The Irish Rugby Football Union has signed a new four-year partnership with Britvic Ireland which means from this week’s preparations for the Bank of Ireland Nations Series, that Ballygowan becomes the Official Water Partner of Irish Rugby.
The partnership sees Ballygowan become one of the official partners of the IRFU, including the Irish Senior Team; Irish Senior Women’s Team; Senior Men’s Sevens and Senior Women’s Sevens as well as becoming an official sponsor of the IRFU National Referee panel.
Ireland Men’s players Mack Hansen, Gavin Coombes, and Jack Conan were joined by Ireland Women’s players Aoife Doyle, Enya Breen, and Dorothy Wall at Dunboyne Castle over the weekend to launch the partnership.
Under the new agreement, Ballygowan will provide the IRFU with 40,000 litres of water each year to ensure players have the optimal water intake to maintain a normal water balance during training and matches.
The average rugby player covers approximately 7 kilometres during a match, and it is not unusual for a particularly active player to lose up to a kilo in weight through dehydration.
Ballygowan will support the new partnership with an integrated through-the-line campaign, entitled “Bottled Wild for Irish Rugby” , which will include a dedicated television commercial, billboards, digital and social media support, PR, as well as in-store POint of Sale campaign rolled out across key retail outlets nationwide.
“Irish Rugby is delighted to welcome Ballygowan as the Official Water Partner of the IRFU,” said IRFU Head of Commercial Jessica Long.
“Keeping players’ fluids in balance is an integral part of achieving peak performance and we are delighted to be working with a home-grown Irish brand with a proven track record in the Irish market.”
“We are looking forward to further developing our relationship with Britvic and I have no doubt our athletes and fans will welcome the support this partnership provides.”
“Ballygowan is Ireland’s number one bottled water brand and we are proud to partner with Irish Rugby at all levels,” added Kevin Donnelly, Managing Director, Britvic Ireland.
“Ballygowan is bottled in Ireland, travels less miles than imported brands to get to Irish consumers, and our bottles are 100 percent recyclable and made from 100 percent recycled materials.”
Last year, Ballygowan relaunched the brand with the new ‘Bottled Wild’ campaign. The campaign was a major step forward in the brand’s ambition to be the most sustainable water brand in Ireland, with fully recycled and recyclable bottles and the water sourced fully from springs in Limerick.
