Jamie Heaslip was making a rare appearance at Croke Park yesterday as he filmed a series of interviews ahead of the Irish Sponsorship Summit on February 25th.
The former and possible future Ireland Rugby captain was keen to switch sides on the microphone and pose the questions rather than answer them for what promises to be an insightful look behind the motivation and the magic of some of Ireland’s major sponsorship thought leaders.
“Some of what we talked about today painted the whole area of sponsorship in a perspective I, and many others, may never have considered,” he told Sport for Business during a break in filming.
“It’s such an important part of the whole experience of sport and so many other areas and we have got some real gems in terms of how and why the smartest players in the game are making it work.”
The interviews took place with John Gillick of AIG on sport, Rob Hyland of Vodafone around their involvement in comedy and music; Rob Hartnett of Sport for Business and Mick O’Keefe of PSG Sponsorship on the way the industry is in 2016; and Avril Bannerton of Taste of Dublin on how to build a great event partnership.
Bannerton will be one of the speakers at the Irish Sponsorship Summit at Croke park next month alongside a strong line up of international speakers including Daniel Glantz who heads up AIG’s global sponsorship portfolio and Jonathan Cloonan, also flying in from New York to talk through the future of branded content partnerships.
When asked by Heaslip what her advice to sponsors would be she revealed that a real partnership was less like a date and more of a marriage. “If you are not committed then you really shouldn’t get involved,” she said and having built Taste of Dublin up over 11 years and never losing a sponsor those are wise words.
The videos themselves have been shot by Ballywire media and the production set up was as detailed in look, feel and execution as any major outside broadcast.
“There is a trend towards rough and ready user generated content but putting the time and effort into a genuine quality production will always pay dividends,” said Paul Collins who has built the business up over the last ten years and is as enthusiastic about it as he is on his morning sports bulletins on Today FM.
He was proudly showing off what could be achieved with a new 3D 360 degree camera he had bought recently in the US.
We will see the fruit of the work over the coming weeks as we build up towards the summit, tickets for which are shifting quickly. Fenway Management Group from the US were the latest major rights holder to confirm their attendance during the filming yesterday and it promises to be an inspiring and very well connected event.
