A sponsorship opportunity outside of sport is something few brands consider. Sport is considered a safe environment for a brand to begin a sponsorship as it can reach the masses quickly, its assets are measurable and it has a proven track record of success.

Fashion, on the other hand is far more complex and its assets appear less obvious, resulting in many brands staying away. However, 2012 has seen a shift in emphasis as more and more brands are targeting consumers through fashion. Don’t just think of this as a female market though; the first Men’s Fashion Week, London Collections: Men launched earlier this year, putting the male influencers firmly on the fashion map and changing the way men are perceived in the industry.

Fashion has always been part of the British DNA. The industry has developed into a £21bn business, with its spending influence on other industries standing at over £37 billion. It is little wonder that brands are now waking up to the opportunities that this represents.

A great example of this is Diet Coke, who pledge to target females through fashion over the next three years. They’ve developed a sophisticated strategy of fully integrated investment in fashion through key touch points such as TV advertising, merchandising, packaging, events, media and digital to promote their ‘A lighter approach to fashion’ campaign. The brand has been strategic in their fashion partnerships by linking up with couture designers and producing a series of Limited Edition bottles; making high-end fashion accessible to the masses.

Through their partnership with Benefit make-up, Diet Coke  has also connected to a socially-savvy female audience. Their Facebook app has created a dialogue that enriches consumers’ lives, whilst going beyond the brand and giving consumers a credible reason as to why they are in this space. The brand has also successfully integrated its above the line ‘Puppet’ campaign with its digital offering, once again making fashion accessible to all. Diet Coke has stepped into the new era of sponsorship known as the ‘Social Era’, which has enabled them to engage with the female market on a scale and depth that has never been possible. It has created a sense of higher purpose, allowing the brand to create a sponsorship programme that truly resonates with its target audience. Since embarking on their 3-year strategy to implement their fashion objectives, Diet Coke claims sales have increased 4.9% year on year.

Mercedes-Benz is a luxury brand that has built-up its fashion portfolio over the last few years as a sponsor of Fashion Weeks around the globe. Staying ahead of the game, they quickly recognised the importance of bloggers within the fashion industry and signed the most decorated fashion blogger in the world, Liberty London Girl to bring the latest news from the front row at Fashion Week.  Changing perceptions of the typical Mercedes-Benz driver remains key for the brand, and associating themselves with the fashion-set has helped shift this change in attitude. They’ve also been quick to identify male growth in this area and recently sponsored GQ magazine’s Best Dressed List, which this year saw the brand working with the magazine on an exclusive photo shoot featuring three of the brand’s elite performance cars. Mercedes-Benz was also a sponsor of the first ‘London Collections: Men’, which the British Fashion Council (BFC) ran in June.

An unexpected brand that hit the runway during NYC Fashion Week this season was Google+, which showed off its rather fetching £1.5k augmented reality glasses in an exclusive tie-up with designer Diane Von Furstenberg. If Luke Skywalker were to make mobile phones, this is how he would have done it. However, despite how they look, Google are not risking the product flopping next year when they launch ‘Project Glass’, and have made a clear move to market this product as a fashion accessory. Turning geek into chic? I’ll let you decide.

It almost seems rude not to mention Vodafone when talking about fashion these days, as the brand has rapidly become the service provider for the fashion set. Last year they introduced mobile phone chargers under the seats at London Fashion Week; a move which quickly became the talk of Twitter, and was picked up by the majority of fashion blogs. The brand also gives customers once in a lifetime VIP experiences, with exclusive backstage access and tickets to London Fashion Weekend. Similar to Diet Coke, this makes high-end fashion accessible for the everyday consumer. Vodafone have never tried to be something they’re not and in entering the fashion world they’ve found a space in which very few brands are active.

Danielle Crook, Vodafone’s UK director of brand marketing, argues that Vodafone are “helping people to do the job they’re there to do”. She says Vodafone has heeded the warnings of fashion industry insiders, who point out that brands have failed in their marketing objectives when they have come in and tried to take over the space.

Sponsorship in this industry isn’t as straightforward as sticking a badge on London Fashion Week and hoping for the best. Brands need to look beyond and think strategically, offering a deeper engagement and an insightful brand experience that genuinely enriches the customer’s experience. The UK fashion industry is dominated by many rights holders, including retailers on the high street that are driven through touch points such as magazines, TV, film, radio, social media and amplified through events, awards, designers, stylists, retailers…all held together by just one governing body, The British Fashion Council.

