Sports sponsors seem immune to the advertising downturn

MEDIA MARKETING:MOST MEDIA, from newspapers to television, have had a tough time in terms of advertising revenues in 2008, writes Siobhán O'Connell

But there is one medium apparently immune to the downturn. Step forward the walking billboard that is golfer Padraig Harrington, who has recently inked a new sponsorship agreement with US firm FTI Consulting.

FTI, with annual turnover of $1 billion, is paying an undisclosed amount to place its branding on the front of the peaked caps that Harrington always wears, even when the sun doesn't shine.

As the PGA European Tour's golfer of the year, Harrington fits the bill for FTI because of his "consistency, drive, perseverance, reliability, determination and focus" - qualities that FTI likes to be associated with.

The newly established Irish connection won't hurt FTI as it lines up alongside the Mallabraca private equity consortium, which is circling Bank of Ireland. The deal is also evidence of the robust nature of the sponsorship market, even as big firms slash other aspects of their marketing budgets.

For Irish clothes manufacturer Kartell, a long-time Harrington sponsor, the golfer's triumph in two majors was a big bonus.

But what about O2, sponsors of the Irish rugby team? The team flopped in the Rugby World Cup and no sponsor wants to be associated with failure. On the other hand, the Irish team's car crash rugby garnered huge television audiences and exposure for the brand.

A sports sponsor which had better luck backing winners in 2008 was Toyota, whose logo adorns the Munster rugby teams. Flushed with this success, Toyota also signed up this year as one of joint sponsors of the GAA football championship.

While these associations raise brand awareness, sales of Toyota cars to the end of November were down 24 per cent year-on-year in a market where overall slippage was 19 per cent.

Rugby has also been good for Heineken's brand profile. Soccer sponsors must look on with envy at the way the Dutch beer has made Europe's premier rugby competition all its own. Last week Heineken renewed this sponsorship until 2013.

But do sports sponsorships boost turnover? Not in the case of Magners cider. The CC brand is title sponsor of a rugby league involving teams from Ireland, Wales and Scotland, and through the summer CC's cider sales dropped 12 per cent.

The GAA was on the ball for getting its new multisponsor arrangements for all-Ireland football and hurling before the economic meltdown took a grip in the autumn.

Also well timed was the Curragh racecourse securing a five-year sponsorship for the Derby from Dubai Duty Free. The way the emirate has been going recently, most people going through Dubai International Airport these days are teetotal Pakistani building workers heading home.

Vodafone had a good run for its sponsorship money in 2008. Not only did Manchester United get the better of Samsung's Chelsea in the Champions League final, but their F1 driver Lewis Hamilton was king of the grid too.

One wonders if FTI will put Harrington through the same sort of hoops as Vodafone does with Hamilton, who recently had to dress up as Apollo for a performance of Fire of Anatolia, a Vodafone-staged extravaganza in Istanbul.

Closer to home, sponsorships do not get more successful than Glanbia's backing of the Kilkenny hurling team. During the food group's sponsorship, the team has won six all-Irelands. Not that the association has made much of a difference to the plc's share price, which is down 60 per cent in the year to date.

Troubled Eircom bailed out of the League of Ireland, a factor perhaps in the implosion of every second club in the premier division. But the phone company stuck with the national soccer team, where coach Giovanni Trapattoni is sponsored by businessman Denis O'Brien. We won't know if that association benefits the mobile phone mogul until the report of the Moriarty tribunal is finally published.

Much of the sponsorship spend in Ireland is now soaked up by television programming. The Late Late Show on RTÉ couldn't find a sponsor for its current season but Ryan Tubridy had better luck, roping in the Sunday Times.

The gong for the most apt television sponsorship in 2008 must go to Kit Kat, sponsors of Prison Break.

siobhan@businessplus.ie