When people find out I work in sponsorship, I always get asked two things:

1. Do you have any decent tickets?
2. Do you have any decent gossip?

There was a time when I had plenty of the latter and little of the former. Unfortunately these days my gossip is about as revealing as a Tiger Woods press conference. The reasons for this are twofold due to changes that have happened over the last few years.

Firstly, the lines between sportsman and celebrity have blurred. Any star worth their salt should now be able to change their first name to ‘Brand’ and sound believable – think Brand Beckham, Brand Murray, Brand Schumacher. Could you ever imagine Brand Botham or Best?

The worlds of sport and entertainment celebrity, or ‘Sportainment’ as it’s naturally called in America, are now firmly linked and in more then a few cases by marriage (or separation). This means you become a front page story rather then a back page one, especially if it’s for the wrong reasons.

Secondly, and this is the significant recent change, with the rapid rise of digital and social media our appetite for instant news and our ability to create it has never been so strong.

Sports stars and clubs themselves are in on the act – basketball player, Shaquille O’Neal has a whopping 2.8 million twitter followers, while Barcelona FC has 1.3 million Facebook friends – but the real control lies with the person on the street.

After Tiger’s conference (streamed live on YouTube), we didn’t need to wait for the papers’ reaction the next day to gauge public opinion – in just the hour after there were over 93,000 tweets about it.

The headlines of Messrs Cole, Terry and Woods show us that the sports stars haven’t really changed – in fact the only surprise is that Tiger kept it quiet so long. The change is that now they are considered fair game by both a salivating media and an unforgiving public able to influence and drive the agenda. This means there few secrets that don’t come out eventually – or in other words not a good time to be straying from home.

Oh and before you ask – no I don’t have any tickets to the World Cup, Wimbledon or The FA Cup Final. No change there then.

By Dominic Curran on March 2nd, 2010

Tags: Andy Murray, David Beckham, FA Cup, Facebook, Public relations, Sponsorship, Tiger Woods, YouTube

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Well, we know it will be Chicago, Madrid, Rio or Tokyo. But we’ll have to wait until around 1800 GMT today to find out which one Jacques Rogge will announce as the host city of the 2016 Olympic Games.

The great and the good are gathering in Copenhagen for the 121st IOC Session where the main point on the agenda is the announcement of the winning bid. Pre-race favourite is Chicago, where the high-powered campaign has delivered the Obama factor – Michelle is in Denmark already, Barack is due to fly in today.  However, coming up closely on the inside is Rio, whose bid is focusing on the romantic appeal of being the first South American city to host an Olympic Games, and promising to bring the party to life by delivering the carnival atmosphere that everyone associates with Brazil. So, it certainly isn’t a one-horse race, and we shouldn’t forget that London wasn’t the favourite in the race for 2012.

Influential IOC member Dick Pound commented yesterday that the IOC will be looking for the ‘safest option’ for the winning city – in terms of secure finances, a strong infrastructure, security and the general ability to deliver a successful Games.  However, I don’t think that anyone can actually predict which city will be unveiled.

Whoever it is, it will be a momentous occasion. Remember the images from July 2005 when London was victorious – Denise Lewis and David Beckham jumping up and down in Singapore, Prime Minister, Tony Blair, apparently doing a little jig, and thousands of supporters celebrating in Trafalgar Square. For the winning bid it will be a day to remember and one that will change the city forever.

London celebrates winning the 2012 bid

Who do I think will be awarded the Games?  My head says Chicago, offering strong political and commercial opportunities for the IOC.  However, my heart is pulling on the appeal of the South American party capital and the lure of the carnival atmosphere that would create a Games unlike any other.  Unfortunately, I don’t get to vote, so the question is, what will appeal most to the IOC members – those that do get to decide?  We’ll just have to wait and see….

By Sara Wilson on October 2nd, 2009

Tags: David Beckham, Olympic sponsorship, Olympic sponsorship consultants, Olympics, Synergy

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You may remember from the media coverage last week that Lance Armstrong decided to go for a bike ride in Scotland. Pretty unremarkable after all you would have thought he must go for the odd ride quite often. Except this time he invited some friends along with him – actually 1.8 million friends.

Armstrong sent out a tweet saying he was in Scotland and fancied going for a ride that afternoon. Cue pandemonium in Paisley (yes, Paisley) town centre with hundreds of cyclists and media turning out.

He’s at it again – a few hours ago I got another tweet from the seven-times Tour de France winner:

Armstrong, already the most followed sportsman on Twitter, is re-defining the barriers between sportspeople and the public. This is pretty much the equivalent of David Beckham saying he was going for a kick about at his local park, who wants to join him and bring your jumpers for the goalposts.

This is consumer engagement at its rawest – brands take note. This ‘mass exclusive’ event directed by Armstrong himself means that even sat at my desk, I feel part of it and if I lived close enough I’d certainly be down there on my bike. Imagine the power of a brand delivering and facilitating this level of interaction without diluting it?

