Tourism Ireland has signed a double deal with Cricket Ireland and will sponsor both the Ireland Men’s and Women’s teams at the upcoming ICC World T20 which gets underway in India next month.
The partnership sees a renewal of a partnership between the two organisations following the successful sponsorship of the team during last year’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, which saw the Tourism Ireland logo prominently displayed on Ireland’s shirts to a global audience of hundreds of millions.
The global footprint of Cricket fits well with Tourism Ireland’s ambition to draw more visitors from Australia, India and Asia and the growth of Ireland’s presence across social media has been electric off the back of great performances at the big events.
The most recent update to the Sportego Social Monitor shows Cricket as still the fastest growing Irish sport on social media, having added 25% to its numbers since July. That figure is likely to accelerate and may even pass Irish Rugby and the FAI in the coming weeks as the teams prepare for action in India.
Ireland’s Men will play a minimum of three matches in the World T20 tournament and have been drawn against Oman, Bangladesh and the Netherlands in the initial stages.
The Women’s side qualified for their first major finals last year and will take on New Zealand, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Australia.
The deal presents Tourism Ireland with an excellent opportunity to leverage the popularity of the Ireland cricket team in India and other cricket-loving countries.
Tourism Ireland intends to leverage the huge, positive media exposure of the tournament – with its Ireland.com logo prominently displayed on the team’s playing shirt and training kit; the logo will also feature prominently on the website and social media platforms of Cricket Ireland.
“We are delighted to be associated with the Ireland cricket team and such a high profile tournament once again in 2016,” said Tourism Ireland CEO Niall Gibbons.
“Our sponsorship of the team in this year’s ICC World T20 offers us a superb opportunity to highlight the island of Ireland.”
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“It’s wonderful for us to be involved in a sport that has such a wide appeal in India and many of our other important tourism markets – and we look forward to connecting and communicating with a wide audience of cricket fans everywhere.”
“We are very pleased that Tourism Ireland will once again be coming on board as team sponsor for another major world tournament,” added Cricket Ireland CEO Warren Deutrom.
“With two teams partaking in this showcase event, we are delighted to once again be able to promote the island of Ireland to a global audience.
“India is cricket’s biggest market and we are confident we can spread a positive message of what Ireland has to offer to one of Tourism Ireland’s key emerging markets during one of the biggest international sporting events of the year.”
Ireland’s Men depart for India on February 24th, while the Women’s team depart on Tuesday March 1st.
Cricket Ireland will be among the first sports to feature in our new series starting next month looking at the commercial strengths and opportunities for a variety of sports in Ireland.