There are no obvious restrictions to this creative industry and that’s the beauty of it. It’s a wide open space ready to be challenged and moved by brands that want to make a meaningful contribution and enrich the lives of females, and increasingly males, through content, dialogue, and entertainment. We should all be aware of the fashion industry that follows us round on a daily basis; fashion is all-inclusive and no brand should claim that they don’t ‘do’ fashion. If they delve below the surface, these brands may just discover more than they first realised.

By Francesca Gamble on October 30th, 2012

Tags: Advertising, Ambush campaign, Ambush Marketing, Awards, Brand marketing, Broadcast sponsorship, Communications, Default, Fashion, Media, Public relations, Social Media, Sponsorship, Sponsorship consultants

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I was lucky enough to go the Men’s All Round Individual Gymnastics Final with my mum and brother yesterday to cheer on our fantastic Team GB bronze medallists Kristian Thomas and Daniel Purvis, and was interested to see how ‘O2’ the Arena was going to be, despite the non-sponsor blackout.

The venue is obviously unique – not just because of the naming rights situation and the Arena’s extensive portfolio of brand partners but also because, unlike the other Olympic venues in London, The O2 and all other attractions inside it are open to the public as usual throughout the Games. So, as we enjoyed our supper in Strada under the shadow of the Gymnastics entrance (which seemed as though we were breaking some kind of LOCOG rule!), there seemed to be plenty of people walking around who did not have tickets for the Gymnastics enjoying the Arena’s many bars (not serving Heineken), restaurants (with no Golden Arches in sight) and 11-screen cinema.

As anyone who has been to an event at the Arena knows, there is a huge amount of O2 branding around and whilst the majority of this has been taken down (including the large sign below), after we walked through the Olympic security, perhaps inevitably, there was still plenty of uncovered O2 signage about.

I’m sure that the (much discussed) success of O2′s sponsorship means that for most British visitors this fortnight, they are already well aware of the ‘real’ name of the venue and understand the reason for the name change, so O2 are probably not losing too much sleep over the temporarily enforced title. As this media piece shows, even during the Games, The O2 brand is still getting free media coverage.

I also believe the smooth running and great atmosphere of the Olympic events at The O2 will have encouraged more return visits once the Games are over.

The only notable example of experiential activity I saw yesterday came from Nissan (interestingly, one of the manufacturers originally interested in sponsoring the Games themselves), who have had a permanent ‘Innovation Station’ in the Arena since October 2010. This was perhaps the best illustration of the unique nature of the venue and surely the only one where non-sponsor brands have been able to avoid the much-maligned scrutiny of the LOCOG brand police due to their long-running AEG deals.

All of this meant that our North Greenwich Arena experience felt slightly less ‘Olympic’ compared to my trip to the ExCel for the Boxing earlier in the week, but certainly no less enjoyable.

By Matt Kiernan on August 2nd, 2012

Tags: Ambush campaign, Default, Experiential marketing, London 2012 sponsorship, Naming Rights, Sponsorship, Team GB

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Sunday 1st July saw Spain thrash Italy to be crowned champions of Europe for an unprecedented second consecutive time. This tournament, arguably the second most important international football competition, has seen many of the world’s football superpowers scrapping it out on the field of play, but an equally interesting battle has been unfolding off the pitch. The tournament sponsors and those with no official affiliation have been competing for a share of the fans’ minds and wallets through their new marketing campaigns based around EURO 2012.

So, which of the sponsors played out of their skins at EURO 2012, and have there been any surprise victories for the ambush underdogs?

This month, we take a look at how a few of the official and not-so-official sponsors would’ve fared had they competed in their own tournament. In selecting these brands, we have looked to create fixtures between tournament, team and ambushing brands occupying similar spaces, not just looking at perennial big boys like Coca-Cola or Nike.

The brands that we have included are:

• Official – Orange, adidas, McDonald’s and Sharp
• Unofficial – Carlsberg, Vauxhall, Kit Kat and Pringles

Quarter Finals

Orange vs. McDonald’s

This match sees two heavyweight sponsors of EURO 2012 go head-to-head in campaigns that look to capture the passion of fans across Europe. The big budgets of these brands meant we expected a strong all-round performance from their campaigns – which focused on delivering engaging and relevant content to the fans’ experience.

