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Contents

www.sportbusiness.com/sponsorship-insider | 1Volume 2 Issue 1

J a n u a r y 2 4 2 0 1 4 | V o l u m e 2 i s s u e 1

1 Infront consolidates ski jumping rights, as winter sports business grows

4 IOC needs to go digital or will miss out, says former marketing chief

5 What WME’s acquisition of IMG means for sponsorship

7 Dentsu hits revenue targets at Southeast Asian Games in Myanmar

8 Mixed results as British and German Athletics look to major Championships

10 Improved brand perception key for BP with Paralympics deal

11 MetLife plans to break new ground in Asia through BWF Superseries

12 Visa pays more for FIFA Partner deal from 2015 to 2022

13 Sponsorship deals round-up from December 11 to January 22

Infront SportS & Media has tied the marketing rights to the Vierschanzentournee – Four Hills Tournament – ski jumping events with around 15 other events to create a new commercial programme for the International Ski Federation’s annual Ski Jumping World Cup.

The new commercial and competition package has yet to be announced to the market but talks are already under way with potential sponsors for the 2014-15 to 2017-18 rights cycle.

Under the previous model, Infront sold the sponsorship rights to the Four Hills competitions as a single product.

Infront secured the marketing rights to the Four Hills Tournament in a four-year extension with the German and Austrian ski federation rights holders this month. It is a buy-out agreement, under which Infront is paying the rights-holders a fixed fee.

The agency expects sponsorship revenue for the non-Four Hills events to increase by 10 to 20 per cent in the new cycle due to the combined sale with the prestigious tournament. However, the value of the Four Hills itself is

considered to have reached a plateau.“The Vierschanzentournee has developed successfully and is already at a very high marketing level,” Bruno Marty, head of Infront’s winter sports division, told Sports Sponsorship Insider. “The value of the rights has remained high, despite the fact that German athletes, with Germany being a significant market, have been less successful than in previous years.”

Germany is potentially a hugely valuable market for skiing sponsorship and media rights, but the value is strongly linked to the strength of German skiers.

The Four Hills Tournament takes place in the period between Christmas and the first week of the New Year and is thought of as traditional holiday programming in the host nations. German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF achieved an audience of over 6.46m viewers for the Garmisch-Partenkirchen event last year.

new modelInfront acquired the marketing rights to the Four Hills Tournament under deals with the German federation, the

By Matthew Glendinning

four Hills and World Cups combined in new ski jumping package from 2014-15

Deutscher Skiverband (DSV), which runs the events at Oberstdorf and Garmisch-Partenkirchen and the Austrian federation, the Österreichische Skiverband (ÖSV), which owns the events at Innsbruck and Bischofshofen.

This season, the last of Infront’s current agreement, from 2010-11 to 2013-14, the Four Hills sponsors were work clothing brand Engelbert Strauss, carmaker Honda, online gaming brand bet-at-home.com, insurer Generali and sports retailer InterSport.

Sponsorship rights to this season’s other Ski Jumping World Cup events, in Austria, Finland, Germany, Japan, Norway, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden and Switzerland, were sold by FIS Marketing AG, the marketing arm of FIS, the world ski federation. Infront is a minority shareholder in FIS Marketing AG.

Ski Jumping World Cup sponsors include heating company Viessmann, the presenting sponsor, carmaker Hyundai, printing solutions brand Konica Minolta, oil and gas company OMV and sportswear brand adidas.From 2014-15, there will be a new set

Continued on page 2 ▶

www.sportbusiness.com/sponsorship-insider | 2 Volume 2 Issue 1

publishingEditor: Matthew Glendinning @mattglenreporter: Steven Slayford @stevenslayfordContributing Editor: Kevin McCullagh publishing Director: Ben Speight

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Infront Sports & Marketing: winter sports sponsorship properties

Sport CompetitionOriginal rights-holder

Selected sponsor deals

Skiing

Vierschanzentournee1 ÖSV, DSV

presenting Sponsor: Engelbert Strauss (work-wear manufacturer)Main Sponsor: Generali (insurance), bet-at-home.com (online betting company), Honda (car manufacturer), Intersport (sports retailer)

2019 & 2021 FIS Alpine & Nordic World Ski Championships

FIS Not yet sold

FIS Alpine World Cup FIS & national federations

Infront Sponsors: Emmi (dairy company), Milka (chocolate company), Helvetia (insurance), Bridgestone (tyre manufacturer), Rauch (fruit juices and tea),Generali (financial services), Colmar (ski clothing), Ochsner Sport (sport apparel), Intersport (sports retailer)

FIS Ski Jumping World Cup Men

FIS & national federations

Infront Sponsors: Bauhaus (home and garden products), Intersport (sports retailer), Helvetia (insurance), Volksbank (banking), Back Canyon (sports apparel)

BiathlonIBU Biathlon World Cup and World Championships

IBU & national federations

title Sponsor: E.ON (energy) presenter: DKB (banking), Viessmann (heating) Main Sponsor: Bauhaus (home and garden products), BMW (carmaker), Erdinger Alkoholfrei (beer) timing partner: Polar (heart rate monitors) Official Data Partner: IFS (software)

Ice hockey

IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship

IIHF Official Main Sponsor: Škoda (carmaker)Official Sponsors: Actavis (pharmaceutical), AJ (office furniture), Henkel (adhesives), Kyocera (office document solutions), Nike (sportswear), Nivea for Men (skincare), Ochota (beer), Raiffeisen Bank International, Samsung (electronics), Stadler Rail (trains and transport technology), Tissot (watches), Zepter (homeware)

Champions Hockey League

European Club Competition

Not yet sold

German, Slovak, Finnish & Swedish national ice hockey teams2

National federations

Various

Bobsleigh/toboggan

FIBT World Championships and World Cup3

FIBT & OCs title Sponsor fIBt World Cup: Viessmann (heating system)Main Sponsor fIBt World Cup: Crystall Lefortovo (beverage)

Luge FIL World Cup & Team Relay World Cup, FIL European Championships and World Championships4

FIL official Main Sponsor fIL World Cup, official partner fIL World and European Championship, official Automotive partner of fIL World Cup and of the association,official presenting Sponsor of the fIL team relay World Cup: BMW (carmaker)

Curling WCF World Curling Championships and European Curling Championships5

WCF WCF SponsorsEdox (watchmaker), DB Schenker (transport company), Jet Ice (paint)

WCF European Championshipstitle Sponsor European Championships: Le Gruyère (cheese)Main Sponsors: Mount10 (data company), Edox (watchmaker)

WCF World Championships (outside Canada)presenting Sponsor: Ford (carmaker)Main Sponsors: Titlis Glacier Mountain (cable car), Lucerne Tourism (tourist destination), Edox (watchmaker)

1Except for packages marketed across entire FIS Ski Jumping World Cup: Presenting Sponsor and Official Data Sponsor 2Selected packages 3Majority of rights 4One Main Sponsor Package and Presenter of Team Relay 5Rights outside Canada

of sponsors for a combined Ski Jumping World Cup package, consisting of one presenting partner and four official sponsors. This is Infront’s preferred model for many of the sports events under its management.

Latest deals and developments in Infront’s winter sports portfolio

1. fIS Alpine and nordic World Ski ChampionshipsInfront is selling the sponsorship and media rights for the International Ski Federation’s Alpine and Nordic World Championships for 2019 and 2021, which had formerly been managed by the federation in house.

Marty said that they expect to generate around €50m ($68m) from sales of media and marketing rights for both events in each championship year.

