Mud-slinging is not an event at the Delhi Commonwealth Games in September, but it just as well might be.

It appears all is not well in Delhi.

On August 16 organisers said the venues would be ready by August 25th. That was yesterday. Has there been confirmation? I’m still looking.

Members of the Organising Committee have been suspended for alleged corruption or, in other words, fingers in the till. Indian Railways, the event’s largest sponsor, is withholding a payment of $30million because they say the money is going to “outside parties”, not to the Games themselves.

One of those “outside parties” is reported to be the international sports marketing company, Sports Marketing and Management (SMAM), but its MD, Mike Bushell, says he hasn’t been paid anything and is claiming a minimum of $12million in compensation. FastTrack has also been dragged into the mire but, interestingly, both companies have been defended by the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) suggesting a serious divide between CGF (the Governing Body) and the local Organising Committee (OC).

Even the Queen has been dragged in, reportedly being in a “cold fury” about the allegations which reflect upon the Queen’s Baton Relay which she launched in London last October.

Undeniably, it’s all a bit of a mess, but as you read the many attempts to gloss over the difficulties and paint a brighter picture, you can’t help hoping that once the Games start, all these grimey stories will fade into the background.

Because, even though the Commonwealth Games may not carry the same kudos as major global events such as the Olympic Games or the FIFA World Cup, they do bring out the inevitable national fervour in those Commonwealth countries that participate. And, in the case of many of those countries (our own home nations to name but four), medals are a possibility precisely because other, stronger countries cannot take part.

We may not be stuck to the TV, computers and other digital devices in quite the same numbers as we will be when the Olympic Games come to London, but a large proportion of the nation will enjoy the events, the competition, the personal endeavour stories and, above all else, the success stories.

Because this is what the Olympics, the World Cup and, yes, the Commonwealth Games all have in common – the sense of excitement and achievement; the admiration of those many athletes who spend hours training for their one moment of glory. And it’s our sense of patriotism – we love it when our country wins.

So, even if some in Glasgow have been watching with some horror at the goings-on in Delhi and secretly wondering why they spent so much money and effort in securing the Commonwealth Games for 2014, I suggest they can relax in the knowledge that it will all come out right on the Opening Ceremony night and they will bring the flag back to Glasgow after the Closing Ceremony with eager anticipation for the next four years.

All the Glasgow Organising Committee has to do is ensure that the Games are well-organised, that there’s not a whiff of scandal and – oh did we mention this before? – that there are no security breaches.  If there’s one of those in Delhi, that would be a much more serious issue to get over.  Fingers crossed there won’t be.

By Karen Earl on August 26th, 2010

Tags: Commonwealth Games, Default, Glasgow 2014, London 2012, Olympics, World Cup

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Already Marketing’s Sponsorship Agency of the Year for 2009, Synergy added another coveted gong last night when we won the Hollis Sponsorship Consultancy of the Year award.

Great excitement and a few sore heads this morning, but the feeling of pride in the agency and in the quality of our work far outweighs the hangovers.

Now in their 16th year, the Hollis Sponsorship Awards are a stalwart of the industry and, over the years, we have notched up a grand total of 26 Hollis awards.  But, this latest award is our proudest as it is testament to the fact that 2009 was our best year yet.

It was our 25th anniversary; a year of celebration but, more importantly, of change.  Against a background of economic crisis, the year started out with some uncertainties.  But we decided to embrace change wholeheartedly – in the way we thought and the way we creatively activated.  And it worked.  Last year we had nine new business wins as the market place recognised our industry leading position.  Most importantly, we put digital at the heart of our thinking, whilst drawing on some of the best thinking from our fellow Engine companies.

The result was that we produced some exciting, creative and quality work for our clients and it was pleasing to see that one of our clients, Betfair, won the Hollis Award for the best use of PR in a Sponsorship Campaign for its Fan v Fan Ashes Campaign.

Of course the truth is that behind great campaigns and a great company is one thing – great staff. Have a look at the short film to hear about 2009 from our people in their own words.

By Karen Earl on March 10th, 2010

Tags: Default, Sponsorship, Sponsorship consultancy, Synergy

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It is good to see AON CMO Philip B Clement quoted in Marketing Week as saying that that the company’s sponsorship of Manchester United will “inform everything we do”.  AON, as we all know by now, are taking over from AIG at the end of the 2010/2011 season as Manchester United’s shirt sponsor. 

What is irritating is to read Marketing Week’s Russell Parsons, in the same piece, write that AON’s decision comes “at a time when many brands are questioning the wisdom of long-term sponsorship deals as the global economic downturn puts the spotlight on what return on investment sponsorship can bring”.

