The final of the European Champions’ Cup takes place in Twickenham this weekend, a mere two weeks after Leinster came so close to being part of the action. Organisers would always be wary of two teams from the same country playing in a final in another but that is what they have got in the first year of the new era for European Rugby.
The Champions’ Cup has of course replaced the Heineken Cup which for 19 years was one of the most successful and widely recognised sporting sponsorships in the world. Heineken were determined to remain involved albeit as one of a number of partners but the delay in the formation of the tournament meant that when this year’s tournament started they were once again the only commercial brand to occupy the top tier of Partner.
“The timing of the way the tournament came together was not ideal,” said Karl Donnelly, Senior Sponsorship Manager with Heineken Ireland speaking exclusively to Sport for Business as he headed to London this week.
“We were on the back foot early on but this has been year one of a four year deal and we were moving from one successful campaign theme to another so this season was always likely to be somewhat transitional, not unlike the new tournament itself.”
“Throughout the Heineken Cup we had reached unprompted awareness levels of over 90%. In that sense everybody knew us as being the Rugby beer so our new theme was all about deepening that into a greater engagement with fans.”
“We’ve been very happy with the way that has gone this year. Leinster securing a home Quarter Final so soon after Ireland had won the RBS 6 Nations gave us an opportunity to get into high profile areas at the right time of the tournament and the #RunWithIt campaign which accompanied this year’s support has been a real winner.”
“That rolled well off our Group Stage creative of This Star Remains Constant which played towards highlighting our long standing heritage with the sport and also being part of the new future.”
“We are building on a very strong foundation of marketing over the past 20 years and Rugby remains at the heart of what we do especially in Ireland and Britain, as well as in other global markets.”
“In Ireland we have strong relationships with the Provinces and will be making an announcement around that very shortly. We are also right behind the Kinsale 7’s and our close association with the biggest days of the club rugby season remains as strong today as it has done since the creation of the Heineken Cup.”
“All of that heritage and experience meant that the Irish Heineken Marketing team was given the global lead role in designing campaigns around our partnership with the Rugby World Cup later this year.”
“That is a great tribute to a lot of people’s hard work down the years and it will be exciting to see that roll out from mid summer to take in what will be the biggest global sporting tournament of 2015.”
“It was a challenge this year to retain our place in rugby fans’ minds without the tournament naming rights.”
“The structure of the deal though, and our exclusivity within the sector that’s important to us, has meant that our activation rights remain largely as they were in the era of the Heineken Cup.”
“This year was all about maintaining our visibility as supporters of the game and the fans.”
“We will be seeing a lot more of that over the coming months leading to the World Cup and then it will be straight back into Year 2 of the Champions’ Cup.”
“Heineken is still central to Rugby in Ireland and across Europe, and that’s exactly where we want to be.”
