The model of multiple sponsors in any sport often presents problems of keeping everyone happy. When you are paying well for a position and having to continually justify the impact your sponsorship is having versus other forms of marketing every image counts.
There is of course a natural balance to how coverage works out between sponsors of teams and of tournaments. The real trick is to be smart with the packages you are selling as a rights holder without being greedy.
After the FIFA World Cup in 2006 MasterCard famously walked away from a top tier partnership because a secondary deal had been signed with rivals Visa.
In England this week Sunderland football club were promoting a tie up with Betfair as its UK betting partner using players including John O’Shea that were wearing the first team kit adorned with the brand of a rival betting firm.
Perhaps both sides see the different geographic areas of interest as worth the momentary confusion.
The launch of the All Ireland Series as part of the GAA Football Championship yesterday presented a variety of brands with an additional chance to shine.
As you can see from the picture above the Championship sponsors Eircom, AIB and Supervalu got top billing on the ribbons adorning the Sam Maguire trophy.
The second tier that will be happy are Adida and O’Neills clearly visible on the track suits and Nike who have the footwear well covered.
Kerry Group, Investec, Elvery’s and AIG will have to wait for the ball to be thrown in to get their mass market branding opportunities in the quarter finals and beyond.
It would be interesting to know if the mean and moody look with arms folded was happened on by each of the three players in the background or whether it was in fact carefully managed in order to create clear space for the tournament sponsors.
In the same way as games and titles are decided by minute attention to detail, so it is in the sponsorship and branding world.
