Audi, McDonald’s, Standard Chartered and SAP are the shortlisted brands in the “Multi-national” sponsorship category for the 2013 ESA Excellence Awards to be decided this month.
The ESA Awards, organised by the European Sponsorship Association, recognise excellence within the sponsorship industry across Europe.
The multi-national nominees were entered for the following sponsorship projects: the Audi Cup pre-season football tournament, McDonald’s Euro 2012 player escort programme, the Standard Chartered Trophy, Road to Anfield 2013 campaign and SAP’s activation of its Extreme Sailing Team and Extreme Sailing Series sponsorship.
The winners of the 2013 ESA Excellence Awards, of which Sports Sponsorship Insider is a partner, will be announced at the Awards Ceremony and Dinner to be held in London on January 29, 2014.
Below, in the eighth of a series of sponsorship profiles across ten award categories, Sports Sponsorship Insider summarises the four multi-national category contenders.
Project: Audi Cup
Rights holder: Audi AG
Agency: brands and emotions GmbH (Lead agency)
The biennial Audi Cup pre-season football tournament at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, has developed over three editions from 2009 to 2013 into an international marketing platform for the carmaker. Audi designs and manages the entire platform independently, ensuring the almost complete refinancing of the project though the sale of media rights.
In 2013, the competing teams were Bayern Munich, Manchester City, AC Milan and Sao Paulo. The event targets the general public and the national and international media as well as key Audi customers (B2C), the country companies, dealers and importers (B2B) and Audi departments and Audi employees.
Project McDonald’s UEFA EURO 2012 Player Escort Programme
Rights holder: UEFA
Agency: Arc (formerly LeoSports)
Through their UEFA EUROTOP sponsorship, McDonald’s receives exclusive rights to the UEFA EURO 2012 Player Escort programme. Under the deal, McDonald’s was able to create a ‘once in a lifetime’ experience for 682 lucky children across Europe who walked out with their football heroes before Euro 2012 matches in Poland and Ukraine.
Thirty-four European markets participated in the programme, which saw McDonald’s increase Brand Trust amongst families by 15 per cent through its extensive activation. Families are the most important customers for McDonald’s. Insights from previous tournaments revealed that mothers/parents were most positively affected by the programme.
Project: The Standard Chartered Trophy Road to Anfield 2013
Rights holder: Liverpool Football Club
Agency: Fuse
International banking group Standard Chartered has been the main team sponsor of Liverpool FC since July 2010. The property is used to target key markets for the bank in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
The sponsorship delivers on raising awareness and brand exposure but also provides international markets with the means to engage local stakeholder audiences and deepen the level of engagement with the sponsorship. The Standard Chartered Trophy was created to generate a centrally co-ordinated international activation campaign, providing multiple markets with a platform to engage their priority audiences and address local business objectives.
Project: SAP Extreme Sailing Team and Extreme Sailing Series
Rights holder: Extreme Sailing Series Extreme Challenger
Agency: Experience Worldwide
SAP is title sponsor of the SAP Extreme Sailing Team, which competes in the Extreme Sailing Series, the new in-stadium sailing format. SAP is also the Official Technology Partner of the Extreme Sailing Series.
SAP works in partnership with the series organisers to deliver a range of solutions that help deliver cutting-edge data and analytics in order to improve overall race and training performances of the teams within the series, and to enhance the spectator experience on shore. It has become a key platform for SAP to showcase its range of business technology solutions.