The media rights generally account for two-thirds of revenues in a competitive media rights market, or about half in a less competitive market – so are expected to generate between €25m and €33.3m in the next cycle. Sponsorship revenues are expected to generate between €17m and €25m.

Infront was asked to make a proposal for the media and marketing rights by the International Ski Federation last year.

The deal was signed in June and will give Infront a comprehensive set of sponsorship assets, including digital media rights which were not previously available to sponsors.

The sponsorship model will be one presenting sponsor and four official sponsors. One sponsor new to winter sport has already been signed.

The locations of the 2019 Alpine and Nordic Championships will be decided at the 50th FIS Congress in June. The 2017 Alpine World Ski Championships will be hosted by St Moritz, Switzerland. The 2017 Nordic World Ski Championships will hosted by Lahti, Finland. Continued on page 3 ▶ Source: Infront Sports & Media


Financial backing and quick decision-making by private equity firm Bridgepoint, the sole shareholder of Infront Sports & Media, has helped the sports marketing agency fulfil its ambition of becoming the biggest in winter sports, said Marty.

Infront was able to get the Bridgepoint’s financial backing for the International Ski Federation’s Alpine and Nordic World Championships proposal within five days, he said.

2. Ice hockey’s Champions Hockey LeagueInfront is understood to be expecting to generate revenues of between $5m (]3.7m) and $10m in the first year of a new European club ice hockey competition, the Champions Hockey League, scheduled to launch this August. Income is expected to be split 50:50 between media and marketing rights in the early years of the competition.

The competition is a joint venture between top European clubs, European leagues and the International Ice Hockey Federation. The clubs own 63 per cent of the shares, the leagues 25 per cent and the IIHF 12 per cent.

Forty clubs are poised to take part, representing leagues in Austria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland. The ECC has not yet reached a deal with Europe’s strongest ice hockey league, Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League.

In October last year, Infront and the Sportsman Media Group agency agreed a joint deal with the ECC, under which the agencies are paying a minimum guarantee of between €3m and €4m per year, plus a share of revenue, for the global media and marketing rights.

The deal covers nine years, from the inaugural season in 2014-15 to 2022-23. It includes all commercial rights except for some selected marketing rights which are given to the clubs. These include branding on helmets, a position on the jersey and other minor rights.

The sponsorship model will again be one top-tier presenting partner and four second-tier partners. This is a major contrast with most club ice hockey competitions, Marty said, where there are often 10 to 20 brands visible on the ice, the boards and the players.

“For the first time, an international club ice hockey event will see a streamlined and consistent marketing approach.” he said. “The Champions Hockey League is a start-up. We plan

three years to build the competition and then three years to optimize it. By year six, the series should be running smoothly and successfully.”

3. International Luge federationInfront last month extended an agreement with the International Luge Federation covering sponsorship rights for events including the World Cup and World Championships for four years, 2014-15 to 2017-18.

The agency this month signed car brand BMW as Official Main Sponsor of the World Cup, and Official Partner of the World Championships and European Championships. BMW is also Official Automotive Partner of the World Cup and of the International Luge Federation itself, as well as Official Presenting Sponsor of the Team Relay World Cup. Infront acts as the agency for all luge World Cup and Team World Cup events across the season.

Infront’s winter sports sponsorship propertiesInfront SportS & MEDIA has the strongest position in winter sports of any sports marketing agency, with deals for the media and marketing rights of most of the sector’s top events. Bruno Marty, head of the agency’s winter sports division, told Sports Sponsorship Insider that he sees room for the business to expand.

Brands from Winter Olympics host countries are showing appetite for sponsorships. In the build up to Sochi 2014, Russian brands, which five years ago were virtually absent from winter sports, have sponsored cross country skiing, biathlon and ice hockey events.

Electronics brand Samsung’s sponsorship deal with Infront for the 2013 Ice Hockey World Championship is indicative of interest in South Korea ahead of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

Marty said Infront would be in talks in the next year with the one winter sports federation that it does not currently have a major rights deal with – the International Skating Union. Its media and marketing rights are currently managed by rival agency IMG in a long-term deal. The ISU runs events including the World and European

Figure Skating Championships.The winter sports federations

with which Infront currently has deals are: the International Ski Federation, the International Luge Federation, the International Ice Hockey Federation, the International Biathlon Union, the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation and the World Curling Federation. It also has deals with national ski federations in most major skiing markets. National ski federations own rights to ski World Cup events which take place in their territory.

Infront agrees buy-out deals – paying the rights-holders a fixed fee, as opposed to one linked to sales – where it feels it has experience of the property and can make a well-informed estimate of the value.

“We pay a guarantee and therefore take the entire risk to refinance it,” said Marty. “Selling the last package [or not] in any programme often decides whether our result is negative or positive.”

If it is an entirely new property or more difficult to estimate value, Infront will consider deals with a minimum guarantee plus a revenue share.

Winter sports is one of three arms of the agency’s portfolio along with football and summer sports.

“For many of our winter sports, we’ve been able to secure more and more major brands thanks to optimised marketing structures that ensure high visibility and attractive activation opportunities,” Marty said. “The FIL World Cup is very streamlined – just four brands are visible in the TV area: one presenter, two main sponsors and one LOC partner.”

4. Biathlon World CupInfront is tweaking its marketing of International Biathlon Union World Cup events from 2014-15, reducing the number of sponsors from seven to six, and changing the way they are presented. Brands will be given sections of the race course where they are presented exclusively. The brands will rotate positions from race to race, so that the positions balance out over the season. Previously, all seven brands were present at every section of the race.


tHE IntErnAtIonAL oLyMpIC Committee’s TOP sponsorship programme is missing an opportunity for bigger revenues by failing to offer brands digital and social media inventory, Olympics marketing expert Michael Payne told Sports Sponsorship Insider this month.

The first Olympics of the current 2013-16 cycle begins next month in Sochi. The TOP (The Olympic Partners) programme will generate over $1bn (€737m) in 2013-16 for the first time. Evolving the TOP programme will fuel further increases, Payne said.

The IOC was looking to sign a TOP sponsor before the Sochi Games in the computing equipment category but failed to do so. Taiwanese electronics company Acer had filled this position for the 2009-2012 cycle.

“There is an untapped scope for the IOC and its partners,” he said. “But it means extending activation rights beyond the current windows,” referring to the lack of digital and social media inventory on offer. “The nature of the rights benefits structure has not really changed since the programme started. It still remains focused on the four core anchors: showcasing, branding, marks and hospitality.

“There are also CSR opportunities for brands and I am sure that Thomas Bach will pursue this.” Bach is the current president of the IOC, who was elected in September 2013.

Payne, a sports marketing consultant, was director of marketing and broadcasting at the IOC from 1988 to 2004, and devised the TOP programme for the committee in 1985 while working at ISL Marketing, the company selected by the IOC to develop a global marketing programme. The TOP programme is credited with generating huge growth in commercial revenues for the Olympics since its inception (see table, page 5).

The IOC offers TOP partners limited digital and social media rights at present. For example, there is no prominent branding from TOP partners on the IOC website or social media pages.

Sports Sponsorship Insider understands that the IOC is not currently considering any major overhaul of the

By Steven Slayford

payne: there is gold for olympics in offering more digital and social media rights

rights on offer. It is however, understood to be reviewing the sponsorship categories it offers, for example to reflect new product areas such as tablet computers. Payne said this narrow focus would only limit the programme’s potential and focus should switch to the rights offered.

“Identifying this as the solution is part of the problem,” he said. “The whole programme needs significant updating, not just parts of it.”

