Interview

Timo Lumme, IOC TV and marketing services director, talked this month to Sports Sponsorship Insider editor Matthew Glendinning about the future and pricing of the The Olympic Partner (TOP) programme in…

Chemicals company Evonik Industries is using its sponsorship of Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund to raise awareness of the business-to-business brand in Germany and, increasingly, internationally.

Sports sponsorships by the UK betting operator Ladbrokes are currently used as part of an integrated marketing approach rather than a standalone tool to acquire betting customers, a key marketing executive at Ladbrokes has said.

Performance bicycle manufacturer Bianchi is targeting a set demographic through its sponsorship deals with the UCI WorldTour Belkin Pro Cycling Team and UCI Continental Circuits Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela Team.

Internet company Yahoo’s acquisition of Chelsea manager José Mourinho to write expert blogs for the duration of the 2014 Fifa World Cup has opened the door to future investment in football.

Global insurance company Allianz SE has stadium naming rights contracts in six countries following the recent deal between its Austrian arm Allianz Group Austria and Austrian Bundesliga football club SK Rapid Vienna. 

Diageo-owned vodka brand Smirnoff has committed the lion’s share of its global sponsorship budget for this year to a one-year major partner deal with the Force India F1 team. The deal was announced on May 1, ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, the fifth race of the Formula One season.

The global appeal of football is central to payment services company Western Union’s deal with the Uefa Europa League but the brand is considering refining its portfolio to reach more consumers in North America and Asia, Marc Audrit, vice president, global brand for Western Union told Sports Sponsorship Insider.

Buxton Water is using sponsorship to increase awareness around its brand repositioning as a high quality mineral water, Alberto Kechler, Senior brand manager at Buxton and Nestlé Pure Life told Sports Sponsorship Insider.

The General Motors-owned car brand Chevrolet is growing its presence in Brazilian football in order to connect with customers and increase its share of the Brazilian market, where the brand competes with Fiat and Volkswagen in the top three for sales of small cars.

Supporting the brand outside of its headquarters in London is at the forefront of the telecommunications company BT’s sponsorship work, Richard Young, commercial director for BT, told Sports Sponsorship Insider.

Active engagement with its products in order to create authenticity and improve the brand’s reputation in sport is the key driver behind nutrition company Herbalife’s sponsorship programme, Brian McKinley, senior director of corporate alliances at Herbalife, told Sports Sponsorship Insider.

UK asset management firm Threadneedle Investments decided to upgrade to a global position in triathlon, having trialled the sport as a local partner of the PruHealth London Triathlon, last year’s ITU World Series Grand Final.

Sasol, the South Africa-based petro-chemical group, is looking for a marketing platform which can be tailored to it its various business-to-business strands in 37 countries,. But its head of sponsorship believes that a sporting property may not necessarily present the right model for the many and various markets it does business in.

Sponsorship has proven a “flexible instrument” to financial services company UniCredit that has supported brand building and will provide a platform for future business related objectives, Daniele Penna, head of strategic sponsorships at UniCredit Group told Sports Sponsorship Insider.

Business analytics software firm SAS’s sponsorship of British Rowing and the elite GB Rowing team could be the first of many tie-ups with sporting organisations, Mark Wilkinson, managing director of SAS UK and Ireland told Sports Sponsorship Insider.