By Dominic Curran on August 25th, 2009

Tags: David Beckham, Lance Armstrong, Public relations

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Certainly not a new topic in this forum, but yet again David Beckham is at the top of his marketing game. Tomorrow (11 June) he makes a rare public appearance in London, at Selfridges on behalf of Emporio Armani.  As Dom mentioned in his post on Becks, he’s a marketing certainty, and I have no doubt that tomorrow’s event will be mobbed.

For me DB is a fantastic sponsorship opportunity.  He’s always been a gifted footballer, and it’s fair to say he’s a bit of a looker too, but he’s certainly not short of company in that bracket.  He has that little something that no-one can quite put their finger on, an aura that surrounds him that makes him appeal to so many different people all over the world.  This is what makes Beckham so unique and has seen him take footballers beyond being just footballers.  He has become his very own brand, but his brand is one that can be so powerful when used in partnership with others, just ask his current sponsors at adidas, Cabo Sao Roque, Coty, Emporio Armani, Motorola and Sharpie.

Armani’s use of Beckham should be admired, as the brand consistently leverages a very strong relationship between the brand and the icon.  Armani’s integrated approach drives consumers affinity with the brand, and importantly offers an emotional experience beyond the ATL campaign. For fans all over the globe the opportunity to meet Beckham is a once in a life time experience and this week some of those fans will get their chance in London.  The experience will also provide a great PR platform to extend the campaign into the all important column inches.

So tomorrow sees the man at Selfridges, and whilst it will be a small duty in the life of David, I’m sure it will provide incredible excitement for those that meet him.  May even help sell a few pairs of pants too.

By Ben Wilkinson on June 10th, 2009

Tags: Advertising, Brand marketing, David Beckham, Experiential marketing, Fashion, Football, Football Sponsorship, Product placement, Public relations, Sales promotion, Sponsorship

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While football fans brace themselves for yet another drawn-out summer of incredulous transfer speculation, credit has to go to Portuguese bank Banco Espirito Santo for capitalising on the ongoing Cristiano Ronaldo ‘will he? won’t he?’ saga.

In an advertising campaign destined to further anger Sir Alex Ferguson, the ever on-the-ball Football365’s Mediawatch, has spotted the Manchester United star grinning away above the slogan ‘Where will I be in three years? I don’t know, but my money will be here.’

While you have to admire the sheer audacity of Ronaldo (he really doesn’t care who he upsets does he?), it made me think; why don’t more brands use transfers and the transfer window in particular as an opportunity to speak to a captive football audience?

Whereas most footballers will be sunning themselves on the beaches of Europe or the Caribbean this summer, the majority of football fans will still be glued to Sky Sports News round-the-clock coverage or scanning The Sun on a daily basis for stories of their best player stating his undying allegiance to their club, before moving for an undisclosed record fee the next day. If you want loyalty, buy a dog as they say!

So while the football season is now officially over, our desire for unabated news of even the most trivial detail related to our club’s dealings in the transfer market knows no bounds.

The relevance and potential of this territory is something that US brands capitalised upon years ago. The furore that surrounds the build up to the drafts of the NFL, NBA, MLB and even the NHL is all supported by an array of brands looking to tap into the fevered interest in off-season activity.

Seasoned rumour mongers Real Madrid were also more than aware of the benefits they could deliver to their own commercial partners when they signed David Beckham in the 2003 transfer window. On arrival in Madrid, Beckham was driven from the airport to his medical check-up, to sign his contract, to his official presentation all in a brand new Audi.

The impact was so great that Jesus Gasanz, the president of Audi in Spain said: “The international exposure our company received in that brief period was so immense that our three-year investment in the club was repaid — and several times over — right there.”

Yet despite this supporting evidence the majority of football sponsors still appear to go into hibernation over the summer months, once the seasons over and the window is open. It all seems like a missed opportunity to me.

But don’t take my word for it, just ask Jesus himself!

By Paul Whitehead on June 8th, 2009

Tags: Advertising, David Beckham, Football, Football Sponsorship, Manchester United, Media, NFL, Sponsorship

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Paul Daniels and wife Debbie McGee have recreated the famous Posh and Becks Emporio Armani underwear adverts for Closer Magazine’s Valentine’s edition.

Daniels is adorned in tattoos and wearing a saggy pair of briefs whilst his wife, and magical assistant, does a fairly good impression of the Posh pout.

The couple came up with the idea for the shoot as a response to unflattering photographs of McGee in a bikini on holiday. It is good to see that the couple have a sense of humour and are able to send themselves up rather than the all-too-often reaction of celebrities going on crash diets and blaming photographers for media invasion.  All I can say is thank goodness Paul didn’t decide to recreate the Beckham frontal shot.

By Lisa Woodward on February 17th, 2009

Tags: David Beckham, Media, Public relations

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David Beckham, like death and taxes, is one of life’s certainties – only he’s a marketing certainty. Just when we thought his move to California had calmed the media waters around Brand Beckham, he has bounced back with his potential move to AC Milan and return to the England squad.

Now that the BBC has announced a one-off screening of the Milan derby off the back of Beckham-mania, it has proved again that his is a star that has lost no gleam. Hats off to him and it proves that as a marketing icon he has always got one thing fundamentally right – doing his job on the pitch first.

By Dominic Curran on February 11th, 2009

Tags: BBC, David Beckham, Default, Football

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