsorship portal gets to the heart of the environmental action.

The very best of the rest comes from Volvo's support for Swedish motorsport, burning eco-fuel of course, exhibitions, conferences and awards around the world, equestrian excellence at the annual Göteborg Horse Show, featuring the full sponsorship spectrum from Volvo.

Commented Steven Lefebvre, New Media Manager at Volvo Event Management in Brussels, "The new sponsorship portal provides a global platform with which to pull all the strands of Volvo's various sponsorship activities together."

He added, "With our portfolio of dedicated event-based websites such as volvochinaopen.com, volvomasters.com, volvooceanrace.org, volvomastersamateur.com, volvomastersofasia.com attracting millions of sport-specific aficionados to their in-depth coverage, we are endeavouring to reflect the broader and more diverse elements of Volvo's worldwide sponsorship activity and offer a different perspective for those engaging with us either for the first time or in a broader way."

The strapline for the new site is "bringing sponsorship to life."