As the excitement of Britain’s medal haul at the European Championship fades, the media and public turn the spotlight on our chances at the much anticipated London 2012 Olympic Games.  Many sports journalist have discussed the hopes of Idowu, Farah and Ennis but what the sports media are missing is more coverage on the potential of the talented Men’s GB hockey team.

It may have been over twenty years since Great Britain’s men’s hockey team won gold at the Seoul 1988 Olympic Games, in the days of Kerly, Batchelor and Sherwani (who? you are most probably asking yourself), but now Great Britain has a new breed of stars that could become heroes.  After recently reaching the final of the Champions Trophy they are in real contention for a medal, although Great Britain will have to overcome an extremely dominant Aussie team…which could make an incredible final at London 2012.

Hockey is a mass participation sport; registering over 100,000 people playing in the UK every week (and not just by girls, before my colleagues launch in to their predictable banter).  Whilst this sport won’t be at the top of every potential sponsors wish list, hockey could provide the right brand with a really unique opportunity to engage with the passionate and dedicated audience of this great game.

By Simon Roche on August 11th, 2010

Tags: Blogging, London 2012, London 2012 sponsorship, Olympic sponsorship, Olympic sponsorship consultants, Olympics, Sport

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Life as a PR can put you in some fairly bizarre situations, but frankly yesterday topped it all.  Along with many other PR agencies across the land, we were racking our brains for an attention grabbing, media friendly angle to maximise the PR’s dream annual event – April Fool’s Day.

So to celebrate April Fool’s Day and promote the GUINNESS PREMIERSHIP we created and ran a spoof story about a rugby star releasing his very own Eau d’ rugby aftershave.  Ugo Monye, England’s sharp shooter was the man chosen to front the campaign which I’m sure he will regret in the changing rooms on Saturday, when his teammates rib him mercilessly.

The story went that Ugo was creating an aftershave that captured the essence of rugby with hints of sweat, aromas of deep heat, bouquets of mud and of course a drop of the black stuff.  This delectable aroma was set to be stocked in all the big department stores and samples given out to rugby fans at the Guinness Premiership Final on buying a pint of Guinness.

All that was left to do was set up a photo shoot with the customary test tubes, lab coats and bunsen burners…..

In the mire of spoof stories Metro ran the piece today which hopefully you all read on your way in to work this morning and believed ….Happy April Fool’s Day.

By Simon Roche on April 1st, 2010

Tags: Guinness, Guinness Premiership, Rugby

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Wigan Athletic showed ample amounts of generosity on two fronts over the past few days.  After gifting Spurs nine goals in their disastrous defeat at White Hart Lane, the Wigan players felt sufficiently embarrassed to offer refunds to all of their travelling fans.

This goes some way to contradicting stereotypical views of footballers and their selfish ways.  Hopefully, this will encourage other players to think more about their committed fans rather than the size of their bank balances.

However, to put things in perspective, the Spurs fans at the match were chanting to the travelling Wigan fans “What time’s your mini-bus?”, thus suggesting a minimal amount of travelling fans will need to be reinbursed by the players.

It will be interesting to see if the Wigan team put together a better display at home against Sunderland this weekend – and, if there’s any repeat of the Spurs debacle this season, whether the players refund the fans again.

By Simon Roche on November 25th, 2009

Tags: Barclays Premier League, Football

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Following on from Dominic Curran’s blog on the underground library, I also came across two things I like on my tube journey home last night…honesty and humour.  This came in the form of Dixons‘ new advertising campaign on the underground which has ruffled a few feathers in the retail world.

Although a humorous campaign, the essence of what they say is true.  Consumers in today’s climate are not going to have the wool pulled over their eyes by a charming sales assistant in a luxurious store, when there is better value to be had elsewhere…online.

The Dixons ‘etail campaign’ hints at the growing consumer confidence in a purely online shopping experience, a shift that is already having major ramifications for traditional retail outlets.

To read more about how about how the likes of Selfridges and John Lewis have reacted to the ad, go to Campaign’s website.

By Simon Roche on September 23rd, 2009

Tags: Default

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Without making sweeping generalisations, there is a culture in many parts of the US where bigger is better.  This was highlighted recently by the Dallas Cowboys when they launched their all singing all dancing stadium replay screen.

Gone are the days when you need to take your glasses to watch live sport…the screen at the Cowboys’ stadium weighs in at 60 yards long by 71 foot high, thus in effect making it the world’s largest high definition television screen.  However, the bragging rights from having this colossal TV are somewhat diminished by the lack of planning put into the screen’s placement.