IoC still in marketThe IOC is still looking for TOP partners for 2013-16. Sports Sponsorship Insider understands that manufacturers of tablet computers are among its main targets.

Each of the 10 partners in the 2013-16 cycle is understood to be paying about $25m per year on average, or $100m over the four years. The cycle covers the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Each of the 11 TOP partners paid $21.5m per year on average for rights from 2009-12.

The increase in revenues for the TOP programme, which is run by the International Olympic Committee, represents growth of at least 5.3 per cent compared to the previous cycle, 2009-12.

TOP revenue growth has slowed in the last few cycles, after huge increases in the first three cycles of the programme (see table). Payne said this was to be expected.

“It would be wrong to compare growth from the early stages of the programme to its current mature position. The key is renewal rate and the incredible loyalty level of the IOC’s sponsors. It has to be viewed in that sense.”

Seven of the 10 sponsors in the IOC’s current programme have contracts that run until 2020, a commitment he described as

“unheard of” in sports sponsorship.The key, he said, for the IOC now was

to evolve the rights that were on offer.

Sochi reaches domestic highThe Domestic Partner programme for Sochi 2014 is generating $1.3bn, a record for a domestic Olympic sponsorship programme, including the Summer Olympics, beating the $1.218bn record set by Beijing in 2008. Domestic

Olympic sponsorships are sold by the local organising committee.

Sochi 2014 Domestic Partners only receive rights within Russia for the duration of the Games, including signage, rights to use the Sochi 2014 logo, and hospitality. They do not get rights to use the Olympic rings – these rights are reserved for TOP partners.

In September 2013, Timo Lumme, managing director of IOC television and marketing services, suggested that the IOC would consider cutting the number of TOP partners, increasing the price of the positions and allowing the domestic programmes to sell sponsorships in the same categories. Olympic sponsors currently receive category exclusivity – for example, a TOP partner deal with a soft drinks brand would rule out a domestic programme doing a deal with a soft drinks brand.

Payne believes that this move is unlikely because the advertising space that TOP sponsors buy to activate their partnerships was “incomparable” to the spend of the Domestic Partners and this exposure brought greater value to the IOC.

olympic revenue allocationOf the sponsorship revenue generated by the IOC, 10 per cent is retained by the IOC, 50 per cent is split between the two Olympics hosts in the cycle – 30 per cent to the Summer Games and 20 per cent to the Winter Games – and most of the rest is distributed amongst National Olympic Committees and the participating sporting federations.

The commercial opportunities of hosting an Olympics in a particular city or country do not factor into hosting decisions. As Payne put it, “It is purely a sporting decision but the host must prove capable of putting on the Games itself, without dependency on the IOC’s commercial revenue.”

Hosting costs proved a problem during the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta when the organising committee relied heavily on commercial income to fund the event and was criticised for commercialising it too much.Continued on page 5 ▶


payne minds the revenue gap between domestic and top sponsors

tHE rEvEnuE GAp between TOP and domestic sponsorship programmes is likely to reach around $1.6bn (€1.2bn) in the cycle that includes Sochi 2014 and Rio 2016, up from $888m in the previous cycle that included Vancouver 2010 and London 2012 (see table).

Michael Payne, the former IOC director of marketing and global broadcast rights, told Sports Sponsorship Insider in March 2012 that the TOP programme is on borrowed time if the revenue gap between TOP and local sponsors continues.

“There’s got to be change because of both the dynamic and [price] disparity in local partners versus TOP,” he said. “Even if the revenue gap

[between TOP and local partners] is not as big as we currently see in Sochi and Rio – if there are multiples then it’s not sustainable.”

Payne said that the revenue gap has increased from a “defensible” 20 to 30 per cent extra paid by local partners in the two decades before Beijing 2008, to a position where local partners are paying many times more than TOP partners.

The local organising committees of the Summer and Winter Olympic Games currently share 50 per cent of revenue from TOP deals in their four-year Olympic cycles. This share is considerably less than the sums raised from domestic deals done by Sochi 2014 and Rio 2016.

tHE ACquISItIon In December of sports and entertainment marketing agency IMG Worldwide by Hollywood agency William Morris Endeavour Entertainment and its private equity partner Silver Lake could affect the global sponsorship market in three main ways, industry experts said this month.

First, by releasing agency personnel into the market place. Second, by allowing IMG to invest more aggressively in new and existing sporting events, particularly in emerging markets. Third, by


William Morris Endeavour adds firepower to IMG’s rights acquisition capability

creating a multi-platform company operating across music, film, sport and entertainment.

peopleIn terms of people moves away from IMG, the first $750m (€551.4m) takeover of IMG by private equity firm Forstmann Little in 2004 suggests that a churn of personnel is likely in the first year of the new venture.

IMG’s chief executive during the Forstmann Little years, the late Ted Forstmann, was noted for hiring and firing senior vice presidents – the second

rank of IMG executives – in the early stages of his ownership. Experienced personnel who do not fit WME’s vision for the company, or in departments that do not meet their growth expectations, could migrate to other agencies or set up independently.

It is also reported that the WME has identified cost savings of between $60m to $100m, primarily at the administrative level, from the merging of the two organisations.

Even if the transition under WME is smoother than expected from an employee standpoint, employees with

Olympic sponsorship revenue (1985-2016)

Olympic TOP Programme Revenue Domestic Programme Revenue Difference between domestic revenue and TOP revenue

Years Games Value % change Value % change Value

2013-2016 Sochi/Rio $1,000m +5.3 $2,600* +41.4 $1,600m

2009-2012 Vancouver/London $950m +9.7 $1,838m +18.1 $888m

2005-2008 Torino/Beijing $866m +30.6 $1,555m +95.3 $689m

2001-2004 Salt Lake City/Athens $663m +14.5 $796m +21.5 $133m

1997-2000 Nagano/Sydney $579m +107.5 $655m +22.4 $76m

1993-1996 Lillehammer/Atlanta $279m +62.2 $535m N/A $256m

1989-1992 Albertville/Barcelona $172m +79.2 Undisclosed N/A N/A

1985-1988 Calgary/Seoul $96m N/A Undisclosed N/A N/A

IoC top pArtnErSSoft drinks brand Coca-Cola (until 2020), IT services corporation Atos (2016), chemicals company Dow (2020), conglomerate General Electric (2020), fast-food restaurant McDonald’s (2020), watchmaker Omega (2020), electronics company Panasonic (2016), consumer goods company Procter & Gamble (2020), electronics company Samsung (2016) and financial services company Visa (2020).

SoCHI 2014 top-tIEr pArtnErSAirline Aeroflot, apparel company Bosco Sport, telecommunications company MegaFon, energy company Rosneft, telecoms company Rostelecom, railway corporation RZD, financial services company Sberbank and carmaker Volkswagen Group Rus. Each Domestic Partner is paying over $100m. Rosneft is paying $180m.

*$1.3bn of this total is the lower estimate target made by Rio 2016.

Source: Sports Sponsorship Insider


equity in the company will have to decide how long they want to remain with IMG’s second private equity owner before they cash in.

At the most senior level, a source close to the company said that Mike Dolan, chairman and chief executive of IMG since 2011, is likely to exit within months, having done his job in steering IMG to acquisition.

The same source said that two of the most senior figures at IMG – George Pyne and Ben Sutton – are thought more likely to stay. Pyne is president of IMG Worldwide’s global sports and entertainment business, which includes client management, US college sports, consulting, athlete training and development, licensing and US business development. Sutton is president of IMG College, the US college sports division, with exclusive rights to 90 universities and conferences.

