As England have raised the bar on each performance towards this Saturday’s 2007 IRB Rugby World Cup final so general interest has increased in the UK.
Television viewing has grown from 2.3 million (USA group game) to 9.7 million (12 million peak) for the France semi-final - and that’s not counting the millions around the country watching in pubs, bars and clubs.
But has this heightened interest impacted on sponsor cut through for the global partners? Results from Sports Marketing Surveys’ UK Sponsatrak survey, indicates that from the six global partners and six official sponsors, it is the well-known brands that are making an impact in the UK.
Orange with its simple branding and heavy outdoor media campaign, including prominent advertising at Heathrow, is top of mind amongst the avid Rugby World Cup fan with Heineken using its strong rugby heritage to break through a black out on its branding in France.
But it’s the brands with a strong UK rugby heritage and no official IRB status such as O2, Guinness and RBS who are doing well through either through advertisements around the programme or just an assumed presence and association.
The global partners of EDF and Peugeot are seeing the fruits of their ITV broadcast deal but other global partners - Societe Generale, SNCF and GMF who are most likely to be focusing on their home territory, get little cut through.
[b]Sponsatrak is a unique sponsorship brand image tracker from Sports Marketing Surveys. Interviewing 100 12-65 year olds across the UK per week, clients can add questions to monitor impact over time of high profile deals.
For more details and figures on the Rugby World Cup Tracker please contact: info@sportsmarketingsurveys.com.
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