It’s irritating because it just isn’t true.  Which brands?  Which long-term sponsorship deals?  If anything over the past few months there have been more announcements of brands recognising the value of sponsorship by announcing further or new investments.

However, I was pleased that Mr Parsons shoots himself in the foot in the next paragraph when he quotes Mr Clement as saying that the sponsorship is an efficient and effective way of building the AON brand globally, and that the company would have to spend significantly more on media to match the exposure the deal will bring the brand over the four years of the deal – quite apart from its other benefits.

“It is a pretty good bet for a US firm looking for a global presence”, Mr Clement says.  You bet it is.  It’s done a great job for AIG.  It’s just a pity that the brand was unable to capitalise on the benefits delivered through the sponsorship because the company fell foul of the global economic conditions – a situation which, if we were to believe media reports, can be laid squarely at the feet of the MU sponsorship. 

I would love to have been a fly on the wall within AIG when the marketers were undoubtedly arguing that the MU sponsorship deal was one thing that was worth saving from the ashes.  Shame for the AIG brand they didn’t win the argument.  AIG’s loss will be AON’s gain. And Manchester United haven’t done too badly either – the deal is reportedly worth an extra £6 million to them annually.

By Karen Earl on June 10th, 2009

Tags: Default, Football Sponsorship, Manchester United, Sponsorship

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When we started out as Karen Earl Sponsorship in 1984 we had little idea what the future held, nor did we realise just how far sponsorship would develop as a global marketing phenomenon.

What a ride it has been. So many wonderful clients and sponsorships, so many great friends and memories. Lots of hard work too of course, but always great fun – and is still. I’m so proud of our work, our people, and the unique reputation we’ve built.

Looking ahead, we’ve never been in better shape. We have the most talented and committed group of people in our history, and a client list that’s unrivalled in the industry – and growing. Our international work has grown exponentially in the last few years. And as part of The Engine Group, we are ideally placed to continue to spearhead sponsorship’s unique role in modern marketing.

Easy to say, but let me explain.

We evolved into Synergy a year ago and moved into Engine’s new building just north of Oxford Circus. This meant that, as well as our three existing specialist units – Consultancy, Experiential and Communications – we were able to offer four new services: Branded Content, Digital, Employee Engagement and Sales Promotion. And all under one roof.

Our clients all tell us the same thing: they love it!

We now provide them with the broadest, most flexible and most relevant toolkit for 21st century sponsorship. Successful sponsorships are those which are truly integrated into brand marketing campaigns. Truly outstanding sponsorships are those which act as a catalyst for this integration using compelling ideas which both cut through the media clutter and effectively engage consumers.

We help our clients do that every day.

You can see numerous examples on our website. Two that immediately come to mind are the Guinness Premiership and the Powerade InnerGear campaign, each of which completed a clean sweep of the three major sponsorship awards in the last two years.

Our 25^th year makes this a landmark year for Synergy, but there’s going to be a lot more to shout about. We’ve already announced, for example, that we’re now working with Philips on their global Formula 1 sponsorship and with Betfair to develop their sponsorship strategy and portfolio. There are more announcements in the pipeline – watch this space.

Here’s to the next 25 years!

Karen Earl, Founder and Chairman of Synergy

Ed Kemp from Marketing spoke to Karen about the last 25 years – read his blog here

By Karen Earl on June 4th, 2009

Tags: Branded content, Communications, Consultancy, Digital marketing, Employee engagement, Experiential marketing, Guinness Premiership, Olympic sponsorship, Sales promotion, Sponsorship, Sponsorship consultancy, Synergy

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Obviously The O2 and its owners AEG think so and I hope they are right.  But what damage will be done to their reputation if Michael Jackson is a disappointment?

I, like millions of others, watched the lengthy ad on ITN at the weekend designed to stir up those of us who witnessed Michael Jackson’s finest performances and have remained fans ever since.

 It had the desired effect.  I was propelled to think about how I could get tickets to see the great man in July.

And then sense prevailed and, I’m afraid, a certain cynicism set in. 

Yes, he was fantastic.  But is he still?  Everything would suggest that he isn’t, but oh how I would love to be proved wrong.  But, imagine the disappointment if I go along to watch and he’s just not up to it.  (I had a similar secret dread about Tina Turner last week but happily she was everything she always has been and the show was simply the best).

Then my sponsorship and marketing brain got working.  Hadn’t Pepsi had an unfortunate relationship with Jackson some years back when it became an embarrassment to be associated with the performer?  Is AEG taking a similar risk?