Pyne has been instrumental in the growth strategy of IMG College, which now represents around one-third of IMG’s business. Sutton is considered highly valuable to the business due to his relationships within the complex network of stakeholders in IMG College, including college sport’s governing body, the National Collegiate Athletics Association, regional conferences of universities, like the Pac 12 Conference in the West or the Big 10 Conference in the Midwest, the universities and their athletics departments.

firepowerThe ability to compete aggressively for new marketing and media rights and to retain existing rights is thought to be key to the future success of the new company.

This applies to IMG’s US-based business where IMG College is currently the company’s single biggest liability in terms of guarantees, but is also IMG’s most profitable division.

IMG College currently accounts for about $375m of IMG’s turnover, around one third of the total, and $75m of ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) from a total of between $180m and $190m.

IMG College earnings have grown at a compounded annual growth rate of 38 per cent since its creation in 2007, IMG said.

But IMG does not have a monopoly on rights associated with sports under the National Collegiate Athletics Association’s remit.

Rival US college sports marketing

company Learfield Sports has marketing agreements with fifty of the largest US universities. Some other universities manage their media and marketing businesses in house.

IMG’s new owners will not only have to reinvest to maintain the relationships, but keep an eye on developments behind the scenes where the NCAA’s status as primary rights-holder is being challenged by the conferences and major schools.

NCAA athletes are amateur, so the playing talent cannot agree endorsement deals. The college brands themselves are highly valuable. There is still a largely untapped market in college sports venue naming rights, which IMG could exploit.

Sports Sponsorship Insider has also learnt that IMG is considering ramping up its investment in college sport by making deals that go beyond the athletics departments. Wider deals with the universities could open new marketing opportunities across all areas of student life. A university-wide sponsorship deal with a flat-pack furniture company, for example, could tap into the billions of dollars spent by students on furnishing their homes.

Beyond IMG College, the new owners could encourage further investment in potentially high-return ventures in India where IMG was a founding partner in the Indian Premier League cricket competition, and where, with joint venture partner Reliance, it is currently investing in football and basketball competitions. Reliance Industries is a conglomerate which owns India’s second largest telecoms operator.

In China, IMG has partnered with Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, in a 20-year joint venture. In 2012, CCTV-IMG signed a 10-year sports development

and commercial partnership agreement with China’s top professional football league, the Chinese Football Association’s Super League.

StrategyWME is the world’s largest talent agency and the new combined company will have a powerful position across music, film and entertainment as well as sport.

IMG is the world’s largest independent producer and distributor of sports programming. Its joint ventures in emerging countries such as China, Brazil, Turkey and India will provide WME with a global platform that it currently lacks.

Just how the addition of sports – and the model agency unit, IMG Models – to the existing William Morris agency roster will work in terms of content generation, distribution and brand advertising and sponsorship remains to be seen.

“The deal will or will not work depending on WME’s ability to understand what they have [in IMG], optimise it, and then come up with ways it can work across the business,” says Jeff Ehrenkranz, rival agency Octagon’s managing director in Europe, the Middle East and India.

“Sport, entertainment, music, movies and fashion are passion points that provide the fan with content. Packaging that content and integrating brands into it is key, especially as this is the future of brand communication.”

Insiders in IMG are adopting a ‘wait-and-see’ attitude as William Morris Endeavour co-chief executives Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell and venture capital partners Silver Lake start to impose their vision.

According to one industry insider the

History of the deal IMG, founDED By sports marketing pioneer Mark McCormack in 1960, was taken over by William Morris Endeavour and its venture capital partner Silver Lake last month.

The bid of between $2.3bn and $2.4bn was reportedly $300m above the nearest rival bids from former News Corporation executive Peter Chernin, who was working with F1’s biggest investor, CVC Capital, and the talent agency ICM, working with the private equity arm of Carlyle Group.

There was also an early bid from rival Hollywood agency and sports group Creative Artists Agency in tandem with buy out specialist TPG, which failed to get past the first auction stage in November.

In doing the deal with IMG, WME ceded control in the combined WME-IMG to Silver Lake, which formerly owned 31 per cent in the WME, but has a controlling interest in the new entity. The deal has also freed IMG of debts worth a reported $600m, which will be paid out of the sale proceeds.


new owner’s valuation of the company, more than $300m above its rivals, suggests that WME will seek to develop aggressively IMG’s current business streams and new areas of business.

He said that while IMG is about sustainable and long-term relationships and risk avoidance, the company has always recognised that risk is part of the business. This is likely to be more the case under the new owners, he said.

The next IMG World Congress in Sport in Southern California, March 9 to 11, a forum where senior staff are invited to discuss and share their vision, is expected to provide clues to how the new organisation will work.

IMG business unitsAreas of IMG’s business that were under threat under Forstmann Little may be granted a new lease of life under WME, according to a source close to the company.

Ted Forstmann considered offloading IMG Consulting, the agency’s brand

SportS MArkEtInG CoMpAny Dentsu Sports Asia generated more than $3m (€2.2m) in sponsorship revenue for the 27th Southeast Asian Games in Myanmar in December 2013.

The SEA Games is a biennial multi-sport event involving 11 countries from Southeast Asia. The Games are regulated by the Southeast Asian Games Federation and supervised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).

Dentsu Sports Asia, the Asian sports marketing arm of Japanese advertising company Dentsu, was awarded the rights to manage the event’s sponsorship sales in a commission-based contract after a public tender run by the Myanmar Ministry of Finance and Revenue in February 2013. It partnered with Thailand and Myanmar based communications company JK Consulting & Management during the sales process.

Dentsu and JK signed eight top-tier Official Main Sponsors and six second-tier Official Sponsors, of which eight were from Myanmar, three from Japan, two from Thailand, and one from Korea (see table). The biggest spending sponsor was Myanmar-

consulting arm, because of its low profit margins.

Although many sponsor brands are tied to IMG properties rather than IMG Consulting directly, the new owners may take a different approach to units that have relationships with brands because of the sponsorship and advertising opportunities offered by WME’s entertainment portfolio.

Forstmann offloaded parts of IMG’s athlete representation business because it was low-margin and because he perceived athletes and athlete behaviour as a bad risk. Mark Steinberg, the agent for golfer Tiger Woods, was let go in 2011. Matt Kay, former commercial director of football at IMG, was also allowed to leave. Kay became head of sports talent in Europe at rival CAA.

Forstmann is understood to have kept tennis star Novak Djokovic on a retainer of around $3m to $5m per year because Hollywood agency suitors for IMG would be impressed by star names on IMG’s books.

It is understood that that WME co-chief executive Ari Emanuel commented on the potential of the sports representation business working in tandem with the Hollywood agency during a walk around IMG’s offices in London before the bid.

As one consultant to IMG told Sports Sponsorship Insider: “It would seem logical that the representation side in sport will get new traction with William Morris. I would be surprised if they did not refocus on athlete representation in major sports in the United States and globally, in soccer, golf and tennis.”

The source added that the new owners are unlikely to shut down any departments in the short term. “If you look at Silver Lake, they have made billions through investment in technology and media companies. Before they sell off any of the business areas, WME may well try to re-energise them through technology, new partners or their own network to make them more successful.”


Dentsu Sports Asia raises $3m in sponsorship revenue for Southeast Asian Games in Myanmar

based conglomerate KBZ Group. The company invested more than $5m on and around the sponsorship when rights fees, activation costs and television advertising fees are included. It spent $1m on sponsorship rights fees alone.

