Creative announcements, category clashes, blue-chip sponsorships + more
Creative announcements, category clashes, blue-chip sponsorships + more
Things worth noticing in sports sponsorship
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Things worth noticing in sports sponsorship👇
Adidas becomes the official kit sponsor of the Indian Cricket team
F1 sponsorship category clash: Rolex vs Tag Heuer
Wrexham AFC delivers creative sponsorship announcements that get cut-through
Blue-chip brands renew legacy sponsorships
Sponsorship nostalgia: NBL x Mitsubishi
Adidas becomes the official kit sponsor of the Indian Cricket team
The deal includes all formats of the game - including men’s, women’s and youth teams.
The 5-year deal is reportedly worth US$8.45m (over ₹250 crore) per year and will run up until 2028.
The deal was facilitated by WPP's sports and entertainment agency, ESP Properties and reportedly has multiple components:
Sponsorship fee
Royalties from the sale of merchandise
Kitting for players and support staff
India is a key market for sport business
Its population is 1.4b+ people
Its economy is growing: they recently overtook the UK as the world’s 5th biggest economy and it could become the 3rd biggest by 2030
More importantly, 90% of India’s population are estimated to follow cricket.
Sneaker wars in India
The Indian market has been largely dominated by rival PUMA - in FY21 they generated more revenue than Adidas, Nike and Reebok combined, thanks largely to athlete sponsorships like the between PUMA and Virat Kohli.
This new deal presents Adidas with an opportunity to turn this around, and ironically, the Adidas CEO who announced this new deal is the former CEO of PUMA.
Historically, Nike sponsored the Indian cricket team for 14 years but exited in 2020. Some reported that this was due to an unsatisfactory ROI, others reported that it was due to Nike experiencing “lockdown losses” from the pandemic.
It’s unclear whether team or athletes sponsorships will be more effective in winning over the hearts and minds of the Indian marketplace.
Watch this space.
F1 sponsorship category clash: Rolex vs Tag Heuer
Luxury watch manufacturer, Rolex are synonymous with Formula 1 thanks to their $50m annual sponsorship deal.
Although this is the case, one of Rolex’s main rivals, TAG Heuer was highly visible at the Monaco Grand Prix over the weekend, one of the most prestigious sporting events in the world.
How does this happen?
Monaco has a unique partnership with Formula 1 that other event destinations don’t have. The unique arrangement provides Monaco with major control over the event operations, including its sponsorships.
Unfortunately for Formula 1’s loyal top-tier sponsors, they don’t receive category exclusivity at the Monaco Grand Prix, so it’s not uncommon for sponsorship category clashes to occur at this event.
Wrexham AFC delivers creative sponsorship announcements that get cut-through
Wrexham AFC have continued their commercial success story by welcoming two new sponsors - STōK Cold Brew Coffee as the official stadium sponsor, and Betty Buzz as its training kit sponsor.
Betty Buzz announcement video here.
Both of these announcements have been highly successful in reaching large audiences through a mix of paid, owned and earned channels. In particularly, they’re racking up enormous views online across social media and YouTube.
For example, the STōK Cold Brew Coffee announcement video has already been viewed roughly 4.5m times across the combined Twitter accounts of Wrexham FC, and their owners alone.
This video content performance is not what you’d expect to see from any of Wrexham’s on-field competitors, as it’s highly unlikely that they’d possess the unique set of resources required to deliver it.
Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds have created an unrivalled and significant competitive advantage
Thanks to their Hollywood experience, experitise and reach, Wrexham’s owners are able to offer sponsors a level of production efficiency, output, and distribution that others can’t, and this often transfers to commercial benefits…
Production power
With the power of their owners, Wrexham has the capabilities to:
Produce high-quality, creative content (or facilitate the production process) that gets cut-through, resulting in greater performing content that reaches more people.
Provide easy access to high-profile celebrity talent, potentially in-kind. Rob and Ryan both feature in the STōK Cold Brew Coffee announcement video which provides greater earned media opportunities.
Distribute communications far and wide through their owned channels. The Wrexham story is a unique one that has captivated the globe and enabled them to build a strong following. Not only do new sponsors gain immediate access to this audience, Rob and Ryan use their own channels to extend global reach.
STōK Cold Brew Coffee are sponsoring a property in a country where they don’t sell their products. Why?
Although STōK Cold Brew Coffee is one of the fastest growing cold brew coffee brands in the U.S, it doesn’t actually sell coffee in the UK.
The objectives of this sponsorship are slightly unclear, but it appears designed to target the many US fans who’ve connected with Wrexham’s story - the partnership extends beyond stadium naming rights and to the team’s first American tour.
It is also highly likely that STōK Cold Brew Coffee may use this new sponsorship as a platform to launch themselves into the UK market.
Sponsorship similarities
Slightly off-track, the STōK Cold Brew Coffee’s shares similarities to the Guojiao 1573 x Australian Open sponsorship which has created a lot of conversation over recent years.
The Guojiao 1573 brand has featured so heavily across the Australian Open in recent years, but:
It has minimal/no brand awareness in Australia (outside of its sponsorship)
It doesn’t actually include Australians within its target audience
It doesn’t sell its product in Australia
Although this is the case, Guojiao 1573 is still the world’s most consumed spirit due to the sheer amount it’s drunk in China.
The Australian Open sponsorship purely aims to enhance their premium image within the the Asian market.
Blue-chip brands renew legacy sponsorships
Hyundai renew FIFA sponsorship in a much less fancy manner
Hyundai Motor Group and FIFA announced a renewal of their long-standing sponsorship until 2030, that enables Hyundai and Kia to retain the title of FIFA’s official mobility partners.
Financial terms of the deal haven’t been publicised but the partnership covers:
2023 Women’s World Cup
2026 men’s World Cup
Rights across all of FIFA’s other men’s, women’s and Esports events
Hyundai has sponsored FIFA since 1999, so this new agreement will make them a 30+ year sponsor.
Coca-Cola has also renewed its sponsorship of the PGA Tour until 2027
The 5-year deal will enable Coke to sell it’s products at the majority of it’s tournaments.
Similar to the Hyundai x FIFA sponsorship, the partnership is a long-standing one - Coke has sponsored the PGA Tour Championship since 2002.
Sponsorship nostalgia: NBL x Mitsubishi
Closer to home, the NBL has gone back to the future and have re-signed Mitsubishi as a major partner for NBL24 after a long timeout.
For those old enough to remember, Mitsubishi was previously the naming rights sponsor of the competition from 1992-2000.
They’ve now returned 23 years later.
The news was announced on NBL’s Twitter below…
At first-glance
Given the generously large size of the Hungry Jack’s logo in the NBL lock-up, you could be forgiven for viewing this Tweet and mistaking the announcement as being one for the renewal of NBL x Hungry Jack’s sponsorship at first glance.
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