This match, however, did not quite live up to its billing, as the full potential of the brands has been limited by their somewhat defensive game plan. Orange created a campaign that had mobile at its centre, with the launch of two free apps designed to tap into the expected surge in mobile marketing and dual-screen viewing through the tournament. McDonald’s, on the other hand, created a pan-European digital campaign asking fans from across the continent to demonstrate their level of passion for their team, which was measured by the McDonald’s EURO 2012 Passion Meter.

The McDonald’s campaign in particular, whilst being engaging, struggles to prolong the fan’s experience with the brand due to its Passion Meter being limited to users simply capturing themselves cheering – which in itself can prove to be an embarrassing barrier to entry. Also, Orange’s ‘Supporters Cup Shake & Shout’ app – effectively a live competition to see which fans can record the loudest cheer – was at its core quite similar to the McDonald’s EURO 2012 Passion Meter, which unfortunately means that neither brand truly owned this unique space in the fans’ mind.

So, whilst the insights behind these campaigns are hard to fault, it’s their overall delivery that will be the final determinant on who progresses to the next round. Looking at the replays, Orange seems to offer a broader range of opportunities for fans to experience the brand whilst enjoying the tournament; we particularly liked the official pan-European EURO 2012 app which was designed to be genuinely useful to fans both at the tournament and those following it on TV. It includes features that help users find their friends nearby as well as local venues where tournament games are being screened. This app is therefore a sure-fire way to integrate the Orange brand within the EURO 2012 fan experience.

Result: This much anticipated match-up has played out to a win by Orange which can be attributed to the authentic positioning of the brand together with some classy delivery. McDonald’s surprisingly early exit is put down to them potentially taking their eye of the ball due to the bigger prize of the London 2012 Olympic Games on the horizon.

Adidas vs. Sharp

This match-up sees two brands that are pushing innovation at EURO 2012 getting drawn against each other. Innovation has long been a great, albeit risky way to engage consumers and fans alike. Therefore, to coincide with the kick off of EURO 2012, UEFA global partner adidas launched a new fan portal on blogging site Tumblr, and Sharp created FanLabs, a research project monitoring the emotions of thousands of football fans at EURO 2012.

Adidas’ initiative saw them become one of the first brands to use Tumblr’s sponsorship packages to showcase unique content from the world of football, both on and off the pitch. At the centre of the initiative was brand-created content from adidas featuring their ambassadors, to provide visitors with an inspirational look inside the world of football.

By contrast, Sharp mined its technological roots and created FanLabs – a campaign that looked to find common truths about competing countries’ fans. This was activated both online and via their FanLabs truck that travelled to the various UEFA fan parks throughout Europe.

One of the deciding factors in this match-up was longevity: which of these campaigns will go the distance, even beyond the tournament itself?

Now that EURO 2012 is finished, adidas will continue to use the Tumblr site to host football content from other properties to which it has rights, such as UEFA Champions League and the MLS. This partnership between Tumblr and adidas promises to be an exciting relationship to watch as it looks set to be a key part in underpinning adidas’ future social media strategy in football.

At the end of the tournament, Sharp will have a wealth of data on the key insights of fans in the various European markets. This data, one can imagine, will be used to drive their future marketing campaigns, meaning Sharp has very cleverly created an innovative campaign that combines unique content with a data collection business imperative.

Result: Both adidas and Sharp played an exciting game and either brand had opportunities to win it through a decisive move, with creativity at the heart of both campaigns. The final score is a surprising victory to Sharp due to their enterprising strategy that promises to go a long way beyond the tournament itself.

Carlsberg vs. Vauxhall

It’s Denmark versus England in this tasty round one encounter, and both these official England sponsors have brought in the big guns for their tournament TVCs. We will be assigning a social media rating based on the criteria developed by Deep Focus (our Engine friends from across the pond) to decide who goes through in this Anglo-Nordic battle.

It should be said that we like both ads; Carlsberg get their ambassador selection spot-on (interesting that Linford’s only involvement this summer is in a football ad) and Vauxhall’s use of Noel Gallagher’s first solo track and the England team mixing it with the public certainly stirs the passion (but they perhaps already showed their hand with the original September ad).

