Sixteen countries, a sun-filled Old Trafford, a victorious Czech Republic team, a German cardboard cut-out mascot, a stadium awash with national team kits and the legendary Sir Bobby Charlton – that was the first ever Betfair World Cup!

As part of Betfair’s sponsorship of Manchester United, 96 lucky amateur football players and United fans from 16 different nations entered the world of the mighty Reds to enjoy a once in a lifetime opportunity to play at the Theatre of Dreams. The Betfair World Cup included a three-hour training day at United’s exclusive Carrington Training Facility before the 5-a-side teams went head-to-head on the pitch at Old Trafford. Clad in their nation’s colours and with the Betfair LED boards rotating in the background we witnessed sporting class, team hugs, and football fans fulfilling their dream of playing at Old Trafford! Check out our video to see the event in action…

Despite their national team not making it through to the FIFA World Cup Finals the players from the Czech Republic triumphed over Ukraine in the Betfair World Cup Final, whilst the Bulgarians lost out to the ever-so vocal Portuguese team in the Plate Final.

Manchester United and England star Gary Pallister was on site to watch all the action and said, ‘These players are following in the footsteps of legends, from Sir Bobby Charlton to Eric Cantona to Wayne Rooney. The final was a pretty close run thing but the Czech’s seemed to have the upper hand in the final half and came away with the all important win.’

Whilst the Synergy Experiential team managed to help 96 footie fans fulfil their dreams (along with the help of the incredibly well organised Manchester United Soccer Schools) I realised a personal dream of my own, interviewing the legendary Sir Bobby Charlton for the post event video (see You Tube player above).

It has to be said Sir Bobby is nothing short of a true hero for every United fan and he was certainly one of the highlights of the event, as every team had their photo taken with the United and England legend (gotta love those white suits, Bulgaria!).

With one World Cup over we now eagerly anticipate the FIFA World Cup in South Africa starting on Friday. Keep your eyes peeled on www.thevoiceofthefans.com and the Betfair poster at Waterloo station as England try to go all the way!

This blog was written by Vicky Clark and Caroline Ayling.

By Caroline Ayling on June 9th, 2010

Tags: Betfair, Event management service, Experiential marketing, Football, Football Sponsorship, Manchester United, Sponsorship, Synergy

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It’s a very exciting time when the mascots are announced for any Games.  Admittedly, this excitement is normally reserved for those aged under ten, and rightly so.  However, I feel very fortunate that I’m blessed with an inner child and can appreciate similar feelings of anticipation that I did back when I was six or seven years old. The more exciting thing this time though, is the fact I might actually get to meet the London 2012 editions.  If you’ve yet to see them, take a look at the Telegraph’s comprehensive explanation of their design.

As you’ve probably guessed I like them.  I think they offer something that will inspire and engage young people across the UK.  They have a thrilling adventure ahead of them and they’ll be able to interact with their audience like never before in the history of Olympic Mascots.  The speed in which both technology and young people have developed in recent years is astonishing.  The digital children right across all corners of the UK will have the opportunity to follow, like and play with Wenlock and Mandeville however they choose, whenever they choose and wherever they choose.  Surely this is amazing? They will take them on holiday, take them to school and probably in the bath too, and more often than not this will be through the digital channel.

I think for brands involved as Official Partners of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games this offers a unique opportunity.  The mascots will play an important role in connecting with the young people, not only in terms of promoting the Games, but also as an educational inspiration.  I remember how engaged I was when taught about the Olympic movement, having something so real and tangible on the door step will have an enormous impact, particularly for young boys who commonly have learning challenges in certain subjects of the curriculum in this age group.  Tapping into to this market to help develop and extend the Olympic experience and involve our young nation in the Games is a fantastic opportunity and we’ll be looking to develop programmes for our clients to maximise this exciting development.

So, I hope you to get some excitement from seeing the new mascots unveiled.  If they’re not for you don’t worry, but I urge you to just ask a small person their opinion in two years time, as this will be the true judge of the success of Wenlock and Mandeville.  Get involved yourselves and follow them on Twitter @iamwenlock and @iammandeville and see how the story unfolds in the build up to the ever nearing London 2012. And keep your eye on this blog, as if I do get the chance to meet them the pictures will be here first!

By Ben Wilkinson on May 20th, 2010

Tags: BOA, Brand marketing, Branded content, Digital marketing, Experiential marketing, Facebook, London 2012, London 2012 sponsorship, London 2012 sponsorship consultants, Olympic sponsorship, Olympic sponsorship consultants, Olympics, Online communities, Social Media, Sponsorship, Sponsorship consultancy, Sponsorship consultants, Synergy, Team GB

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The weekend before Easter saw the Synergy team glamming it up and walking the red carpet for our friends at Jameson, in preparation for the 2010 Jameson Empire Awards ceremony in London.