How much must AEG have paid to get him to commit to ten performances?  Or, maybe, he’s so short of money and desperate to rekindle his fans’ spending power that AEG’s outlay wasn’t as great as I first supposed.

Will he last for 10 performances?  What insurance does AEG have if he doesn’t?  Will punters get their money back if he can’t last the pace?  Would a  fallout damage AEG’s reputation?  The questions are endless and the risks are high.

And, last but not least, my practical side took over and I was left thinking what a nightmare it must be for whoever is responsible for putting together the crisis communications plan.  Good luck to them I say. 

By Karen Earl on March 10th, 2009

Tags: ITV, Music, Public relations, Sponsorship, Television

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The newspapers have been a bit depressing of late, but this morning I was greeted with a couple of early telephone calls which brought a smile to my face;  a smile of incredulity, a touch of embarrassment and, above all, delight.

Apparently I’m listed in The Times Power 100 as one of the most influential people in British sport. 

What an honour!  Especially when you look at the exalted company with which I’m mixing.  One of my callers pointed out that I come higher in the list than Tiger Woods which, I can see, I’m going to have a hard time living down.

Other names below me include Andrew Flintoff, Steven Gerrard and Zara Phillips.  So,  I agree with the venerable Kevin Eason and Patrick Kidd (who put the list together) that there will many hours of disagreement and debate when Times readers plough through the 100 names.

Needless to say I buy The Times every day (maybe that had something to do with it) and I think its sports pages are excellent.  And, before you all ask, no, there were no backhanders.

What a great way to start our 25th year in business – as on May 27 Synergy (Karen Earl Sponsorship that was) celebrates this landmark.

Maybe Kevin and Patrick were awarding points for those still standing after all this time!

By Karen Earl on January 21st, 2009

Tags: Media, Sponsorship, Sponsorship consultancy, Sponsorship consultants

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Traditionally, November is the sponsorship industry’s conference time of year.  Last week’s Future Sponsorship conference in Brussels is now well-established as a gathering of the great and the good in the industry and, as its name suggests, where the future is discussed.  This year was no different.

The first question on most people’s lips was “how will the sponsorship industry be affected by the credit crunch?”  

My answer was, and is, that the sponsorship industry will be affected, just like all other industries and it’s short sighted to pretend otherwise.  Budgets will be trimmed, cuts will be made and everyone will be squeezed in one way or another.

But the industry is far better placed than it was during the last major downturn in the 1990s.  Then, only some marketers were convinced that sponsorship worked.  As a consultancy, we were still busy educating companies on the benefits of sponsorship and showing them that it worked. 

Now, we spend little, if any, time persuading marketing directors that money will be effectively spent on sponsorship – they’re already convinced.  They have numerous examples for reference and it’s pleasing to note that they are considering sponsorship in their current and future strategies as a matter of course.

Increasingly, sponsorship is being asked to provide tangible business benefits.  And, thank goodness, it can, because now is the time when proof is needed that marketing expenditure can indeed put money on the bottom line.

A great deal of time is spent within the industry discussing precisely how that proof should be declared.  Unlike the advertising or PR industries, sponsorship has no universally-agreed evaluation system, arguing as it does that sponsorship’s success depends upon objectives set at the outset.  The difficulty (or, as many argue, the advantage) being that these objectives can be immensely varied and, therefore, results need to be individually tracked.  Thus a universal system is both impractical if not impossible.

I’ve always argued that sponsorship’s marketing advantage is its flexibility; the fact that it can solve a multitude of business challenges.

But I came away from Future Sponsorship thinking that it would be in the industry’s interest if it can make itself bullet-proof against accusations of non-accountability, especially in this economic downturn. 

By Karen Earl on December 2nd, 2008

Tags: Brand marketing, Public relations, Sponsorship, Sponsorship consultancy

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Listening to the unassuming Dave Brailsford, the man in charge of British Cycling, at this week’s FT Sport Industry Summit, was electrifying.

No wonder the cyclists won so many medals in Beijing.

He told his story quietly but with such underlying passion and determination that the effect was mesmerising.

It underlined the vital role played by excellent coaches and back-up teams and how badly our athletes need them if they are to continue to succeed at the elite level in general and the Olympics in particular.

I think it was the word ‘determination’ that came across so emphatically.  He and his team were utterly determined to succeed and the strategy they embraced to achieve that goal was cold, ruthless and deadly.  If you didn’t make the grade you were out.  No hard feelings, no bitterness; that was the deal.