Neither TVC however uses social media to activate, engage, and even reward the viewer, so both are rated as ‘anti-social’ in the Deep Focus criteria. This is a shame and a missed opportunity, as both brands have social elements to their wider EURO activity; the Carlsberg Fan Academy Exams is a nice addition to their sponsorship of the EURO 2012 app (which had hit over 2m downloads by 15^th June) and there is also the chance to join Des Lynam at the Academy on Facebook, but there is no mention of these in the TVC. Perhaps more surprisingly, Vauxhall did not highlight their innovative Vauxhall Football TV which housed exclusive content around the England team in Poland and Ukraine. This could explain the relatively small social following of Vauxhall Football TV (14,000 Facebook Fans and 16,000 Twitter followers), in spite of the interesting content that was made available.

Result: A score draw, but Carlsberg go through on penalties after this Vauxhall PR miss along with their demonstration of a team sponsor openly criticising players in a Twitter Q&A and the surprising decision to allow open critism of players.

Pringles vs. Kit Kat

In this FMCG non-sponsor match-up, Pringles aligned itself to the England team, whilst Kit Kat moved away from their battle with Mars over the National Team and instead positioned itself alongside the tournament as a whole. This clash will be decided on the most effective use of on-pack.

The Pringles ‘tradigital’ press campaign is a nice example of crowd sourcing using Twitter. It’s also a clever ambush technique, as the brand distanced itself slightly from any contentious messaging, as it came direct from the fans.

The Kit Kat on-pack promotion used a very simple (and close to the ambush mark!) message of ‘Win 2,012 Euros’ and a mechanic that sought to build on their extensive Facebook following (over 500k fans in the UK), with the €2,012 prize found either inside the pack or by entering a unique pack code on their Facebook page. This huge social audience is something that Pringles can’t compete with in the UK, and despite their best efforts it does not seem that #makesomenoise generated many tweets, with Pringles continuing to have a moderate Twitter following (of about c.12k).

Both brands also used their packaging in an interesting way, with Pringles offering their customers the chance to personalise their tube (much like Heinz did so successfully) and turn it into a vuvuzela type device, whereas Kit Kat teamed up with Blippar to create an augmented reality football game. Both of these are great examples of brands using their individual pack real estate in a different and engaging way, although it would be interesting to know the number of Fan Cans that were actually ordered and the real ‘stickiness’ of the Blippar Kit Kat. Additionally,  the likely lead times involved in ordering and receiving the Fan Cans could have meant many fans didn’t receive them until after England bowed out to Italy.

Result: Kit Kat has slightly lost the creative spark they showed in the 2010 World Cup and Pringles sneak through due to the originality of their Fan Can, using their unique real estate in a way that only Pringles can.

Semi Finals:

Orange vs. Sharp

These two semi-finalists have both progressed on the back of campaigns that, at their core, have the potential to significantly enhance the fan’s experience of EURO 2012. How both these brands have activated their EURO 2012 sponsorship is likely to have improved their brand favourability; however it‘s the campaign’s ability to entice the fans to stay engaged with the brand that needs to be considered to determine who has the strength to reach the final. This engagement factor is important because of the value that is attached to building a relationship between the brand and consumer that can lead to favourable purchasing decisions – which is especially relevant for both Orange and Sharp whose products rely on positive relationships with consumers for continued loyalty.

Orange’s campaign succeed in doing this through their apps and the on-going Supporters Cup competition which both, importantly, provided fans with useful benefits that improved their experience. Orange thereby ensured that there were multiple touch points between the brand and the fans for the duration of the tournament.

Sharp has impressed in getting to the semi finals given that they have activated a pan-European football sponsorship without any use of football ambassadors. The FanLabs campaign has enabled Sharp to understand football fans in more detail during the tournament, and thereby be a more interesting and useful sponsor as the tournament progressed (data collected during the tournament was used to update their digital ads). Sharp achieved this by having many data collection points, which included apps, a website and a FanLabs Facebook. However, it was Sharp’s mobile FanLabs on the ground in Poland and Ukraine that created opportunities to engage fans face-to-face that has been a great touch. These mobile FanLabs – trucks equipped with a biometric brainwave scanner to find out what fans were thinking whilst watching their country play – travelled to the various Fanzones throughout the tournament measuring the mood of the fans in the build up, and during, their countries games.

Result: Orange succumbs to Sharp’s attack-orientated game plan and unfortunately do not seem to have enough in them to claw a goal back. It ends with victory to Sharp who march onwards to the final.