KBZ bought top tier rights in three Official Main Sponsor categories: international airline, domestic airline and banking, for its Myanmar Airways, Air KBZ and Kanbawza Bank brands respectively. KBZ also paid $100,000 to make International Kanbawza (IKBZ) Insurance Company an Official Sponsor.

KBZ’s deals included value-in-kind of up to 30 per cent. The Myanmar organisers prioritised rights fees over value-in-kind.

Myanmar opens upThe main international brands to sponsor the SEA Games were electronics companies Samsung and Panasonic, and imaging products companies Canon and Fuji Xerox.

Major Asian brands are keen to establish a presence in Myanmar, said Morimura. Myanmar is an attractive, upcoming market for these brands. The country democratised in 2011 having

been ruled by a military junta since 1962. It has a population of 55m and a fast-growing economy. The economy grew at 6.5 per cent in 2012-13 and is projected to grow at 6.8 per cent to 6.9 per cent per year in the medium-term, according to the World Bank.

Samsung’s mobile phone handsets and Panasonic’s white goods are currently sold in Myanmar, but many other products from multinationals have yet to be introduced, Morimura said.

Indonesia and Thailand are also important to the Japan and Korea-based multinationals sponsoring the SEA Games.

two-tier structureDentsu, led by Kuni Morimura, Dentsu Sports Asia president and chief executive officer, tailored the sponsorship offering to fit the short, six-month sales window. Dentsu was only awarded the rights in late May 2013. The window was shorter than expected because of a delay in the organiser’s appointment of Dentsu and JK Consulting & Management (see panel).

The initial tender document had called for four sponsorship tiers – Platinum, Gold, Silver and Pearl – the latter being a


form of co-sponsorship. Dentsu simplified the programme in line with the previous SEA Games in Indonesia in 2011, where the local organisers contracted nine top-tier Prestige Sponsors and 10 second-tier Official Sponsors. Dentsu split the sponsorship offering into two tiers: Official Main Sponsors, valued at $300,000 each, and Official Sponsors, valued at $100,000 to $200,000 each.

The top tier guaranteed industry sector exclusivity, and contained more rights and benefits in terms of visibility and ticketing than the second tier. Top tier partners Samsung and Panasonic maintained exclusivity over the mobile communication devices and white goods categories respectively, but mutually agreed to share the audiovisual category, which was considered a secondary product category.

Myanmar officials publically set a sponsorship revenue target of around $7m before the tender was concluded. Dentsu and JK promised no such amount and set a new target. Although Morimura would not disclose the target figure, it is understood that the total target figure was achieved.

rights ownershipThe local SEA Games Organising Committee, set up for each event, holds all commercial rights to the event.

Dentsu won a tender for sponsorship only, excluding other rights and services such as licensing, public relations and media rights. Media rights to the SEA Games are given free of charge to each participating National Olympic Committee. Previous organising committees have explored the possibility of exploiting media rights, but this has yet to happen. The cost of producing the SEA Games broadcast is borne by the organising commitee.

How Dentsu won the SEA Games tenderDEntSu SportS ASIA won the contract to sell sponsorships for the 27th SEA Games after a public tender run by Myanmar’s Ministry of Finance and Revenue in February 2013. The tender was organised for accounting and transparency purposes.

Singapore-based Dentsu Sports Asia had made presentations to the Myanmar Ministry of Sport in the summer of 2012, 18 months before the Games, which took place in December 2013.

In June 2012, a Myanmar-based advertising and communications firm, SAIL Marketing & Communications, had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Myanmar Organising Committee to be its non-exclusive advertising and

sponsorship agent. SAIL Marketing & Communications lost its position when Myanmar’s Ministry of Finance took responsibility for the process in February 2013.

In the the public tender that followed, Dentsu’s bid scored highest among 10 bids from local and multinational agencies.

The next SEA Games is in Singapore in 2015. The Singapore Sports Council, the Singapore Government’s sports development agency, has formed an in-house committee to manage sponsorship sales. It hopes to raise Sing$50 million ($40m/€29.4m) in cash and value-in-kind, an increase, if successful, of 1,233 per cent on the amount raised in Myanmar.

2013 Southeast Asian Games: Official Sponsors

Brand Industry Home country

Canon Imaging and office equipment Japan

Cherry OO Timepiece retailer Myanmar

Euro Custard Cake Confectionary Thailand

Fuji Xerox Information technology Japan

Lactasoy Dairy products Thailand

IKBZ Insurance Insurance Myanmar

2013 Southeast Asian Games: Official Main Sponsors

Brand Industry Home country

Air KBZ Domestic airline Myanmar

Blue Mountain Soft drinks Myanmar

iMax Apparel Myanmar

KBZ Bank Bank Myanmar

Myanmar Airways International International airline Myanmar

Myanmar Beer Beer Myanmar

Panasonic White goods Japan

Samsung Mobile communication devices Korea

BrItISH AtHLEtICS, tHE UK governing body for athletics, and its German counterpart, the Deutscher Leichtathletik-Verband (DLV), have given mixed responses to the question of whether hosting upcoming World and European Championships have helped generate increased sponsorship revenue.

By Steven Slayford

British and German athletics federations diverge on sponsorship impact of hosting major events

London will host the IAAF World Athletics Championships in 2017 and Berlin will host the IAAF European Athletics Championships in 2018.

Niels de Vos, chief executive of British Athletics, said that, despite putting Britain’s hosting of the World Championships at the forefront of their sponsorship offering, it has not played

as large a part in drawing sponsorship as the organisation had hoped.

Conversely, Frank Lebert, managing director of DLM, the body which sells sponsorship for the German Athletics Federation (DLV), said that the country’s hosting of the European Championships in 2018 is playing a major role in securing long-term partners.



The European Championships allows for participating teams to have a sponsor on their vests additional to the competition’s own vest sponsor, which is currently retailer Spar. Under competition rules, the logo of the national federation team sponsor cannot appear on the vests during the World Athletics Championships.

In December 2013, Deutsche Kreditbank (DKB) signed a four-year extension with the DLV, from 2015 to 2018. The deal will see DKB’s logo appear on the vests of athletes during national competitions and the 2016 and 2018 European Championships in Amsterdam and Berlin, respectively.

British Athletics is no longer offering the position of a naming rights partner to the British team but is still looking to sign a sponsor whose name will appear on the athletes’ vest during competitions.

British Athletics portfolio post-2012Despite this disparity in the perceived sponsorship benefits of hosting the championships, British Athletics is generating between €7m ($9.5m) and €10m more per year in sponsorship revenue than its German counterpart.

British Athletics is generating between £10m (€12.1m/$16.4m) and £12m per year from sponsorship, Sports Sponsorship Insider understands.

That number was helped by the signing of supermarket Sainsbury’s as the title partner for all of British Athletics’ televised indoor and outdoor events from 2014 until the end of 2017.

In 2013, Sainsbury’s had been the title sponsor of British Athletics’ Summer Series, which included the Sainsbury’s Anniversary Games, an IAAF Diamond League meeting which was held in the Olympic Stadium in London.

This association with British Athletics meant the brand was approached first about the televised events position. The brand will continue to title sponsor the two annual Diamond League meetings held in Britain under the new deal. Sainsbury’s will also receive 50 per cent more branding at the events than any of British Athletics’ other sponsors.

Revenue from televised events represents 50 per cent of all of British Athletics’ income, De Vos told Sports Sponsorship Insider this month.

