A year ago Engine took part in the annual NABS netball tournament.  I wrote a blog about it and signed off with ‘I make a pledge here and now that by the time London is hosting the greatest games on earth you’ll see Engine’s name engraved on the NABS netball trophy.’ 

Well, in true Synergy and Engine style we have delivered and three years early as well!

Engine's NABS netball team

The Engine girls took to the court and despite taking awhile to warm up, we sailed through to the plate section of the tournament. Success in the quarter and semi-finals took us through to the Plate Grand Final against RKCR/Y&R. It was a close run game but a storming performance by Natalie Parish of WCRS – later voted player of the tournament -secured Engine their first NABS netball title. Congratulations ladies and here’s to another win next year!

For those who read my blog last year, you may be interested to know that the number of supporters campaigning for netball to become an Olympic sport on Facebook has more than quadrupled with over 40,000 members.

By Caroline Ayling on August 3rd, 2009

Tags: Commonwealth Games, Default, Employee engagement, Facebook, London 2012, Olympics, Sport, Synergy

No comments

Launching a sponsorship is a vitally important moment for a brand: first impressions count – they only happen once. AON has shown that they get this.    

The company’s openness and candour about the background and rationale behind the Manchester United sponsorship, in particular the various briefings given by their senior people to a raft of media, including fan blogs, has been a masterclass of its type, proactively seeding key messages, addressing multiple stakeholder groups, and demonstrating a business transparency that, although regularly cited as a modern pre-requisite, is a custom more honoured in the breach than the observance.

On which point I was interested to see that, unlike the other five Champions League sponsors, Ford opted to say absolutely nothing about having recently extended its long-running sponsorship, choosing instead to let UEFA slip it into last Monday’s announcement about the Champions League’s six sponsors for the 2009-2012 cycle.

Whilst Ford undoubtedly had its reasons for adopting this approach, to me it was the wrong call for two reasons.

1. It runs totally counter to Ford’s current positioning around the deal. The Ford UK website, for example, currently states (my italics):

‘For 17 years, Ford has been the UEFA Champions League’s biggest fan and a proud sponsor of Europe’s premier football competition.’ 

2. At a time when Ford is more embattled and scrutinised than at any time in its history, surely it would have made far more sense to have taken a leaf out of AON’s book and been absolutely transparent about the Champions League deal and its brand and business rationale? Put it this way: why not take this approach?

First outcome: a call by the GMB, on behalf of Ford’s workforce, for Ford to reveal the rationale and terms of the Champions League deal.

QED.

By Tim Crow on June 24th, 2009

Tags: Default, Employee engagement, Football Sponsorship, Public relations

No comments

Ever thought about naming a star? How about owning a nice plot of land on the dark side of the Moon? Fancy sponsoring a three-toed sloth in Costa Rica?

As PT Barnum famously never said, “There’s a sucker born every minute” – applying Newton’s Third Law (he’ll now be spinning in his Westminster Abbey sarcophagus) would suggest an equal and opposite reaction. After all, you only know you’re a mark once you’ve been conned, right? Therefore every sap needs a swindler, and in today’s society, there always seems to be someone out there ready to sell you something:

a) That isn’t theirs to flog

b) The customer can never really own

c) With strong virtual but low actual value

So it’s nice to see a company turning the tables on the snake oil salesmen and scammers: why buy something that’s worth nothing, when you can use something that costs nothing?

The company in question is Intel, whose 2009 ATL campaign, set to roll out over the next three years, sees the technology giant using the sign-off “Sponsors of Tomorrow”. I mean, who’s going to monetise ‘Tomorrow’…Annie?

It’s interesting that Intel should be using the collective plural ‘sponsors’ here, a move, in line with the content of their ATL, to both humanise the company and express the broad range of areas across which it – I mean ‘they’ – work.

Neatly turning things on their head, the campaign is less ‘Intel Inside’, and more ‘Inside Intel’. The execution below might aim at geek-chic, but it also emphasises who makes up the company, not just what the company makes.