Carlsberg vs. Pringles

Two staples of the football world, beer and crisps head into this semi final: what a mouth-watering line up (as Lawro might put it). Pringles were a plucky underdog this tournament, but they have now run out of steam and have no star power to call upon this game (with no sign of any ambassadors in 2012) against their vastly experienced opponents. Carlsberg used their unique position as sponsors of both England and the Championships themselves to create fan challenges, asking Facebook fans what they would do to show their passion, belief, pride and loyalty to the team to win 5 pairs of VIP tickets to the EUROs. These challenges then created some nice content for the brand, which have been viewed over 20,000 times on YouTube. This mechanic also proved a successful way of creating reach for what is actually quite a small and inexpensive contractual asset (only 10 tickets in total).

Result: The sheer depth of Carlsberg’s squad for the latter stages of the tournament leaves Pringles struggling and the powerful Danes go through to try to replicate the National Team’s success of 1992.

The Final

So, as you can see, our final is between Carlsberg and Sharp. Who do you feel deserves to take home the glory? Or do you think any brands were robbed? Who deserves special mention outside of our chosen eight? Let us know below…

Extra Time

Despite this being the first EUROs to upgrade to digital perimeter boards, the only official sponsor to offer any sort of call to action pitch-side has been McDonald’s, and whilst there were UEFA restrictions around moving imagery in the creative, it’s doubtful whether the digital potential of these boards has been fully exploited. This could be because multiple creatives have either not been allowed or sponsors have not challenged UEFA with their creativity, or indeed have been unwilling to risk sacrificing brand awareness for engagement opportunities. Perhaps the lower smartphone penetration levels in the host countries (19% in Poland and 10% in Ukraine in Dec 2011 according to Wired) have also had a bearing on this, with brands unwilling to risk alienating these key markets. In future EUROs, it would be great to see a move towards greater fan/audience engagement, with these perimeter boards supporting some truly integrated and social activation ideas.

Penalty Shoot-Out

Our view is that the standard of marketing off the pitch has not quite matched the level of excitement on it. Whether this is due to a combination of the lowest confidence in the England team in recent memory and the event clashing with a home Olympic Games for the only time in our lifetimes, it seems that on the whole brands in the UK have not fully got behind the tournament. We would like to think that when EURO 2016 rolls into France (after Roy has led England to World Cup glory in Brazil!!) and the tournament is not competing with a home Olympics then we will see a greater marketing effort with social at its core.

This month’s ‘What We Think’ piece was written by Mike Russell and Matt Kiernan.

By Synergy on July 3rd, 2012

Tags: Ambush campaign, Brand marketing, Content, Football, Football Sponsorship, Social Media, Synopsis

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What happened

Recent web buzz research commissioned by our social media partners at Jam has shown that Nike is far out-performing its rival and Olympic sponsor Adidas as the brand most associated with the London 2012 Olympic Games. Nike is dominating the social media conversation, with a staggering 7.7% of Olympic mentions being linked to Nike compared to only 0.49% for Adidas.  This contrast is particularly stark when one considers that Adidas committed a reported £100m to buy exclusive category rights to London 2012.

So what’s been resonating with consumers and causing this buzz…? In last month’s edition of Synopsis, Lisa Parfitt highlighted Nike’s #makeitcount campaign as a brilliant example of an integrated campaign which connects above the line, digital, social and experiential.  The campaign features a number of the UK’s top athletes, Perri Shakes-Drayton, Mark Cavendish and Mo Farah, showing them at their most intense moments during training and making personal pledges for 2012.

Nike has now seeded a series of online films which feature various sports stars including Mo Farah and Rio Ferdinand to build on the theme.

But the campaign really comes to life in the way that it connects the public to the core insight that “If you have a body, you are an athlete”.  This quote by Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman was the tweet to launch the campaign and provide the call to action for everyone to get involved.  The in-store element at both the Oxford Circus and Westfield Nike outlets allows you to be professionally photographed alongside your own handwritten pledges: the images and pledges are displayed around the stores and of course shared via social media.

Later this year we will see the launch of the Nike product this campaign is paving the way for, FuelBand. Already launched in the US, FuelBand tracks your physical activity through a sport-tested accelerometer, which then translates your activity into ‘NikeFuel’. So whether you are walking, running, dancing, playing football, tennis or golf, Nike allows you to collect, analyse and (most importantly) share your performance.  The idea is that you set a goal for every day, then go out and beat it.  It’s the gamefication of fitness. Life is a sport. Make it count.

