The new forecasts released by leading Dublin consultancy Onside Sponsorship, predict growth of 12 per cent in 2007 after an already exceptional year for Irish sponsorship in 2006, with major sponsorships around Ryder Cup 2006 as well as record-breaking deals in Irish Rugby and soccer pushing overall spending on sponsorships by Irish companies hit an estimated €92 million last year.
According to the new Onside report, almost €6 in every €10 in Ireland spent on sponsorship is invested by businesses in sports related sponsorships, with Gaelic Games, rugby and soccer commanding up to 60 per cent of the overall major sports sponsorship spend.
John Trainor, Managing Director at Onside Sponsorship, notes “A range of new forces will be at play in 2007 that are fuelling this continued extraordinary growth in the Irish sponsorship industry, including an increasing range of major rights available to Irish brands to sponsor, escalating prices for rights, some major landmark deals being tabled in GAA and the potential naming rights of Lansdowne Road and possibly other venues”.
In 2006, Alcohol, Banking/Financial services, Motor and Telecoms sectors headed up Ireland’s premier sponsorship players based on a new nationwide survey by Onside Sponsorship. Twenty-nine per cent of all sponsors identified as most appealing in 2006 were alcohol brands, with the next closest category being Banks/Building societies back at 11 per cent.
Guinness maintained No.1 spot for 2006 in terms of the sponsors identified by Irish adults in Onside research as producing most appealing sponsorships across the year, while Heineken and 02 showed greatest growth in appeal as sponsors year on year.
Guinness’s sponsorship of the GAA All-Ireland Hurling Championships again topped the consumer research poll for most appealing partnership of 2006 with 15 per cent of all mentions, while Bank of Ireland’s GAA Football sponsorship was second most popular across the total population. Heineken’s European Rugby, Guinness Cork Jazz and eircom’s Irish soccer sponsorships make up the Top 5 partnerships of 2006 according to Onside’s new research.
Big Deals to Watch for in 2007 include:
• Tidy Towns 2007+, to be announced in January
• GAA Championships (Football & Hurling) Renewal - which is reportedly due to see a merger of both sets of rights into a single sponsorship property
• Rugby World Cup 2007
• Lansdowne Road Naming Rights
• Seve Trophy at the Heritage
• FIA World Rally Championships - Stage Ireland, in November 2007
• Croke Park Soccer & Rugby Internationals