The federation has diversified its sponsorship offering following the conclusion of its deal with insurance company Aviva at the end of 2012.

Aviva paid £8.3m per year from 2007 to 2012 as title sponsor of Team GB and title sponsor of all domestic televised meetings. “Sponsorship-wise Aviva owned everything and this made it difficult for our other partners to get value from us,” De Vos said.

Part of the problem was brands having to use Aviva’s name in association with their own partnership during activation because of Aviva’s naming rights deal with the British team.

The federation has moved to a sponsorship model with four sponsors in the top-tier and the remaining partners in a tier below. The current top-tier sponsors of British Athletics are sportswear brand Nike, Sainsbury’s, state-lottery The National Lottery and public-service broadcaster the BBC.

A sponsorship structure with one lead partner at its summit was something that was no longer of interest to the organisation, De Vos said.

While British Athletics does have official designations for its partners, such as Official Automotive Partner for its new deal with carmaker MG, it does not have any specific vacant sponsorship positions. Instead, positions are created to suit the needs and potential spend of a would-be sponsor, De Vos said.

Brand BritainBritish Athletics provides British brands with the chance to “authenticate” their brand, De Vos said. The chance to align themselves with British heritage and history was a major factor in the deals that Sainsbury’s and MG signed, De Vos said. The federation is now looking to multinational brands with British roots as potential partners.

“Cadbury’s would be a perfect fit for us and it would help them to retain their UK credentials,” De Vos said. Cadbury’s is currently owned by American food company Mondelēz International. He also suggested Virgin Media as another company which could use British Athletics to underline its UK profile.

The federation is still open to speaking to non-British brands about sponsorship opportunities.

The coming years see Britain host the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and the 2017 World Athletics Championships in London. While Nike, the BBC (both 2014 to 2020) and Sainsbury’s (2014 to 2017) are signed up through both competitions the federation is wary of complacency.

“We have to put ourselves in

pole position commercially for both competitions,” De Vos said. The audience for athletics in the UK is split 50-50 between men and women, middle-class, fairly wealthy and is mainly over the age of 35. Ticket purchases for British Athletics events are usually made by families, with three to five being the average number sold in one transaction.

Steady DLv income ahead of 2018Deutsche Kreditbank’s (DKB) four-year extension with the DLV, from 2015 to 2018, is set to keep the German Athletics Federation’s sponsorship income at €5m per year, a similar figure to the previous cycle. The new deal, which incorporates the 2018 European Championships in Berlin, will see DKB pay between €800,000 and €1m as a third-tier sponsor of the federation.

Marketing rights for the DLV are sold by Deutsche Leichtathletik Marketing (DLM) which also sells the federation’s broadcast rights. The DLV owns 47 per cent of DLM while 53 per cent is owned by private investors.

Nike is top of the DLV’s sponsorship structure as General Equipment Supplier. Drinks company Nestlé Waters and health insurance provide Barmer GEK are second-tier sponsors.

Both second-tier contracts are up at the end of 2014 and the brands are currently engaged in talks during their respective exclusive negotiation periods with the DLM. Frank Lebert, managing director of DLM, is confident that both will re-sign, especially in view of the 2018 Championships in Berlin.

BrItISH AtHLEtICS SponSorS Sportswear brand Nike, public-service broadcaster the BBC, carmaker MG, supermarket Sainsbury’s, heart monitor manufacturer Polar, printing solutions brand Konica Minolta, national events agency Event Scotland and sporting complex the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

GErMAn AtHLEtICS fEDErAtIon SponSorSSportswear brand Nike, drinks company Nestlé Waters, health insurance provider Barmer GEK, Deutsche Kreditbank bank, children’s charity Plan International Germany and advertising agency Schmidt Media.


BrAnD pErCEptIon IS at the forefront of energy company BP’s decision to become an International Partner of the International Paralympic Committee, Mike Sharrock, partnership director for Olympics and Paralympics at BP, told Sports Sponsorship Insider this month.

The new deal with the IPC, which was signed in December 2013 and covers both the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi and the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, gives BP the right to use its name in association with the Games in certain territories. The territories covered are those in which there is a second deal between the National Paralympic Committee and BP.

BP is an Official Partner of the NPCs in the US, UK, Angola, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and Trinidad and Tobago. These are key territories for the business in terms of trade, mining and drilling.

The brand gets limited rights to use the Paralympic logo with the words “International Paralympic Committee.” It does not have rights to use them in all marketing and promotions – many rights are reserved for partners in the IPC’s top-tier Worldwide Partner programme.

It will receive hospitality and ticketing for both the Sochi and Rio Games but will not have a visual presence at either.

International Partner positions are usually sold for more than €500,000 ($590,000) per year, or over €2m over a four-year cycle (Sports Sponsorship Insider 1:2). BP was a domestic sponsor for London 2012 as the Official Oil and Gas Partner of both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Those deals, with the London 2012 organising committee, gave BP rights within the UK to promote their association with the Games.

The success of London 2012 and British athletes provided huge brand perception benefits for BP, which is headquartered in the city, Sharrock said. BP also had individual deals with British athletes during the Games, including Paralympic gold medallist Richard Whitehead.

The IPC and BP first met at the 2008 Beijing Games when discussions began over the domestic position the brand took in London. Formal discussions for the International Partner position

By Steven Slayford

Bp targets change in brand perception as International paralympic Committee partner

began during the first-half of 2013 before being announced in December.

national investmentsThe IPC deal follows existing partnerships BP has agreed with NPCs and parasport bodies in several territories around the world.

BP has made other investments to support parasport. In November 2013, it contributed $1m towards a new training facility in Colorado for Team USA. One quarter of that investment was earmarked for the Paralympic section of the facility. Sharrock said this would be its biggest investment globally

for the time being.The brand provided 100 wheelchairs

in Angola and Azerbaijan to support the country’s respective basketball leagues. This was accompanied by transport in Azerbaijan. The brand also supported performance training for Paralympians in Trinidad and Tobago.

Partnerships with NPCs are driven by local BP operations in each country, who also activate the partnerships. Sharrock said BP is open to expanding the number of NPCs in its sponsorship portfolio, but has no target number for such deals. BP’s deals with NPCs are usually cash deals. Under its portfolio

Allianz still to convince South American offices before rio 2016InSurAnCE CoMpAny ALLIAnz, which renewed its International Partner contract with the IPC in 2013 for the 2013 to 2016 cycle, is struggling to convince its regional offices to sign up to National Paralympic Committee deals so the company can activate its International Partner deal there, Eike Buergel, regional head of brand management for Allianz and in charge of their Paralympic sponsorships, told Sports Sponsorship Insider.

Buergel admits that it is a challenge to convince its regional offices to engage with the International Partner programme. This is, in part, because that office must then take on the responsibility of activating the partnerships. The association with the IPC presented the chance for an engagement that Allianz headquarters did not want to miss.

In order to select which NPCs to sponsor, the brand’s local offices must put forward a proposal to head office. Allianz currently has nine partnerships with National Paralympic Committees, including Australia, Ireland and Switzerland. Buergel said that Allianz is actively trying to expand the number of NPCs that it sponsors but its regional entities “have to buy into it” for such a plan to go ahead. Allianz would be prepared to sign up to 70 deals with NPCs, Buergel said.

The brand is only permitted to activate its International Partner deal in countries where it has a partnership in place with the NPC. The company is hoping to sign deals in Argentina and Mexico in the run-up to the 2016 Games in Rio.