Ray Winstone with daughters, Jamie and Lois who presented him with the Jameson Empire Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Cinema (c) Photo: Karwai Tang / Alpha Press

For those unfamiliar with the Awards, they are universally considered to be the most fun Awards in the British film calendar. Regularly attended by the top echelons of Hollywood glitterati, the 2010 ceremony was no exception with a guest list that included the casts of The Clash of Titans, Kick-Ass as well as Hollywood royalty Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, and legendary guest of honour, Sir Ian McKellen.

Synergy’s role was two-fold: international PR support enabling Jameson HQ in Dublin to successfully engage five international markets around the world to use the Jameson Empire Awards for local PR in their home nation, and creation and management of the Jameson guest hospitality programme, across 13 markets.

Central to the PR programme was the Jameson Done in 60 Seconds Award, inviting amateur film-makers to re-make 60-second versions of their favourite Hollywood blockbuster. Synergy created a central PR toolkit for each market to pick up and implement in their own region, encouraging entries from their nation and making the Done in 60 Seconds competition truly global for the first time.

As part of the Jameson guest hospitality programme, Done in 60 Seconds finalists from each market were then invited to London on Friday 26th March – two days prior to the full Awards ceremony – to attend the International Finals Party, held at 24:London. There, the panel of judges – including British directing talent Edgar Wright and Michael Bassett, Empire’s editor, Mark Dinning and British actor Jason Isaacs (who was absent on the day but consulted remotely) – viewed the sixteen final films, heralding from Turkey, Russia, Sweden, Holland, Ireland and the UK. Five finalists were chosen, who then went on to attend the Jameson Empire Awards on the Sunday night, where the final winner was to be crowned victorious.

Jameson branded Routemaster buses were specially commissioned to transport guests around London on their Movie Mania Tour

Between this event and the Awards night, Synergy put together a full guest management programme for visiting markets: the Jameson Movie Mania Tour.

It began with a behind the scenes tour of St Paul’s with private access to the geometric staircase most recently used in Harry Potter and Sherlock Holmes. Guests were greeted by a Professor Dumbledore look-a-like running down the geometric staircase as he does in Harry Potter the Prisoner of Azkaban.  The St Paul’s tour finished up in the Wren Suite were guests were treated to an exclusive performance by world famous illusionist Keith Barry.

Guests then re-boarded their Jameson Routemaster and were taken to the Bluebird Restaurant in Chelsea for a private three course lunch in the Gallery Room, before heading to Borough Market for the final part of their Jameson Movie Mania Tour.  Simon Rodway and John Ashton movie experts from Silver Cane Tours guided guests through Borough Markets movie locations, ending at Bridget Jones’s flat door, where guests were met by a Hugh Grant look-a-like. Guests then got back on the bus and headed back to The Langham Hotel.

Our Experiential team did such a top job of entertaining all of Jameson’s international guests, that Event Magazine ran a feature on the weekend last week. Have a read here.

On the night of the Awards, Synergy managed the Jameson press room, ensuring all the global markets were equipped with full video and photographic assets from the night, enabling them to bring some of their own local talent to attend the event, creating greater relevancy and PR back home (such as Croatian actress Natasa Janjic, below).

The attendance of international movie stars such as Croatian Natasa Janjic helped Jameson's global markets secure local coverage of the event (c) Getty Images for Jameson

As for the Done in 60 Seconds Award, it was our favourite Top Gun that clinched the top prize, with Cambridge accountant Mark Wong – director and star of the re-make – taking to the stage, still in costume as Maverick, and collecting his much-deserved Jameson Empire Award. Watch the final masterpiece here.

Done in 60 Seconds winner Mark Wong clutches his Jameson Empire Award for his Top Gun re-make (c) Getty Images for Jameson

But if that hasn’t given you enough of a flavour of life on the red carpet, have a look at Empire’s full videoblogisode of the event below. It certainly keeps some variety to what we do, swapping muddy rugby pitches for red carpet glamour.

Bring on the 2011 Awards.

By Lucie Bartlett on April 7th, 2010

Tags: Alcohol, Brand marketing, Event management consultants, Event management service, Film, Public relations, Sponsorship consultancy, Synergy

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Already Marketing’s Sponsorship Agency of the Year for 2009, Synergy added another coveted gong last night when we won the Hollis Sponsorship Consultancy of the Year award.

Great excitement and a few sore heads this morning, but the feeling of pride in the agency and in the quality of our work far outweighs the hangovers.