The Nike marketing machine has been in overdrive.  Both pre-sale windows sold out in less than three minutes in the States and you can expect the same in the UK before it goes on sale on May 1st. Look out for Nike’s standard combination of iconic sports stars, great on-line video content and tightly integrated social media activity.

Why we love it

This of course isn’t the first time we’ve seen Nike launch into either a fully-integrated campaign or demonstrate effective ambush marketing during an Olympic year.

But the most amazing thing is how Nike continue to set the marketing pace. As Nike’s marketing spend approaches $2.4bn, less than 15% of that is now spent on traditional media (there has been a 40% decline in spend on TV, Outdoor, Radio and Print over the past 3 years).  As the biggest sports brand in the world, they shouldn’t be good at this – younger, edgier, more nimble competitors should be the subject of blogs like this.

And it is working.  Thanks to this digital focus, if it wanted to, Nike could reach 200 million people every day via its various social network platforms.  #makeitcount indeed.

[Note: some stats and insight for this article came from this great piece in Fortune Magazine.]

By Olivia Lloyd on February 24th, 2012

Tags: Ambush campaign, Athletics, Default, London 2012, Naming Rights, Olympics, Synergy Loves

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What Happened?

On Tuesday September 13, Westfield Stratford City opened its doors to the public. Against the background of a day-long blaze of publicity, Mayor of London Boris Johnson cut the opening ribbon whilst invoking Chaucer, followed by pop diva Nicole Scherzinger strutting her stuff before a (slightly bemused) VIP audience. But by far the most important feature of the day was the 100,000 consumers who visited what is now Europe’s largest urban shopping and leisure destination – all 1.9 million square feet of it, the equivalent of 25 football pitches - spending a combined £4m. Recession – what recession? Good news for Westfield’s retailers, many of whom mounted major marketing campaigns to attempt to grab the lion’s share of the Opening Day buzz and bounty.

Our favourite? The M&S ’On Your Marks’ campaign, with creative shot by fashion photographer John Akehurst, featuring a model wearing heels from the M&S Autograph sub-brand in starting blocks.

Why We Like It

M&S brilliantly leverages Westfield Stratford’s Olympic DNA: Westfield is of course the gateway to the London 2012 Olympic Park.

First, there’s the skilful navigation of the legislation preventing brands from using Olympic IP. You absolutely get the connection, but there isn’t an offending piece of Olympic IP to be seen.

Second, it fulfils one of our litmus tests for great work - anchored around the use of ‘Marks’ – it wouldn’t work for any other brand.

Third, the Olympic connection isn’t forced. It’s entirely natural and drives both the consumer insight and the call to action.

And last but absolutly not least, it’s a stunning image in every way.

Beautifully done.

By Tim Crow on October 13th, 2011

Tags: Advertising, Ambush campaign, Default, Olympic sponsorship, Olympic sponsorship consultants, Olympics

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Here at Synergy towers we’re always looking for fun, quirky ideas that have genuine media traction while fitting with our clients’ target audiences and business objectives. So with the London 2012 test events rolling into town the Betfair team put our thinking hats on and looked at how Betfair could get involved. We focused specifically on the beach volleyball tournament at Horse Guards Parade - an event with high media and consumer interest that would engage the brand’s target audience and deliver a tactical campaign within budget.

Further to a recent Ofcom report highlighting that one third of British adults now owns a smart phone, Betfair developed a concept to promote their mobile offering.

Synergy negotiated a deal with Team Mullin-Dampney, the number one British beach volleyball duo, to position Quick Response technology, known as QR codes, on the players’ kit. When photographed, the QR code would drive people to  Betfair’s free-bet and registration page.

Given the limited space available on a beach volleyball kit, the signature ‘hands on knees’ stance, and likely viewpoint of media and spectator cameras, the QR codes were placed on the players’ bikini bottoms to maximise exposure, whilst their arm bands carried the Betfair Mobile logo.

Working with Betfair’s consumer PR agency and new members of the Engine family - Mischief - we held a photoshoot with Shauna Mullin and Zara Dampney and distributed the images before the test event on 9^th August.

Capturing the imagination of both the front and back pages the story featured in four national newspapers (Daily Mirror, Daily Express, Daily Star and Daily Record), two regional titles (Metro and The Evening Standard) and seven national online sites as well as over 200 online outlets, thousands of tweets and in the international media.