Allianz pursues an employee engagement programme as part of its Paralympic sponsorship. Paralympic athletes are selected as motivational speakers for Allianz events. The company hired a Paralympic athlete as an intern in its Switzerland office. It is running a competition among employees to win tickets to the Sochi Games.

The Paralympics deal is also valuable in giving Allianz the chance to meet other IPC sponsors, Buergel said. Among the areas of joint interest are ways to promote their partnerships.

The hospitality in the IPC contract will be used by the brand to host management, decision-makers and for business and retail clients.

In its sponsorship strategy generally, Allianz favours long-term deals, Buergel said. “We are not interested in one-year deals. A consistent presence is vital to our strategy,” he said.

Allianz’s current contract with the IPC runs until the end of 2016. The brand is interested in extending the partnership.


of NPC deals, BP has partnerships with individual athletes. In 2012, the brand sponsored 60 athletes, 30 of which were Paralympians.

EngagementEmployee engagement is another key element of BP’s partnership. The

hospitality elements of the deal are “wonderful opportunities to recognise high-achieving BP employees,” Sharrock said.

In the US, for example, BP is hoping to use its involvement with US Paralympians and sponsorship of Team USA engage its thousands of

employees in the country and to create a sense of community among them, Sharrock said.

“The Paralympic Movement is about people, inspiration and challenging preconceptions and this partnership both provides great role models for our employees,” he said.

fInAnCIAL SErvICES provIDEr MetLife is looking to make greater strides in China under its new title sponsorship of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Superseries, Simon Smith, global marketing and communications executive at MetLife told Sports Sponsorship Insider this month.

The brand signed a four-year deal with the federation from 2014 to 2017, under which the competition will be known as the “MetLife BWF World Superseries”. The competition runs on a January to December schedule and consists of 13 tournaments across 12 countries (see table). The value of the sponsorship was undisclosed.

MetLife’s inventory is centred on in-stadium, broadcast and digital assets. The brand will receive the in-stadium branding at all 12 tournaments and extensive branding on advertising boards used during press conferences and pre- and post-game interviews. The MetLife logo will appear in on-screen graphics during television broadcasts and in break bumpers during live and highlights coverage.

MetLife will also receive brand mentions on the BWF’s Facebook site and branding on YouTube broadcasts of live games as well as during a series of documentaries about the Superseries, to be produced by sports marketing agency IMG. The brand also receives exclusivity in the insurance sector for sponsorship of the competition.

The decision on the sponsorship was jointly made by Christopher Townsend, MetLife’s regional president for Asia, and its marketing team at the company’s New York headquarters. The sponsorship will be funded by MetLife’s Asian operations.

MetLife Asia does have some autonomy when selecting sponsorship properties but all decisions must be approved by its US headquarters in order to fit into the company’s overarching marketing strategy.

By Steven Slayford

MetLife sets its sights on China with new BWf deal

Moving beyond korea and JapanMetLife is present in nine markets across Asia but 90 to 95 per cent of its earnings come from Japan and South Korea. The brand is looking to use its BWF deal to broaden its awareness in Asia, specifically China, India and Malaysia. The company is also looking to increase its profile in Myanmar where it is set to open a new head office this year.

“Badminton is strongest where we are weakest,” Smith said. “It is in the top three sports in China in terms of audience and the top two in terms of participation. In Malaysia, it is number one for both. The Superseries will allow us to rapidly increase the brand awareness we have been building in those markets for the last 10 years.”

MetLife’s presence in China and

India is limited by government policies which impose strict regulations on multinational co-operations and are aimed at promoting the success of domestic companies.

Smith said that MetLife would also be using its sponsorship of the series to reinforce its position in Japan and South Korea, where badminton was in the top 10 most viewed sports. MetLife has operations in 11 of the 12 host countries of the competition (see table). It does not have operations in Denmark.

With the sponsorship, the brand is targeting both men and women who are in their late 20s to late 40s, have children and are of above average income as this demographic often has greater need for insurance, Smith said. The low-cost nature of participating in the sport was a draw

MetLife’s Asian business stratgeyuS-BASED InSurAnCE GIAnt MetLife has a presence in nine markets across Asia: Australia, Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Nepal, Pakistan and South Korea.

Last October, it won a license to set up a representative office in Myanmar. In December, MetLife reached an agreement to acquire nearly half of two Malaysian life insurance companies.

Its operations in Japan, the world’s second-largest insurance market, and Korea, account for the bulk of its revenues. MetLife has a growing presence in India and China, together with businesses in South Asia, Hong Kong and Australia.

Christopher Townsend, MetLife’s regional president for Asia summarised MetLife’s strategy for Asia as follows: • to secure maximum earnings contribution from businesses in both Japan and Korea

• to build a long-term profitable growth platform in China and India• to ensure a solid earnings contribution from its remaining markets• to expand into the high-growth, high-margin, emerging markets in Southeast Asia in a disciplined fashion.

Successful execution of this strategy should generate high-single to low-double-digit earnings growth over time, Townsend said.

Low brand awareness is a challenge for MetLife across some of its Asian markets. MetLife has good recognition in Japan and Korea, but needs to do more to grow brand awareness in China and throughout Southeast Asia. MetLife is doing this through investment and sponsorship and financing corporate social responsibility activity via the MetLife Foundation.


for MetLife, Smith said.The schedule of the tournament was

a major factor in the deal as it allowed MetLife to with the chance to reach its target audience on a year-round basis.

Maximising current assetsSponsorship of the Superseries was motivated “half by strategy and half by opportunity,” Smith said. The company is also looking to partner with Ladies’ PGA Tour events in Asia. The competition will have seven tournaments in Asia for the 2014 season.

Rather than signing a multitude of new deals, a move that Smith said would “dilute” the brand, MetLife will now look to maximise its current sponsorship assets.

MetLife is a Global Sponsor and Official Insurance Company of the World Baseball Classic, an international baseball tournament sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and sees players from a number of leagues, including Major League Baseball (MLB), representing their countries.

The 2013 edition was hosted in the US, Japan, Puerto Rico and Taiwan. Japan, South Korea and China were among the 16 competing nations and each of those countries drew high audience figures for the tournament. The brand receives in-stadium branding at all tournament venues,

break bumpers during international broadcasts of the event and branded blimps which provide broadcast coverage of the tournament. MetLife is also title sponsor of the All-World Baseball Classic Team, selected from the best performers at the competition.

Smith said MetLife’s focus in Asia was now on maximising value from its BWF and World Baseball Classic assets.

Super Bowl provides some benefitsThe NFL Super Bowl, the concluding game of the 2013 American Football season in the US, will be held in

2014 BWF Superseries schedule

Dates Tournament Host

7-12 January Korea Open Superseries Seoul, South Korea

14-19 January Malaysia Open Superseries Premier Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

4-9 March All England Superseries Premier Birmingham, UK

1-6 April India Superseries New Dehli, India

8-13 April Singapore Superseries Singapore

10-15 June Japan Superseries Tokyo, Japan

17-22 June Indonesia Open Superseries Premier Jakarta, Indonesia

24-29 June Australian Superseries Sydney, Australia

14-19 October Denmark Superseries Premier Odense, Denmark

21-26 October French Superseries Paris, France

11-16 November China Open Superseries Premier Guangzhou, China

18-23 November Hong Kong Superseries Kowloon, Hong Kong

10-14 December Superseries Masters Final TBC

February at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. While Smith admitted that the sport was not widely popular in Asia, the company’s social media statistics showed that the brand’s sponsorship of the stadium had featured in the majority of Asian communications about the event.

