SuperValu will unveil the latest iteration of their sponsorship of the All Ireland Football Championship later this morning.
This comes off the back of Centra’s continued support of the All Ireland Hurling Championship and Lidl’s vaunted partnership with Ladies Football.
The food retail sector is a major backer of Irish sport. Aldi are a supporter of Irish rugby and Spar were out at the Aviva Stadium yesterday with the FAI and almost 200 Primary school children from around the country.
Sport is clearly delivering for all those brands but care needs always to be taken that this will remain so.
In France, it was announced this week that Carrefour, one of its major food retailers is withdrawing its sporting sponsorship and focusing instead on sponsorships in food and retail, though no details were announced on how this might look.
The relationship with the French Football Federation will run through this summer’s World Cup but then end.
A similar one year exit is happening with the Tour de France where it has backed the Polka Dot King of the Mountains jersey.
Carrefour has been a backer of the Tour through all of its troubles, since 2003, providing a base of activation across the country throughout the build-up and the race itself.
Rival supermarket chain Intermarché has already been named as a partner of French Football though no such replacement has yet been secured for the cycling.
Supervalu has already made a significant investment in its Food Academy and was sponsor for the second year at this month’s WellFest in Dublin.
All brands will inevitably choose to apply their sponsorship funding where it works best. We should just always be careful and mindful that sports dominant position in the sponsorship marketplace needs to be continually nurtured and refreshed.
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