Now in their 16th year, the Hollis Sponsorship Awards are a stalwart of the industry and, over the years, we have notched up a grand total of 26 Hollis awards.  But, this latest award is our proudest as it is testament to the fact that 2009 was our best year yet.

It was our 25th anniversary; a year of celebration but, more importantly, of change.  Against a background of economic crisis, the year started out with some uncertainties.  But we decided to embrace change wholeheartedly – in the way we thought and the way we creatively activated.  And it worked.  Last year we had nine new business wins as the market place recognised our industry leading position.  Most importantly, we put digital at the heart of our thinking, whilst drawing on some of the best thinking from our fellow Engine companies.

The result was that we produced some exciting, creative and quality work for our clients and it was pleasing to see that one of our clients, Betfair, won the Hollis Award for the best use of PR in a Sponsorship Campaign for its Fan v Fan Ashes Campaign.

Of course the truth is that behind great campaigns and a great company is one thing – great staff. Have a look at the short film to hear about 2009 from our people in their own words.

By Karen Earl on March 10th, 2010

Tags: Default, Sponsorship, Sponsorship consultancy, Synergy

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Having just returned from two weeks at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games, I’m still catching up with my UK reading. So it was that I turned last night to the February 10 edition of Marketing magazine, and an article on sponsorship by one of my favourite columnists, Mark Ritson, on which I really have to comment. Here’s why.

In his characteristically forthright style, Mark lambasts the sponsorship industry in general and a number of people in particular for predicting that Tiger Woods’ travails would not damage his image and endorsement deals:

‘Then there was the scandalous inability of an array of experts to predict correctly the impact of Woods’ misdeeds on his sponsorship deals…If ever we needed proof that most pundits in the world of sports sponsorship and celebrity endorsements are buffoons, here it was, in spades. This is one thing they are supposed to know about, and they managed to be 100% incorrect in the assessments. Not just wrong, but dead wrong.’

I’m not about to defend the industry, or the people Mark names and shames. What I am here to do is point out that Synergy did call the Tiger situation correctly. On December 12 last year, the day after  Tiger announced he was taking an indefinite break from golf, I made the following post on Twitter:

‘Tiger’s move will play well in the media. It also makes it easier for his sponsors to quit – or to stay. Most will quit: Nike will stay.’

Time has of course proved me right. I’m not sure whether Mark is on Twitter – and if you want to follow me Mark, you’ll find me there as @synergytim, along with numerous other Synergists – but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt that he had Synergy in mind when he said ‘most’ – ie not all – pundits called the Tiger situation wrong!

By Tim Crow on February 25th, 2010

Tags: Golf, Sponsorship, Sponsorship consultancy, Synergy, Tiger Woods

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Having won the MCCA ‘Best Campaign Featuring Sponsorship’ last year for its Team GB campaign around the Beijing Olympics, it’s great to be able to say that the Powerade 2009 InnerGear campaign has again been shortlisted in this year’s MCCA BEST Awards. Building on the insights and imagery of the Team GB campaign, Powerade brought the same InnerGear core creative idea to two of its international rugby assets – the English and Welsh rugby teams.

The 2009 edition featured England captain Steve Borthwick, Paul Sackey and IRB World Player of the Year, Shane Williams, in some equally impactful creative, and was supported through the line by Powerade’s cross agency team.

By Jonathan Izzard on January 20th, 2010

Tags: Beijing 2008, Olympic sponsorship, Olympics, Rugby, Sponsorship, Synergy, Team GB

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2009 is turning into a vintage year for Synergy: having already landed a raft of awards during our 25th anniversary, we’ve now added arguably the most prestigious of them all by scooping Marketing magazine’s 2009 Sponsorship Agency of the Year award.

Congratulations Synergists, thank you to the Marketing panel, and most of all a big thank you to our clients for your support.

By Dominic Curran on December 8th, 2009

Tags: Sponsorship, Synergy

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So, the draw for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ finals is almost upon us. At 5pm GMT today in Cape Town, Sepp Blatter, Charlize Theron (yes, really) and co will select the teams from the four designated pots that will make up Groups A – H next summer in South Africa.

But what does it all really mean to the brands, the fans and to FIFA’s flagship?

From a brand perspective there are no surprises in terms of the major head-to-heads we’ll be seeing: Nike managed to comprehensively crash adidas’s party in Germany at the last World Cup, with Joga Bonito stealing adi’s ball from its own back yard. What about 2010, though? As the first World Cup to take place on the African continent, will the joy, enthusiasm and raw power that characterise African football play into Nike’s hands, or, as kit supplier to 11 of the 32 teams, including hosts South Africa (versus Nike’s 10), do adidas have something else in their locker? Although if anyone understands African football, it’s Puma. Together with reigining champions Italy, Puma supplies four of the continent’s six nations: the brand’s use of its African assets in Africa’s World Cup will be interesting to track.

