Synergy has won the brief to handle Betfair’s sponsorship planning and activation.

Following a competitive pitch, Betfair has hired Synergy to develop a long term sponsorship strategy and, short term, to manage its experiential, PR and digital activation around this summer’s Ashes Test Series.

Betfair is an official Partner of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and official Betting Partner of the Test Match Grounds. This summer’s campaign will be designed to build Betfair’s standing as the sports fans’ betting brand of choice.

Synergy’s fellow Engine agency, Altogether, has been appointed as part of the pitch process to manage the digital development and marketing of the cricket sponsorship.

Matt Booth, Head of UK Marketing at Betfair said: “We’re delighted to be working with Synergy – they demonstrated in the pitch their impressive reputation for sponsorship consulting and activation, coupled with a real understanding of both our brand and cricket. In addition, their digital marketing expertise under the same roof in conjunction with altogether was a critical difference for an online business like ours.”

Synergy CEO, Tim Crow said: “This is another fantastic win for us which further demonstrates that we are the sponsorship consultancy of first choice for the great brands and, increasingly, the great online brands. Betfair offers consumers a best in class proposition which sponsorship can really bring to life, and we’re really looking forward to making that happen.”

By Synergy on May 5th, 2009

Tags: Press Clipping

No comments

Scott Garrett comments on the opportunities for brands created by the new F1 economic framework.

Click here to read the full article from The Times

By Synergy on May 1st, 2009

Tags: Press Clipping

No comments

It’s been an interesting few months for Lewis Hamilton. Not only has he struggled to get the pace he has been hoping for in the new design McLaren, but he suddenly has serious competition from another Brit in the Paddock.

This time last year Hamilton fever was in full swing and the rising star could hardly put a foot wrong as far as the media and general public were concerned. At the same time non-F1 fans would have been forgiven for asking ‘Jenson who?’  Twelve months later and how the tables have turned. Jenson Button’s feel good story – from a driver who at one point looked unlikely to have an F1 drive this season to winner in Melbourne – has captured the hearts and minds of the public, and you can’t open a newspaper at the moment without seeing an article about Jenson.

Such interest and support for Button must surely be hard to swallow for Lewis who had previously held the position of the media’s F1 darling.  And to make matters worse, while Jenson’s column inches focus on his rise to success, his loyalty to the team through the recent difficult times and his aspirations for the future, Lewis’s recent mistake of misleading the race stewards in Melbourne is splashed all over the papers, and the reigning World Champion is having to call a press conference to publicly apologise for his actions following the Australian GP.

Watch the Lewis Hamilton press conference here.

Gripping stuff.  It seems the off-track dramas are just as interesting as the racing itself. I for one will be tuning in to the Malaysian GP this weekend to see how the next episode of the battle of the Brits unfolds….

By Synergy on April 6th, 2009

Tags: Default, Formula 1, Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton

No comments

Dominic Curran comments on Hamilton’s appeal to brands in the London Evening Standard. Click here to read the article.

By Synergy on April 1st, 2009

Tags: Press Clipping

No comments

The new Formula 1 season has also heralded a new design for the BBC Sport Online’s Formula 1 page.

It’s clear that British interest in Formula 1 has increased in recent years thanks to a number of factors not least the ‘Lewis effect’ and all the talk of Jenson Button as a possible new British World Champion, Jenson’s girlfriend certainly believes he can do it.
 
The BBC is hoping this interest will continue to grow and has invested a reported £200m into bringing the sport back to the BBC including bringing back Fleetwood Mac’s The Chain as the theme tune for their programming.

Everybody loves a good theme tune, but what really caught my eye was the new design of BBC Sport Online’s Formula 1 page with its  black skin and abundant blue, yellow and red go-faster stripes.  There are lots of other differences such as a much larger selection of external links to other websites (more so than on other BBC Sport Online pages), insider gossip from their ‘mole’ and more which you can all explore on your own time.

The page has a similar look and feel to BBC iplayer with the same black skin as opposed to the white background that is used across the rest of the BBC Sport Online pages.  This may well be a subconscious reminder to the viewer that the highlights are available on iplayer through some sort of visual empathy…or it may simply be that one of the designers at the Beeb thinks the black skin is cooler.

What I did find a bit strange is that as soon as you click onto a Formula 1 story the next page you see is back to a white background. I wonder whether all the sports covered by the BBC online team will begin to have their own identity with different skin colours, each one allowed to stray a little further from the general BBC Sport Online look and feel or whether Formula 1 is a one off…I am also starting to wonder if any of you noticed any of this too or if you care?!?

By Synergy on March 31st, 2009

Tags: BBC, Default, Digital marketing, Formula 1, Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, Media

No comments

Brian O’Driscoll has at last led his country to 6 Nations victory and I’m sure the party may continue for some time but I was honoured to meet Ireland’s other Grand Slam winning captain, before O’Driscoll could lay claim to that title.

In the week before Ireland won the Grand Slam in this year’s RBS 6 Nations Championship, the 6 Nations Trophy made a special visit to Dublin to capitalise on Irish interest in all things rugby as they looked nervously towards their first Grand Slam since 1948.  Arriving early on St Patrick’s Day, the Trophy started its whistle-stop tour which involved extensive coverage across the major Irish broadcasters RTE, TV3, BBC Northern Ireland and Ulster TV. 

The Trophy was also an impromptu participant in the famous St Patrick’s Day Parade with fans of all ages getting their photograph with the sought-after silverware.  In addition shots of the Trophy outside famous Dublin landmarks were secured, ranging from the Molly Malone statue to Landsdowne Road - which received strong media pick-up in both Irish and UK media.

However, after the parade was over, the sea of green and the hangovers had parted, there is one memory that will stay with me for a long time.  I was honoured to accompany the Trophy to the home of 84-year old Karl Mullen, the captain of Ireland’s last Grand Slam team in 1948.  Karl and his family were extremely welcoming and there was something special about the whole occasion.  Doing the job that we do, we are lucky to meet and work with some famous names from the world of sport and entertainment but meeting Karl was a real honour and a strangely humbling experience.  It was a pleasure to see firsthand that a passion for sport never leaves you, and that sport is a language all of its own which has the immense power to unite people from all walks of life.  There is something about Karl, his nature and his hospitality that leaves you with nothing but admiration for this absolute Irish legend.  

By Synergy on March 25th, 2009

Tags: Default, Media, Public relations, Rugby, Television

No comments

Click here to read the full article

By Synergy on March 24th, 2009

Tags: Press Clipping

No comments

Twenty football clubs in the top two divisions are seeking new shirt sponsors. How will they fare given the recession?  

Click here to read the full article from The Times 

By Synergy on March 23rd, 2009

Tags: Press Clipping

No comments

Click here to read the full article from The Times 

By Synergy on February 25th, 2009

Tags: Press Clipping

No comments

To promote the launch of its new computer game “F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin” Warner Bros unleashed a pack of branded black cats, on Friday 13th February no less. 

If you’re wondering how to brand a cat rest assured that hot irons, hair clippers and spray paint were not involved, instead the cats were given branded cat jackets. 

Warner Bros added to the story by launching a hotline for cat owners keen for their black cat to be involved.  The effectiveness of these cats as walking billboards in their own right is admittedly dubious but using the cats in what I presume is the world’s first ‘cat-vertising’ campaign has definitely created talkability amongst the gaming media.

It’s a great example of thinking outside the box and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see similar copycat versions; you could say this idea has legs…or maybe wings or…

By Synergy on February 24th, 2009

Tags: Brand marketing, Default, Experiential marketing, Public relations

No comments