In the Cowboys pre-season friendly against the Titans, the Titans punter Craig Hentrich hit the giant screen hanging 90ft above field level on more than one occasion and commented “I don’t know what the people were thinking. I guess they should have tested things out before they put that thing in place. It’ll have to be raised.”

Having already spent £1.5 billion on the Stadium, the Cowboys owner Jerry Jones disagreed with the issue, stating “How high is high if somebody just wants to sit there and kick straight up? You gotta be trying to do it. The rule is very clear. You just kick it again.”

If I were a betting man I would put a punt on the screen being raised before the start of the season!

By Simon Roche on September 10th, 2009

Tags: Default

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Triathlon may be the fastest growing sport in England, but sports fans like it a little rougher Stateside. Time magazine has called it “the fastest growing sports brand in the United States” and it recently graced the front cover of Sports Illustrated. UFC – the Ultimate Fighting Championship – is taking the sports world by storm…with mixed reactions.

Many purists see this as a step back in time, as fighters regress into a more barbaric style of combat, not seen since the days of bare knuckle boxing. Although they have now banned head-butting and hair pulling, many boxing fans and officials still consider this as a highly dangerous sport. This view from the boxing world may be influenced by the massive market share of sports fans that UFC is drawing in, as boxing slowly but surely decreases in followers.

Boxing may have pulled in 850,000 pay-per-view sales for the recent fight between Pacquiao and Hatton, but in the US, UFC regularly hits the million mark. In the style of the infamous “Fight Club” film, most of UFC’s followers are typically white-collar males aged 18-34 years. Whether you like it or not, brands looking to sponsor a rapidly growing sport would be wise to look seriously at this proposition; although, controlling the UFC ambassadors you employ would be a different story. Another appealing factor to this high-adrenaline sport is that there are rarely unbalanced fights, unlike in boxing where a promoter cannily chooses matches in his fighter’s favour. This may be due to the greater balance of pay amongst the fighters; according to one source there are around 380 UFC fighters earning over $100,000 a year.

As much as I enjoy spending a quiet day watching a village cricket match, for sheer entertainment and a real ‘edge of your seat’ factor, few sports compare to UFC’s aggression, skill and will to win. I hasten to add, in this case these views most definitely come from an armchair sportsman!

By Simon Roche on August 28th, 2009

Tags: Sport

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With the oustanding efforts of the England cricket team splashed across the media, Virgin Trains have boarded the bandwagon by given the Australians a fresh reminder of their loss with a touch of English humour.

This is not the first time that Virgin Trains have run ads featuring sports stars.  At the start of this year the company ran a  ‘Liverpool to London return faster than Robbie Keane” campaign.

By Simon Roche on August 26th, 2009

Tags: Advertising, Ashes, Cricket, Default

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PR Week features Synergy’s appointment by Bupa to PR the Great Run Series.  To read the article, click here.

By Simon Roche on August 26th, 2009

Tags: Press Clipping

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Just when Tuffers and Dizzy thought they had got over the worst of the dangerous, nerve racking and quite possibly life-threatening Betfair Challenges, they arrived at a farm in Leeds ahead of the Headingley Test to bowl each other down a giant hill in zorbs, attempting to hit the super sized inflatable stumps at the bottom. 

Sky Sports News and BBC Look North turned out to film the action and there was much concern from both Dizzy and Tuffers that they may well be sick live on TV!  Tuffers bowled first and sent Dizzy down the hill at 30mph with a googly that uprooted offstump.  Dizzy levelled the Challenge by launching a very ill-looking Tuffers down the hill and in to the stumps.  Challenge drawn, leaving the series poised at 2-1 to England, with the all important 6-aside cricket match to be played.

The final Challenge took the series to the Hurlingham Club in West London – and Tuffers continued his good form and brought the trophy back to England. Although Dizzy had “The Cat” cowering to square leg against his aggresive fast bowling, Tuffers’ Tyrants held on with the help of a majestic knock from ex West Indies batsman Jimmy Adams.  To watch all the action go to FanvFan.com

Dizzy now has to face a forfeit for losing the Betfair Challenge series.  He will have the honour of having the St George Cross emblazoned across his chest at The Oval and have to cheer England on amongst the Barmy Army as England look to win the real Ashes in the final Test.

By Simon Roche on August 20th, 2009

Tags: Ashes, Branded content, Default, Digital marketing

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