AIB’s campaign around the GAA All Ireland Championships was declared as the Brand Winner from a Summer of Sport at an event for marketing professionals hosted by the Marketing Institute of Ireland and Onside Sponsorship in the Aviva Stadium yesterday.
There were plenty of other calls on who won as well with a top level group of speakers sharing their insight on what had taken place over the past few months.
Ryle Nugent from RTÉ Sport put forward a compelling argument on how well the national broadcaster had done with a total of nine million people having viewed the top ten sporting broadcasts of the year so far, all of them on the national broadcasters channels.
That they produced such content in the face of overwhelming opposition was highlighted by the fact that they produced their entire Olympic output from Rio with a total of 41 staff on the ground, led by Deputy Head of TV Sport Cliona O’Leary, while the BBC had over 400 on the ground in Brazil and NBC a staggering 2,500.
The Paralympics were another winner from the summer with Damien O’Neill painting an evocative picture of how the Allianz Brand was able to support and benefit the participation and triumph of athletes in Brazil.
Karl Heffernan highlighted the importance of the Euros to the FAI and how the organisation had built on the success and the emotion of Robbie Brady’s late winner against Italy and progress to lead France in the knockout stages.
Season Ticket sales for this year hit a record high of 14,000 while a true measure of the ‘feel good factor’ lay in the fact that last week’s Qualifier for the World Cup attracted a crowd of 39,500, an impressive 40% ahead of the equivalent fixture against the same opposition in the Euro 16 Qualifiers.
The GAA described by Nugent as “the backbone of the Summer” still emerged with greatest credit though as top line research from Onside produced the ‘result’ of AIB emerging as the most recognised sponsor.
Absolutely delighted to be part of such a great @AIB_GAA team that topped #WhoWonSS #TheToughest @officialgaa @Onside_Spons @SportforBusines pic.twitter.com/65ntupKDHT
— Patrick Somers (@paddisom81) October 11, 2016
Supervalu also made the top flight as well as Lidl through their support of Ladies Football.
“The Association has a special part in the hearts and minds of the Irish people,” said GAA Commercial Director Peter McKenna. “The All Ireland always captures the imagination and keeps standing tall regardless of the competition from international events.”
Coca Cola at a global level and Electric Ireland and New Balance at national level were also declared winners in the recognition and support stakes through their involvement with the Olympics.
Electric Ireland in particular came in for praise for the way in which they engaged with athletes putting them centre stage.
Swim Ireland CEO Sarah Keane appealed for sponsors to not “leave athletes in the dark for another four years” before putting on her Olympic Council of Ireland hat to state in telling terms that “you may own your brand but your reputation lies in the hands of the public.”
Any reputation damage for Ireland in terms of administration, and that should not be underestimated, was put to one side in an interview with Annalise Murphy where she shared the thrill of winning Silver in Rio but gave the strongest hint yet that she would be back to go one better in Tokyo in 2020.
In terms of sponsorship the last word went to Rory Sheridan of Diageo who focused on Carlsberg’s activation and sponsorship throughout the Euros.
“The bottom line is that we increased sales by 13.5% over the period of the run up and the playing of the tournament. That lifted June above the traditional high point of December and that’s what makes it easier to invest in sponsorship as a key part of the marketing mix.”
