Ireland has picked up six European Sponsorship Awards overnight, with six campaigns receiving a Highly Commended recognition and three being Commended.
An Post won the Gold in the Best of Europe Category for its ‘Centre Stage’ campaign with the Irish Book Awards.
Sport for Business members Energia, Core, and Irish Rugby won in the Sport Category <£1M for Think of the Possibilities, and Guinness did so in the Sport between £1M and £5M for the Don’t Jinx It campaign, also with Irish Rugby.
Diageo brand Smirnoff, entered by Verve won Event of the Year for The Collective Stage .
Just Eat -Pride was another winner with Irish roots, entered by Core
The Ryder Cup won the Sports Rights Holder of the Year, beating fellow Sport for Business member, the Commended Olympic Federation of Ireland.
Londis won the Media Sponsorship Award for the second year in a row with Ireland’s Fittest Family.
Allianz were Highly Commended in two categories, as were Cairn Community Games.
Aer Lingus with Irish Rugby, Electric Ireland for Darkness Into Light, Sky with the Irish Women’s National Team and the Paddy Power Comedy Festival were among the Sport for Business members to pick up Commendations.
Norwegian insurance company Gjensidige enjoyed a record-breaking success at the ceremony in partnership with Pearlfinders, scooping an unprecedented five titles, including ESA Sponsorship of the Year.
The company’s support of the Palmesus beach festival with an activation entitled ‘The Breathing Space’ may have been low budget compared with many of the partnerships that earned recognition in front of 580 sponsorship professionals in London, but it could hardly have been higher on impact.
The judging panel was profoundly impressed by The Breathing Space partnership, which not only ticked the boxes for sponsorship excellence but also claimed to have saved at least one life while securing almost 700 referrals for mental health support.
“In a year of exceptional entries, one campaign stood out above all others. Innovative, impactful and flawlessly executed, it demonstrated a masterful blend of purpose, creativity and strategic insight,” said the judges.
“From reshaping audience engagement to driving meaningful social change, it proved that sponsorship can be both commercially powerful and profoundly human. The definition of good sponsorship.”
Gjensidige Head of Sponsorship Stian Grøstad said: “The purpose of our sponsorship of The Breathing Space is incredibly important for us, and we are very thankful that we have been recognised in this way.
“Through this activation, we are trying to help a generation that really needs help, and we will continue to do this good work as the activation becomes a concept integrated into all of our properties. It’s our social responsibility to try to be there for them, for the next generation, and to use our collective strength to lower the bar for young people addressing mental health issues.
“Sponsorship is a lot of things, but one of our greatest priorities is social responsibility. And this is an amazing example of this, where a festival sponsorship became a project that all Gjensidige employees are proud to be a part of.”
Before enjoying its crowning glory at the end of the ceremony, The Breathing Space won four categories – Sponsorship with a Social Purpose < €250k, Best Use of Content < €500k, Music Sponsorship, and Arts & Culture Sponsorship (Small to Medium Scale).
2025 ESA Awards in partnership with Pearlfinders:
Main Categories
• Arts & Culture Sponsorship – Small to Medium Scale
– WINNER: The Breathing Space by Gjensidige
• Arts & Culture Sponsorship – Medium to Large Scale
– HIGHLY COMMENDED: Three City Stages
– WINNER: LW THEATRES & CATHAY: Staging Extraordinary Customer Experiences
• Best Employee Engagement
– WINNER: Igniting the Olympic Spirit at Sanofi
• Best Use of Content < €500k – HIGHLY COMMENDED: Bupa Picture of Health – HIGHLY COMMENDED: Škoda x Tour de France: Draw de France – WINNER: The Breathing Space by Gjensidige • Best Use of Content > €500k
– HIGHLY COMMENDED: Three #TalkMoreThanFootball
– WINNER: If you can’t see it you can’t be it: TeamViewer presents SheSportTech
• Best Use of Cutting-edge Technology
– HIGHLY COMMENDED: Unsilence The Crowd by Sela and Newcastle United
– WINNER: Cato Network’s SASE and the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team
• Best Use of Measurement & Insight
– HIGHLY COMMENDED: The Breathing Space by Gjensidige
– WINNER: Winning with Data: How GIANTX and Shikenso Built a Sponsor Value Engine
• Best Use of PR < €500k – COMMENDED: ACCOR AND KAULI VAAST SURF THE SEINE – HIGHLY COMMENDED: Girls Want More – Sparebanken Vest – WINNER: Bupa Picture of Health • Best Use of PR > €500k
– HIGHLY COMMENDED: The BMW Filmmaking Challenge in partnership with the BFI
– WINNER: FedEx – Trusted to Deliver the UEFA Champions League Trophy
• Best Use of Talent < €500k
– COMMENDED: Aer Lingus and Irish Rugby
– HIGHLY COMMENDED: Allianz x Inner Drive
– WINNER: Bupa Picture of Health
• Best Use of Talent > €500k
– HIGHLY COMMENDED: Just Eat – Deliver At Home: Any Given Wednesday
– WINNER: Three #TalkMoreThanFootball
• Environmentally Sustainable Sponsorship
– WINNER: ALL x SAIL GP – ALL on Board!
