Matthew Glendinning

Japanese badminton, golf and tennis brand, Yonex, has renewed its title sponsorship of the All England Badminton Championships for seven years from 2015 to 2021 – a sponsorship that underscores Yonex’s positioning as the number one brand in badminton.

Aviva, the UK’s largest insurer with over 14 million customers and one of Europe’s leading providers of life and general insurance, will continue to take a portfolio approach to its sponsorship activity, using key assets in rugby union and football.

Jonathan Kerziger, IMG Global senior vice-president of sales and marketing, responsible for the sale of 2015 Rugby World Cup sponsorship inventory, expects next year’s tournament in England to break all previous records across sponsorship revenue, as well as broadcast and ticketing income.

The first sponsorship deal between a major US professional sports team with an online gambling company took place last month.

Irish sponsorships picked up two of the most prestigious awards at the ESA Excellence Awards last night, with Liberty Insurance winning the Business to Consumer category for its joint sponsorship of Gaelic Athletic Association sports, hurling and camogie, and Electric Ireland winning the gold medal in the ESA Best of Europe category for its sponsorship of Team Ireland in the London Olympics 2012.

Beazley is a specialist insurance company that relies heavily on strong relationships with insurance brokers. Its five-year commitment to sponsor British Fencing, from 2011 to the end of 2015, provides the business with different ways of engaging with brokers - including through PR in target media and client entertaining opportunities.

RaboDirect, the savings bank based in Dublin, Ireland, which is part of the Dutch co-operative, Rabobank, is looking for more locally-driven sponsorships in Ireland to replace its title sponsorship of the RaboDirect PRO12, the major rugby union club competition for top teams from Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Italy.

This month’s Sports Sponsorship Insider looks at the work of the biggest agency in winter sports, Infront Sports and Media, as they create a new combined commercial programme for the Vierschanzentournee (Four Hills Tournament) and the International Ski Federation’s (FIS) annual Ski Jumping World Cup.