You’ll notice that even the brand-defining/ubiquitous/maddeningly annoying Intel ‘chimes’ are now performed in the new ads by company employees (okay, the actors portraying company employees), reminding us of a company’s most important asset – its people.

As “Sponsors of Tomorrow”, the casual perspective of Intel being just a sticker on your PC may have had its chips.

By Jonathan Izzard on June 12th, 2009

Tags: Advertising, Ambush campaign, Brand marketing, Branded content, Digital marketing, Employee engagement, Media, New Product Development, Sales promotion, Sponsorship, Viral Marketing

No comments

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

2 comments

Last night I watched the first episode of I’m Running Sainsbury’s on Channel 4. The branded content programme followed the story of Sainsbury’s shop floor worker Becky Craze and her inspirational initiaitive to retail ‘Family Food for a Fiver’ in one bag, ready to pick up off the shelf and head straight to check-out. A brilliant idea!

The staff initiative, to engage Sainsbury’s workers across the country, allowed our girl Becky to pitch her idea to the Sainsbury’s board and see it all the way through to implementation.  Employee engagement probably doesn’t get better – and you get to be on the telly!

I lift my hat off to Sainsbury’s for being so bold and brave, to really give their employees a voice and chance to shine. It was a real shame that Becky’s fantastic idea didn’t take off – for anyone who watched, I think the chicken pasta would have cut the mustard - but no doubt she’ll be a success if she keeps that creeping pessimism in check.

We’ll see what happens next week when Brenda hits Sainsbury’s suited and booted in Holborn with her idea (brace yourselves people I think she may cause a storm!)

By Caroline Ayling on June 3rd, 2009

Tags: Brand marketing, Branded content, Employee engagement

No comments

On Monday the Aviva Ocean Racing team took to the water again. This time there were no ocean crossings involved: it was all about recognising Dee Caffari’s phenomenal double world first achievement here in the heart of London. What better way than to bring her racing yacht Aviva down the Thames and open Tower Bridge in her honour?

Dee’s story captured the capital’s imagination and she was joined by BBC London, ITV London Tonight, the Daily Telegraph and the Square Mile’s daily free sheet City AM.

Dee took the chance to thank her supporters, loyal followers on the campaign website and her sponsor, Aviva. The international company’s 57,000 employees had the chance to follow Dee’s incredible journey around the world and 30 lucky London based staff were able to join the celebrations on Monday night. This was followed up with a unique opportunity for Aviva’s London staff to visit Dee and Aviva during their lunch break yesterday. 

By Caroline Ayling on March 4th, 2009

Tags: Dee Caffari, Employee engagement, Sailing

No comments

The Synergy Team spent last Friday on an outstanding day for team building and motivation.  The morning session focused on ‘Making an Impact’ and covered a lot of ground on how to create the right impression. My highlight was discovering each others ‘trigger points’ and the impact this has on our team work and performance.

In the afternoon, we pushed ourselves out of the comfort zone and conquered our fears of height and speed with a great competition in the grounds of ‘A Day in the Country’ in Aynho.  It has to be the best training day ever – and reminded me how proud I am to be part of this fab team.

By Alison Moor on September 24th, 2008

Tags: Employee engagement, Synergy

No comments

If you’ve ever met someone from Synergy you’ll probably be aware that we’re a competitive bunch. The boys’ football triumph over Action Images a few weeks ago left the girls wanting to stake a claim on some sporting silverware.  From the Head of Experiential to the Media Communications team, whatever you throw at us, we Synergy girls are in it to win it.

On Friday 25 July, Steph, Lisa and myself joined forces with our new friends at Engine and took on 35 teams from the marketing world in the annual NABS netball tournament. The incumbent champions for the last two years were John Ayling & Associates. From the name you may have guessed this was no ordinary tournament for me – this was family warfare. As the sun beat down on Battersea Park, the Engine girls rallied round and the games began…

Round 1

Seven blonde bods took to the court as Engine faced Channel 4 first up.  It was a tense game as our newly founded team gelled together. The ball yo-yo’ed up and down the court as the defence held strong and with seconds to go our newly discovered shooter, fresh from the new business department at WCRS sent Engine one up. The whistle blew – we rejoiced, rehydrated and prepared for round 2 against Rapier.

