The Paralympic Games get underway with the opening ceremony in London this evening.  The four flames lit on the highest peaks of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland came together last night at Stoke Mandeville hospital where the idea for the games was first brought to life.  The flame is now journeying the final few miles to the stadium which will hopefully play host to Irish success in the coming days.
Ireland’s team of 49 athletes have adopted a prominent place in the Paralympics Village with their balconies overlooking the main Olympic Park draped in flags and portraits of the athletes.
In order to get there the athletes have required their own massive effort from Paralympics Ireland.  In order to do that the organisation secured six main and 12 supporting commercial arrangements, up from only one for Beijing in 2008. Over the past week we have looked at how Renault, Allianz, and Cadbury and Vodafone have built their relationship as a tier one sponsor and at how Paralympics Ireland built such strong support over the past two years.
Today we speak to MJ Tierney of Topaz Energy to look at how the company chose to become involved with the Paralympics Ireland team and how they have made the relationship work.
Sport for Business: How did Topaz first form a relationship with Paralympics Ireland?
MJ Tierney, Marketing Manager, Topaz Energy: In 2011 we completed a full review of our sponsorship and CSR commitments.  The outcome was to focus on two principal national partnerships.  A number of options were considered and then run past our entire network of 1,500 employees and dealers.
The charity we chose was Aware and the sponsorship was with Paralympics Ireland.  They were easy choices to make and the response back from our own people was overwhelmingly positive.  We have all felt an important part of what has been a very special road to London 2012.
What are the main reasons for this sponsorship and how have you positioned it alongside your other sporting involvements in Ireland?
We wanted to align with a national brand that was very much an Irish success story.  We support Topaz Tuesday at the Galway Races and the Donegal Rally while our area managers have discretion on partnerships that are important within local communities but the intention here was to build something which all of our people could rally around.
Topaz Energy is a wholly Irish company and being seen to be supporting a national team was an important element of choosing to go with Paralympics Ireland.
We are very customer oriented and the Paralympics has huge scope for reaching out to a very wide network.  Everybody knows somebody who knows somebody that has been affected by disability and the reaction on the forecourts to our support of elite athletes that have fought hard to overcome at times overwhelming odds has been very rewarding.
What has been the most effective way so far that you have made the relationship work?
We have been fortunate to work with the whole team but especially our main brand ambassador Jason Smyth.  He is a great character who so nearly qualified to compete in the Olympics and has been a great voice for Paralympic sport.
His achievements at the highest level have put him on the global map and to have such a star as ‘one of us’ has given us tremendous positive reaction within our own network and among our customers.
We recorded a four minute digital video getting behind the athlete to discover the person and this has had a tremendous response on you tube and through our social media channels.  It paints a picture of the effort and endeavour that goes into getting to the top of your game and shows Jason as a human being who happens to be a world class athlete.
We have used Jason through branding and imagery on our forecourts very much as ‘our man’ among the many that make up the team.  The recognition has really scored well against other successful promotions we have undertaken and we expect the feel good factor around our involvement to peak during the games but also to extend long after the closing ceremony.
Paralympics Ireland have been great at bringing together their own partner network.  We have shared ideas and executions and we came together with Cadbury through this to offer a contribution donation based on each of their products sold through our stores.  This collaboration has been a real boost and has enhanced the benefit we could each have drawn as individual sponsors.
How you will make the most of your association during the course of the games?
We will be active in social media and on the forecourts over the coming weeks.  We have now started to see traction among mainstream media for the video with Jason and we will be building our brand as an Irish supporter of an Irish team that is performing on a world stage, perhaps with success the likes of which has never been achieved before.
Medals and success at the Games will be a bonus but being involved, and seen to be so with such a tremendous group of people has been an enriching and a rewarding experience.
Do you have a plan in place should Jason win Gold in London?
We are behind him in every way and it would be marvellous if he were able to scale the peak of Beijing again.  We will be working with Jason and enabling our staff to engage with him after the games to gain insight and inspiration from his journey.  If he happens to be wearing a new medal when he does that, so much the better.
Have you considered yet whether you will extend your relationship beyond London 2012?
Our present relationship runs to the end of this year at which point we will sit down and analyze what worked well, what areas might have been improved and what value we gained from the association. It has already been a wonderful experience for us to be part of this great team.
The Irish team at the London 2012 Paralympic Games will comprise of 49 athletes across 10 sports. Ireland’s current Paralympic stars include Jason Smyth, Michael McKillop, Mark Rohan, Colin Lynch, Catherine Walsh and Catherine O’Neill.  All will be aiming to add London gold to their world or Paralympic titles.
The overall team size will be boosted to around 95 by a highly dedicated and professional team of staff across a variety of roles including Chef de Mission, Performance Director, Team Managers, coaches, sport science/medical and personal care support. The goal is to achieve at least five medals, three of them Gold, and a top-30 placing in the final table.
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