By Caroline Ayling on September 1st, 2011

Tags: Advertising, Ambush campaign, Beach Volleyball, Brand marketing, London 2012, Mobile, Olympics, PR, Product placement, Public relations, Sponsorship, Sport, Synergy, Team GB

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Recently I’ve spent a lot of time recalling the history of sports marketing and sponsorship. To start 2011, we ran our poll on the greatest sports marketing innovation of modern times. A few weeks ago the Sport Industry Group asked Dom Curran and I to contribute our memories of the last ten years of sport to help celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Sport Industry Awards, which took place last Wednesday night. And also last Wednesday, I attended Sportcal’s 20 Years of Sport conference, the highlight of which was a tour de force presentation by my old friend Patrick Nally on the origins of the modern sponsorship template which he created, and his view of the future.

Listening to Patrick talk of those early days and his work with Horst Dassler reminded me of one of the most remarkable incidents in the history of sports marketing to date, which took place in those early days, and which I only came across for the first time recently.

Back in 1974, adidas was the kit sponsor of the legendary Dutch national football team led by maestro Johann Cruyff.  Leading into the 1974 World Cup, which was marked by financial disputes between players and their federations, Cruyff, who had a personal sponsorship with adidas’ bitter rivals Puma, refused to wear a Dutch shirt with the now-legendary adidas three stripes. Incredibly, the Dutch FA backed down and alowed Cruyff to play in a specially-made kit with only two stripes. Here’s the proof, from Holland’s 1974 World Cup match versus Argentina:

Now that’s what I call player power!

By Tim Crow on May 17th, 2011

Tags: Ambush campaign, Default, Football, Football Sponsorship, Sponsorship, What's the Greatest Sports Marketing Innovation?, World Cup

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A highlight of our daily PR Team paper-reading this morning had to be the below from Ryan Air.

Gaining a good half / three-quarter page space in both the Telegraph and the Independent, this most basic of tactical advertising had us all giggling. And most of us are pretty mad-keen cricket fans too.

So having watched in horror England throw away the near-certain win against our Irish friends across the water, it was refreshing to find humour in our anguish. Though as funny as ambush campaigns may be to the observer, we can’t imagine Emirates (official partner of the Tournament) would be too chuffed about another airline gaining traction with what is essentially a World Cup ad…

Top marks to Ryan Air for a cheap (production), basic, low res ad with a wicked sense of humour. Not many other brands would have the nerve, nor the impact.

By Synergy on March 4th, 2011

Tags: Advertising, Ambush campaign, Aviation, Cricket, Travel, World Cup

1 comment

We love a bit of tactical advertising at Synergy.

Our sports stars who we work with frequently find themselves the subject of timely brand communications that use the news agenda to gain cut-through in print. Which is why, for example, around Wimbledon or the British & Irish Lions rugby tours you see sponsor brands (official and ambush alike) trying to savour the cultural moment in order to capture their target audience.

Most impressive are those brands who turn around an ad in the space of 24 hours – sometimes less. We’ve offered up some examples on this blog before – with Veet’s efforts around President Bush’s departure and a whole host of tactical work around President Obama’s inauguration from brands as diverse as Dunkin’ Donuts and IKEA.

And our ad of the day today came from a joint venture between MARS-owned cat food brand, Whiskas, and Battersea Cats and Dogs home, with which they partner. Capitalizing on the recent addition to the Downing Street family – Larry the cat, employed principally to deal with the reported emerging local rat population – Whiskas and Battersea threw down a welcome mat throughout the National Press.

Simple, fun, effective and apparently starring Larry himself – which must have taken a bit of pre-planning on behalf of Battersea and No.10. Bravo to all involved.

By Synergy on February 16th, 2011

Tags: Advertising, Ambush campaign, Brand marketing, Politics

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Mihir Bose needs little introduction as an award-winning journalist, author and broadcaster. From 2006- 2009 he was the BBC’s first Sports Editor; prior to that he was Chief Sports News Correspondent for the Daily Telegraph. He has written 22 books, including an award winning history of Indian cricket and the first history of Bollywood, and presented numerous programmes for radio and TV. Currently, he contributes a weekly ‘Big Sports Interview’ to the London Evening Standard and is working on a book on the power of modern sport.  

So, we were delighted when Mihir agreed to give us his take on our on going ‘What’s the Greatest Sports Marketing Innovation?’ debate. Who or what did he think were the big game changers? Had we missed anything crucial off our list?