Following a second victory for the Engine girls I began to think – could this be a winning team in the making?

Sadly not, Iris Nation with their professional netball dresses and rehearsed back-lines were on fire. We put up a fight but lost 3-1. Next came the pink ladies of the Financial Times who beat us in the dying seconds by one goal. Our chance of progressing to the next stage of the tournament was slipping away.

Despite our determined spirit and support from BBC Breakfast Sport presenter Chris Hollins cheering from the side lines, Engine’s netball team sadly did not make it through to the finals. A great travesty for the Engine team but fear not we’ll be back better, bolder and probably blonder next year.

Netball – just for girls???

Whilst trying to rally the troops to come along and support the team, netball didn’t really get the crowds at 60 Great Portland Street going. I wondered if this is because people see netball in the domain of spotty school girls rather than a fast and furious game that requires speed, strength and agility to challenge the most competitive sports professionals. A little research revealed that St Helen’s Rugby League star Jon Wilkin and Salford City Reds vice captain Robbie Paul have recently been training with the England Netball team.

Perhaps if netball were to be elevated to an Olympic sport its profile may change and people will give the sport the respect it deserves. To join the 18,300 people backing England international star Eboni Beckford-Chambers’ campaign to see netball at London 2012 sign up to Facebook group ‘Bid to get Netball in the 2012 Olympics’.  

We may yet see the O2 home to international netballers in 2012 but I make a pledge here and now that by the time London is hosting the greatest games on earth you’ll see Engine’s name engraved on the NABS netball trophy.

By Caroline Ayling on July 29th, 2008

Tags: Employee engagement, London 2012, Olympics, Synergy

1 comment

A landmark day begins, entirely appropriately, with the launch of our blog. Come in, it’s really rather exciting…

Although we feel incredibly privileged to advise brands on sponsorship for a living, and every day in our business is fascinating, there are some days that you know will be extra special. Today is absolutely one of those, as it’s the start of a new era for us in so many ways.

We’ve just moved into our superb new HQ in 60 Great Portland Street (or “60 GPS” as it’s rapidly becoming known) and there’s a palpable sense of energy and excitement as the eleven companies and 600 people in the Engine Group unite under one roof.

On top of which today also marks our first day as Synergy after twenty-four years as Karen Earl Sponsorship, so there’s an extra-special buzz as we finally unveil our new brand identity and offer after a year of planning.

Having, naturally, revealed Synergy to our two most important audiences first – our people and our clients – we already know that the response is overwhelmingly positive, and that it feels absolutely natural for the brand to evolve, because our business has evolved so much, particularly in recent years.

Two other things about the new brand identity tend to come up. The first is “I can’t believe Synergy was available”. Neither could we! But happily it was, because it brilliantly encapsulates both what we do and how we do it. The second is “How does Karen feel about it?”. Very simple answer: she’s 100% behind it and has been up for a change for years.

There’s also an incredible buzz about our new, enlarged offering, which augments our existing skills in Consultancy , Experiential and Communications with four new services: Branded Content , Digital, Employee Engagement and Sales Promotion.

The new services are partnerships with the Engine companies who specialise in the disciplines involved (respectively Huge, Altogether, Dave and Woo) and have in fact been operating informally since we joined the Engine Group in late 2006. So we’re simply formalising an operating reality – and creating something really groundbreaking that no-one else is close to offering. All good.

So a new chapter begins, and it’s all change – and yet no change. We’ll be staying true to the key principle on which Karen Earl founded the company – never selling sponsorships, meaning that we can guarantee clients impartial, as well as expert, specialist advice – still a very rare commodity in sponsorship. And above all, as I look around, I see what I’ve always seen: great people who love what they do and are very good at it.

Except that there’s a lot more of them!

By Tim Crow on May 27th, 2008

Tags: Branded content, Default, Digital marketing, Employee engagement, Experiential marketing, Public relations, Sales promotion, Sponsorship consultants, Synergy

No comments