• Equality, Diversity & Inclusion in Sponsorship < €500k partnered by NoTurningBack2020
– WINNER: Just Eat – Pride
– HIGHLY COMMENDED: Toyota x ParalympicsGB – “Every Body Moves”
• Equality, Diversity & Inclusion in Sponsorship > €500k partnered by NoTurningBack2020
– COMMENDED: Cadbury: Sign with Fingers
– COMMENDED: Cairn Community Games – We’re All In
– HIGHLY COMMENDED: Unsilence the Crowd by Sela and Newcastle United
– WINNER: Royal London, Lions Women’s Founding Partner
• Esports & Gaming Sponsorship
– WINNER: Vattenfall x HAVU – It’s Always Good #GamingWeather
• Media Sponsorship
– HIGHLY COMMENDED: Paris 2024 – How Allianz Ireland ‘Beat The Best’
– WINNER: Londis – Proud Sponsors of Ireland’s Fittest Family
• Music Sponsorship
– WINNER: The Breathing Space by Gjensidige
• Sponsorship with a Social Purpose < €250k
– HIGHLY COMMENDED: Electric Ireland for Darkness Into Light
– WINNER: The Breathing Space by Gjensidige
• Sponsorship with a Social Purpose €250k-€1M
– COMMENDED: Bupa Picture of Health
– HIGHLY COMMENDED: Cairn Community Games – We’re All In –
WINNER: Toyota x ParalympicsGB – “Every Body Moves”
• Sponsorship with a Social Purpose > €1M
– COMMENDED: Royal London, Lions Women’s Founding Partner
– HIGHLY COMMENDED: Unsilence The Crowd by Sela and Newcastle United
– WINNER: Three #TalkMoreThanFootball
• Sport Sponsorship < €1M
– HIGHLY COMMENDED: GetPRO x Team GB
– HIGHLY COMMENDED: Sky and The Women’s National Team
– WINNER: Energia, Core & Irish Rugby, Think Of The Possibilities
• Sport Sponsorship €1M-€5M
– COMMENDED: InPost – strategic sponsorship of the Polish national football team
– WINNER: Guinness & “Don’t Jinx It”: Turning Superstition into Success
• Sport Sponsorship > €5M sponsored by datapowa
– COMMENDED: LVMH SPONSORSHIP PARIS 2024
– COMMENDED: Up Your BBQ Game with Unilever Nutrition & UEFA EURO 2024™
– WINNER: Komatsu & Williams Racing – Creating Value Together
2025 ESA Awards in partnership with Pearlfinders: Special Categories
• Agency of the Year sponsored by Sponsorworks
– COMMENDED: EssenceMediacom Sport & Entertainment
– COMMENDED: The Space Between
– WINNER: WeAreFearless.
• Event of the Year sponsored by Wasserman Live
– HIGHLY COMMENDED: Paddy Power Comedy Festival
– WINNER: The Smirnoff Collective Stage
• Rights Holder of the Year sponsored by caytoo
– COMMENDED: Olympic Federation of Ireland / Team Ireland
– WINNER: Ryder Cup Europe
• ESA Best of Europe sponsored by Sponsorium
– BRONZE WINNER: Netherlands: Philips & PSV Eindhoven & Sanquin. Bloedverwanten (Blood Relatives)
– SILVER WINNER: United Kingdom: Google Pixel: Pixel FC
– GOLD WINNER: Ireland: An Post Irish Book Awards: “Centre Stage”
• ESA Sponsorship of the Year sponsored by Pearlfinders
– WINNER: The Breathing Space by Gjensidige
The Sport for Business Membership comprises over 300 organisations, including all the leading sports and sponsors and commercial and state agencies.
