Sponsorship Deal / Partnership of the Year 2017
Avon & Liverpool Ladies FC
The landmark partnership between Liverpool Ladies Football Club and Avon highlights the increasing momentum of women’s football in the UK. Avon, the company that gave women an independent income before they even had the right to vote is now the first female-focused brand to sponsor a premier ladies’ football team. The Liverpool Ladies FC are also the only team in the top tier of the FA Women’s Super League (FA WSL) to have a shirt sponsor independent from their male counterparts. Avon will feature on the front of shirt for all levels of the Liverpool Ladies teams from the under 10s right up to the First Team Squad.
The launch of the partnership featured a private reveal event for the Liverpool Ladies team and staff as well as a public announcement and digital launch ahead of the FA WSL Spring Series. The traditional and social media reach and results were a powerful statement supporting the relevance of women’s football. The partnership between Avon and Liverpool Ladies FC will only amplify the conversation surrounding women’s football and the progress being made toward developing a bright future for the next generation of female footballers.
Beko & FC Barcelona
Beko’s challenge was to use fans’ passion for football and FCB to drive awareness, consideration and sales of products in a low interest category (white goods).
Beko’s target audience is 25-45-year-olds in transition from a large amount of leisure time to being time poor and under pressure in their professional and personal lives.
Combining this audience truth with the asset truth that FCB is the most playful club on the planet and the brand truth that Beko’s efficient products give you more time to do the things you love, we created the ‘Official Partner of Play’ campaign.
For season three, the campaign focused on highlighting the diminishing time to play in modern society, inspiring fans to play more, and then providing them with the ultimate opportunity to play. We did this through a series of connecting activations to successfully drive brand perception, propensity to purchase, and FCB partnership awareness…
1) ESTABLISH
The World Play Shortage Report: A global study into play habits to substantiate the brand message
2) INSPIRE
Playful Places: FCB stars recalling childhood memories of play, encouraging fans to share their own playful place
3) CELEBRATE
#Time2Play: Rewarding fans with a once-in-a-lifetime chance to play at Camp Nou
Betstars and Leicester City FC
In August 2016, BetStars became the Official Betting Partner of Premier League champions Leicester City – a deal negotiated, planned and activated by SportQuake. Through the partnership, BetStars wanted to make a mark in the crowded sports betting market, creating content that gains them a foothold both on and offline.
A great partnership will provide mutual benefits for each party and grow both brands in turn. We believe the BetStars and Leicester City partnership has leveraged each brand simultaneously to enhance the other.
Marathonbet & Hibernian FC
There’s a reason Hibernian fans have praised Marathonbet for being the club’s “best ever sponsor”.
And it’s clear The Hibees faithful enjoyed last season for more reasons than just their brilliant promotion back to the Scottish Premier League.
“The involvement Marathonbet has with the club is brilliant. Many more years please,” said one fan last month.
“Signing a new deal with Marathonbet was one of the best things the club could have done this summer. They really engage with the fans as often as they can”, said another.
We don’t want to blow our own trumpet too much, but the team at Marathonbet has loved working with Hibernian and their fans as much as they have us.
Virgin Media & The Football Supporters’ Federation
With multi-million-pound transfer deals the norm and players earning more per week than the average fan earns in a few years, you can forgive supporters for feeling cut-off from the game Football supporters are only too aware of the vast amounts of money in football but they continue to turn up in large numbers, hand over their hard-earned cash for a ticket and book their increasingly expensive seat on the train They’re the heartbeat of the game As FSF CEO Kevin Miles said “Away fans in particular bring noise and colour to grounds, adding to the spectacle immeasurably But following your side on the road can be expensive and, despite football being wealthy, we believe very little of it is used to reduce costs for match-goers” Virgin Media have truly aligned themselves with fans not only in the Premier League but throughout the pyramid Even those fans that have not benefited from a cheaper ticket recognise that Virgin Media are for the fans They haven’t stopped at the sponsoring of a shirt but have went that extra mile They have supported the supporters – a member of the football family that often feels overlooked and for that, fans are grateful.
