Solgar, a leading provider of high-quality nutritional supplements, have been announced at Croke Park today as the new Official Vitamin Partner of the GAA and the Gaelic Players Association.
The brand was founded with Irish American input in New York in 1947 and is now a key part of the global Nestlé Health Science family.
Solgar will also become one of the title sponsors of the GAA Museum, home to the rich sporting, social and cultural history of Gaelic Games and among the top ten per cent of the most popular visitor attractions globally according to Tripadvisor.
With over 75 years’ experience within the industry, a proud and rich history and heritage and a commitment to excellence and quality, the partnership with the GAA/GPA and GAA Museum represents a natural alignment for Solgar.
Solgar is a brand that’s one of the biggest parts of the Nestlé Health Science organisation so broadly around €200 million in size, and Ireland plays an incredibly important part of that,’ said Gordon Yule, Business Development Executive for Nestlé Life Sciences when we had a chat at the launch.
“So, as the brand expanded from North America globally, Ireland was one of the very first markets to be opened.”
“The Irish community has been very open minded to supplementation for a long time. People have a more open minded relationship with alternative remedies for conditions. So people will go and talk to a health food store practitioner, Or they’ll go and talk to a pharmacist before maybe going to see a GP, and see if they can find a more natural, or a scientific back formulation that can help a condition.
“You know, per capita, we’ll sell more Solgar in Ireland than we do in the UK.”
“From my time working with Irish retailers, with the Irish communities, made me really realise how important it was to have something that was specifically for Ireland.”
“What we’ve decided as a strategy is to really target the things that are really meaningful for people. And the GAA is something that obviously resonates hugely in that way.”
“We’ve been probably the best kept secret within sports for a number of athletes over the years. And, you know, one of the things that people really like is that we make our products ourselves. They’re not made by third parties. Okay.
Uh, we control every batch that’s made. Made in small quantities. Yeah. So even though the brand is now starting to grow in scale, we’re incredibly stringent on quality. Okay. And we know exactly what goes into our products and therefore can pass on that assurance to the players and to, to any sportsman.”
That validation was important to the GAA with Peter McKenna stressing the importance of being secure in not endorsing something that could trip up a player or a member of the Association with an unintended consequence.
And Peter McKennan made that point as well about the importance of that absolute having a player trip off. Absolutely.
“Everything in our products is classified as a food. We are a food supplement, so we’re regulated in the same way as food within the market. Everything that you would get in a bottle of Solgar is absolutely quality assured to the same standards as food would be.”
This is the start of a three year partnership with plenty to be learned over the first year but Yule was clear about the breadth of the promotion that we will be seeing.
“It’ll be a real 360 campaign. So in terms of what we do with our retailers, what we can do with the athletes, what we can do with media, it’s really about creating an asset that we can then leverage in many different ways.”
“We’ve already got some very clear ideas about how we can do that, but we have to be able to activate it in a way that connects with those communities and really creates awareness of those people who perhaps haven’t considered supplementation before.
“We are delighted to join forces with Solgar, a brand globally recognised for its commitment to excellence and quality,” said Peter McKenna, Commercial Director of the GAA.
“The partnership represents a superb opportunity to share the powerful and compelling story of the history and heritage of our national games, and the exploits of our wonderful players, past and present, with even greater audiences.”
“Solgar is focused on quality and ensuring people can be at their very best and that directly mirrors the work we carry out on behalf of our 4,000 members as we seek to create an environment that enables them to excel as high-performing athletes on the pitch and in their lives off the pitch,” added Tom Parsons, CEO of the gaelic Players Association.
“As an organisation with such an immense history, we are particularly pleased to partner with Solgar, one which brings a proud tradition and pedigree to the table,” said Niamh McCoy, Director of the GAA Museum.
“Today’s announcement marks another exciting chapter in the history of the GAA Museum, and we look forward to building and strengthening the partnership with Solgar and providing an even greater experience to the many visitors who will come through our doors.”
SPORT FOR BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE
This is a new are for the GAA to get involved in and it will be interesting to see how the partnership develops over the three years of the partnership.
WHAT’S UP NEXT?
The Allianz Leagues are in full flow at the moment with another slate of games to come this weekend.
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