Synergy: So, Mihir, having looked at our initial list, what do you think is the greatest sports marketing innovation of the modern era?

Mihir Bose: Well, it’s a very impressive list, starting with 1960 when Arnold Palmer and Mark McCormack shook hands. Is that the greatest? That’s a bit hard to say. It’s an innovator, but the first is not necessarily the best.

Certainly, the Horst Dassler and Patrick Nally one, of creating a sponsor (for a shoe really, in effect) and a world event. As a result of that, and the effect it’s had on football, is very impressive. Also, I would say very, very impressive is the Nike creation of the shoe for Michael Jordan. And that is impressive on two counts: firstly creating a shoe for a sportsman, but also for the first time in America, making a black player an iconic television star, which hadn’t been done. It sort of broke through – if you like, it’s the Barack Obama moment of sport – it broke through that barrier there.

Synergy: Do you think we’ve missed any that deserve a place on the final shortlist?

MB: The only one that’s missed out on this list, I would say, is the Indian Premier League, which started in 2008. I think that took cricket – domestic cricket – to a different height. Domestic cricket nowhere in the world pays money, it’s international cricket that brings in the money, and I think the Indian Premier League, combining Bollywood with money, large dollops of cash, is an innovator.

Synergy: Conversely, and possibly controversially, do you think we have included any which don’t deserve to be there?

MB: I would say that the ECB one, of introducing Twenty20. The ECB did introduce Twenty20 but it actually didn’t make the most of the marketing; it allowed the Indians to make the most of it. Maybe partly it reflected the English market and so on… but that’s the one I would say I wouldn’t bring in.

And also perhaps 1981, the boxing match, where sports viewing of that kind was born. I’m not sure that pay-per-view works – it works in America, but it doesn’t work [in the same way] around the world. It’s an important concept, but if you’re talking of the ten best events, or right at the top, I would say that has had a limited appeal.

Synergy: So, returning to our main question, what game-changer has had the biggest effect on the industry to date?

MB: The biggest? That is always very difficult to say. But probably television. I think this list shows that there has been, since the 70s certainly (round about ’78 or ’79 – Ecclestone came in ’79) an incremental awareness, and a steady increase of the awareness of what television can do.

Sports and sponsorship is not a new entity – ever since sport started there has been some sort of sponsorship – but television has added a completely new dimension, and the use of television to increase revenues and highlight sportsmen and women; I think that has been the big factor.

And I suppose if one looks at it, perhaps in some ways the biggest moment, was not merely the creation of the The Olympic Partner (TOP) sponsorship program – but the marriage of television and money that enabled the production of the 1984 Los Angeles Games, following the boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics when the Olympic Games looked like it was going to collapse. The Olympics, the ultimate amateur thing (where you play not for money, you can’t advertise on kit, winners don’t receive money, just medals) was transformed: perhaps that marks the single moment when world sport realised the importance of marketing and the importance of sport.

Synergy: So can we conclude that TOP program would be your choice for the greatest modern sports marketing innovation?

MB: I’d say yes. That is the ultimate one, where you retain the outer crust of the amateur ethos (the athletes stay in an Olympic village, they don’t earn any money, there’s no advertising in the stadium) and yet it brings in a lot of money.

And the IOC, the way it’s run, the sort of ambush marketing it has, and that sort of thing, it’s run like a corporation – in fact, it’s run like a McDonald’s franchise. It comes to London and it has told London what exactly the London bid committee can or cannot do. It showcases the ultimate marriage of man and sport; the idea that sport is for everyone, anyone can pick up a running shoe and just run and win the 100m. That’s not quite the case, but that simplicity of sport that makes it so appealing, combined with the fact that if you win the 100m, you could become a very, very rich man – or a rich woman if you win the women’s race! - that concept I think makes it the single most important sports marketing moment.

With thanks to Mihir Bose. www.mihirbose.com. http://twitter.com/mihirbose.

By Synergy on December 2nd, 2010

Tags: Ambush campaign, BBC, Cricket, ECB, India, Indian Premier League, London 2012 sponsorship consultants, New Product Development, Olympic sponsorship, Olympic sponsorship consultants, Olympics, Sponsorship, Sponsorship consultants, Synergy, Television, What's the Greatest Sports Marketing Innovation?, World Cup

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