We need more Dave Brailsfords in all walks of life.  But, in the meantime, let’s just hope we can replicate him in all the other Olympic and Paralympic sports because that certainly would lead to more success at London 2012.

By Karen Earl on November 7th, 2008

Tags: Beijing 2008, Cycling, London 2012, Olympics, Team GB

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At the FT Sport Industry Summit on Tuesday a very interesting topic was raised but never fully explored.

Roger Draper, Chief Executive at the Lawn Tennis Association and famous for his hunger for change, said that when he left Sport England he had presented a document to Government which recommended that the UK should have just one sports body – instead of the proliferation of bodies which now exist.

A number of us in the industry have always been baffled as to why so many different bodies exist within sport in the UK but, with the realisation that turkeys don’t vote for Christmas, we have long accepted that the current scenario is unlikely to change.

However, and slightly ironically, it may be that a change is just over the horizon.  I say ironically because it is the very fact that Team GB was so successful in Beijing that sport really is now at the top of the Government agenda.  There is a genuine belief that sport is good for the country, for morale and health reasons and more, and ministers are keen to associate themselves with success.  Let’s face it, there’s pretty little else in the way of success to which they can nail their colours at the moment.

So, we might be witness in the next four to five years to a move to streamline the administration of sport in this country.  It’ll probably take that long for Government to address the issues and there will be a feeling that there is so much else to do prior to London 2012 that rocking the boat now would be detrimental.

But, picture the scene after 2012 and after (we hope) more medal success for Team GB.  We could find ourselves with one UK Sports Association (or other appropriate title) responsible for all things ‘sport’ across the UK – and that includes Scotland, Ireland and Wales.  Governing bodies through to local clubs would know where to apply for financial and all other assistance instead of the myriad of different institutions currently in existence.  The system would be straightforward, which it’s not now.

Roger Draper said his report had identified £80 million of administrative savings if the plan was embraced.  Imagine what sport could do with that sort of money – from medals at the top to community sport at the grassroots.

You never know, one of the political parties might put the notion in their manifesto for the next general election – it could make them very popular.

By Karen Earl on November 7th, 2008

Tags: DCMS, London 2012, Olympics, Team GB, community, grass roots sport

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The Olympics are inspirational and I don’t want to miss a moment of the live action over the next two weeks.

Ever since London won the Olympics on July 6^th 2005, I’ve been thinking about how I’ll be able to see as much of the action as possible in 2012.  Having the Olympics here on my doorstep is brilliant and there is no doubt that being there will be a never-to-be-forgotten experience.

For the Beijing Olympics I shall have to make do with broadcast coverage.  So, I’ve been busily scanning the BBC’s coverage schedule.  China being 7 hours ahead of the UK and other commitments aside, I find myself planning how I’ll be able to watch as much live action as possible – the rest will have to be captured on BBC iPlayer. 

So, what is it about the Olympics that make them ‘an appointment to view’? Yes, sure, I do record the odd programme I want to watch later.  And, yes, there has been the odd football or rugby match I’ve wanted to see live – Euros, World Cups and so on.

But the Olympics are different.  Why?  Because they really do inspire.  We’ve heard Seb Coe say so often enough and I agree with him.  Perhaps it’s the stories of human endeavour; the narrow difference between winning and losing; the winning of a medal or coming fourth (can there be anything worse?); reaching the starting line at all and the heartbreak of those that work so hard for years and just don’t make it.  Just last night on ‘Olympic Dreams’ my heart went out to Jessica Ennis, a real medal contender, whose chances have been ruined by three broken bones in her foot.

I know I shall find myself ridiculously moved to tears over some of the performances and the stories behind those performances, especially those by the Paralympians.  The sheer courage and determination displayed simply puts everything else into true perspective.

Sponsorship consultants talk a lot about consumer passions.  Certainly, here at Synergy, we work with a number of companies who have realised how inspirational the Olympics can be in terms of employee engagement – British Airways, Coca-Cola and Easynet to name but three. 

For me, and others who work here, the Olympics really do it for us.  They are truly inspirational and it’s great being able to be involved through our working hours as well as outside them.

The only downside is the feeling of emptiness on the day after the closing ceremony.  No more coverage to watch.  No more passion; no more inspiration.  But then I think again and realise that those stories of personal endeavour will stay with me and although I might not be inspired to take up marathon running, I’ll certainly be inspired to do something with my life that makes a difference.

In the meantime, it’s only four years until they come to London and time will fly.  And already there’s the handing over of the Olympic flag to look forward to.

By Karen Earl on August 6th, 2008

Tags: Olympics, Sponsorship consultants

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