So what about the draw itself? Whilst Portugal and France’s poor qualifying records have upped the ante on any prospective Group of Death, all we can do at this stage is wait and speculate. For sponsors, a killer draw may represent a challenge, for others an opportunity: big Group Stage fixtures in the diary drive scale and anticipation and allow for advanced planning…but also affect permutations in the Knockout Stage. From a fan perspective, no one wants a Group of Death – but who imagined they’d see France getting ‘Senegalled’ back in 2002? Whether it’s the relief of a dream Group, the agony of the worst draw imaginable, or the buzz of a being drawn against a historic or local rival, this will be THE big global sports story of the next few days no matter what happens today.

What about FIFA? After a 2006 tournament remembered for Zidane’s madness, rather than his magic, a sticky tie here or there is likely go down pretty well with the organisers, adding to the colour and vibrancy already imbued by hosts South Africa. And, as a prelude to Samba Football going home at the 2014 FIFA World Cup™ in Brazil, the 2010 draw is a critical moment in FIFA’s perennial brand and business rivalry with UEFA and its titans, the Champions League and the European Football Championships.

By Jonathan Izzard on December 4th, 2009

Tags: Default, Football, Football Sponsorship, Synergy, World Cup

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When you’re looking to get a foothold in a very competitive industry like ours, opportunities for work experience are invaluable. This week at Synergy we have (as we often do) had an intern join us to see what really happens in a sponsorship consultancy. Edmund’s week has been filled with learning; he’s experienced all ends of the sponsorship spectrum; packed mailouts, scored the papers, set up a scaletrix track for one of our F1 clients and helped out with an NFL presscall to name but a few.

I’m sure he’s not the only one who’ll go back to school with some amazing learning experiences. However, I doubt many can top Edmund’s show and tell from the NFL photoshoot…

Edmund with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Cheerleaders in advance of this Sunday’s NFL fixture when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers take on the New England Patriots at Wembley.

Does work experience get any better?

By Ben Wilkinson on October 23rd, 2009

Tags: NFL, Sponsorship, Sport, Synergy

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Visitors to these pages will know that since questioning Andy Burnham’s now-infamous Medal Hopes announcement last year, I’ve written several posts on the issue’s evolution. So, with Team 2012 having risen last week like a phoenix from the ashes of Medal Hopes, it seems only appropriate to mark the issue’s apparent resolution with a few observations.

1. Team 2012 should not have been necessary

Let’s remember that the budget problem Team 2012 is designed to help solve was created by the Treasury in 2006. Let’s also remember that the problem was then exacerbated by two years of DCMS inaction, and finally exploded by the obvious flaws in Fast Track’s Medal Hopes ‘plan’ – memorably described by the BBC’s Matt Slater (author of a number of excellent blogs on the subject) as being ‘up there with Baldrick’s finest’. Quite a contrast with the Vancouver 2010 Own The Podium programme, launched in 2005 with adequate national and regional Government funding and a joined-up long-term plan.

2. The launch of Team 2012 is a triumph for LOCOG and UK Sport

Given the mess they inherited from DCMS and Fast Track, this is indisputable. Consider the list of their achievements: uniting the various stakeholders; creating a new property; resolving (apparently) the incendiary issue of elite Olympic athletes’ image rights; and persuading global Olympic sponsor Visa to come on board as Team 2012’s ‘Presenting Partner’ for £10m to start the fundraising.

3. Visa: sponsorship – or patronage?

I use the term ‘fundraising’ advisedly. Team 2012 is unashamedly a fundraising initiative designed to dent the shortfall in our Olympic sports’ budgets for London 2012, and increase Team GB’s chances of success: the official press release talks of nothing else. In which case, is Visa’s role more about patronage (financial aid with little or no expectation of ROI) rather than sponsorship (a win-win marketing partnership)? Don’t misunderstand me: I wish Team 2012 and Visa the best of British. But getting a meaningful return from this particular £10m investment looks like a big ask.

4. Sponsorship is not the only answer to the budget problem

A month after Andy Burnham’s original Medal Hopes announcement, I began advocating that any replacement programme should also incorporate innovative non-sponsorship fundraising models that had evolved elsewhere, such as Team Business West Midlands and the Vancouver 2010 Patron’s Programme. It’s good to see that this approach has been built into Team 2012, in the shape of the SME Club and the Official Donor programme.

By Tim Crow on October 7th, 2009

Tags: DCMS, Default, London 2012, London 2012 sponsorship, London 2012 sponsorship consultants, Olympic sponsorship, Olympic sponsorship consultants, Synergy, Team GB

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