“The benefit in Asia will be in the coverage surrounding the event rather than the event itself,” Smith said. “The host stadium has generated a lot of interest over here but an direct benefit would depend on audience figures during the game itself.”

GLoBAL pAyMEnt BrAnD Visa this month extended its Fifa Partner agreement from 2015 to 2022 in a deal estimated by one sports sponsorship industry expert at between $250m (€183.8) and $300m over the eight- year term, or $31.2m to $40.5m per year.

The deal value has not been disclosed by Fifa.

At $275m over eight years, the deal would mark a 61.7-per-cent uplift on the previous agreement for 2007 to 2014. The previous deal was worth $170m over eight years, or $21.25m per year between 2007 and 2014.

The uplift in price for the cycle between 2015 to 2022 can be attributed to factors including inflation in the global sponsorship rights market and a change in Visa’s business objectives.

Visa uses its major event sponsorships to influence consumer opinion and recall of the brand, and to differentiate


visa pays more for fifa partner position, 2015-2022

it in the payment card market. The activation focus is on gaining social media presence and being the sponsor with the highest recall. Future campaigns are likely to address the advent of rival smartphone payment mechanisms, which represent both a challenge and an opportunity for Visa.

MasterCard battle For the 2007 to 2014 cycle, Fifa initially agreed a deal worth $180m with rival payment brand MasterCard in the financial services product category. Fifa then switched to Visa, which MasterCard claimed breached its exclusive negotiating rights.

MasterCard brought a legal case against world football’s governing body. Fifa paid more than $90 million to settle the case – equal to half the value of the initial agreement between MasterCard and Fifa.

new dealFifa marketing director Thierry Weil said that Visa’s bid for the new deal, covering the World Cup in Russia and Qatar, was unopposed by MasterCard, which was a Fifa Partner for 16 years between 1990 and 2006.

The deal makes Visa the fourth brand in Fifa’s top sponsorship tier to extend beyond the current two-event cycle.

Soft drinks brand Coca-Cola and carmaker Hyundai-Kia last year signed as Fifa Partners for the 2015-2018 and 2019-2022 cycles.

Russian state energy company Gazprom has agreed a Fifa Partner deal covering the 2015-18 cycle only.

The number of global Fifa sponsorship deals, currently 14, will remain unchanged in the 2015-18 and 2019-22 cycles. But there may be a change in the current ratio of six Partners and eight World Cup Sponsors.



A round-up of the key sponsorship deals signed around the world

Sponsorship deals from December 11 to January 22

Action sports: Yarn manufacturing company Unifi agreed a deal for its Repreve brand to become a sponsor of the 2014 X Games Aspen event in Colorado, US.

American football: The NFL sealed a partnership deal with technology company Extreme Networks.

Aquatics: Fina, the sport’s global governing body, extended a partnership with Chinese domestic appliances manufacturer Midea for four years, from 2014 to 2017.

Athletics: UK supermarket chain Sainsbury’s extended a partnership with the British Athletics national governing body for four years, from 2014 to 2017 (see page 8).

Australian rules: PepsiCo-owned sports drink Gatorade reached a three-year agreement, from 2014 to 2016, with the Australian Football League.

Badminton: Insurance company MetLife sealed a four-year deal, from 2014 to 2017, to become the title sponsor of the Badminton World Federation’s World Superseries (see page 11).

Baseball: Major League Baseball’s Milwaukee Brewers struck a multi-year partnership with car maker Toyota.

Baseball: Major League Baseball’s Texas Rangers agreed a three-year sponsorship deal, from 2014 to 2016, with whiskey brand Jack Daniel’s.

Baseball: Major League Baseball’s Toronto Blue Jays agreed a three-year deal, from 2014 to 2016, with the Pizza Nova restaurant chain.

Baseball: Sporting equipment provider Rawlings Sporting Goods struck a three-year deal, from 2014-15 to 2016-17, with Baseball Australia, covering the national governing body’s events, including the Australian Baseball League.

Basketball: Sportswear company Adidas extended a partnership with the

Euroleague European club competition for two years, from 2014-15 to 2015-16.

Basketball: The NBA agreed multi-year partnerships with apparel retailer Foot Locker and gas processing and petrochemicals group Sibur covering Canada and Russia, respectively.

Basketball: The NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers struck a multi-year agreement with online betting company Bwin.party.

Basketball: The NBA’s Sacramento Kings sealed a partnership with Indian conglomerate Krrish Group.

Basketball: The NBA’s New York Knicks agreed a partnership with lifestyle company Alex and Ani.

Basketball: Northern Arizona University became a partner of the NBA’s Phoenix Suns in a multi-year deal.

Basketball: Grocery retailer H-E-B became a sponsor of Women’s NBA franchise the San Antonio Silver Stars.

College sport: Insurance company New York Life became a sponsor of the Big East Conference in a one-and-a-half-year deal, covering the remainder of the 2013-14 season and the whole of the 2014-15 campaign.

College sport: Sportswear brand Under Armour sealed a 10-year deal, from 2014-15 to 2013-14, with the University of Notre Dame in the US.

Cricket: English county cricket club Hampshire unveiled a five-year extension, from 2018 to 2022, to its stadium naming rights deal with insurance group Ageas UK.

Cricket: Caribbean brewery Banks Holdings agreed a deal with the West Indies Cricket Board national governing body to sponsor a six-match series between the West Indies and England national teams starting on February 28.

Curling: The Canadian Curling Association national governing body extended a sponsorship deal for

three years, from 2015 to 2017, with restaurant chain Tim Hortons, and signed a three-year agreement, from 2014 to 2016, with plant genetics developer and supplier DuPont Pioneer.

Cycling: Healthcare group Bupa agreed a three-year extension, from 2015 to 2017, to its sponsorship of the Tour Down Under UCI WorldTour event.

Cycling: The UCI WorldTour team that was formerly known as Argos-Shimano agreed a multi-year deal with Giant under which the bicycle manufacturer will become a title sponsor for the 2014 season.

Cycling: UCI WorldTour team Katusha struck a partnership with cycling apparel manufacturer Decca.

Cycling: Car maker Jaguar struck a two-year agreement, from 2014 to 2015, with Team Sky of the UCI WorldTour.

Cycling: Team Garmin-Sharp of the UCI ProTour sealed a partnership with global conservation organisation WWF and renewed an agreement with sportswear brand New Balance.

Cycling: UCI ProTour team Cannondale Pro Cycling agreed a two-year deal, from 2014 to 2015, with cycling apparel brand G4.

football: Financial services company Visa extended a worldwide partnership with Fifa, the sport’s global governing body, for eight years, from 2014-15 to 2021-22 (see page 12).

football: Sportswear company Nike agreed a nine-year extension, from 2014 to 2022, with the US Soccer Federation national governing body.

football: Chinese building equipment company Shandong Lingong Construction Machinery signed a three-year deal, from 2014 to 2016, to sponsor the Asian Football Confederation’s club competitions. The deal, brokered by World Sport Group, covers the AFC Champions League, Cup, President’s Cup and Futsal Club Championship.


football: Financial services company Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank signed a three-year extension, from 2014 to 2016, covering the Arabian Gulf League club competition.

football: Sportswear company adidas sealed a four-year deal, from 2014 to 2017, with Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A club Recife in Brazil.

football: Chinese telecommunications company Huawei signed up as a partner of English Premier League club Arsenal in a two-and-a-half-year deal, starting immediately and running until the end of the 2015-16 season.

football: Bookmaker Coral signed up as English Premier League club Chelsea’s European online betting partner in a two-and-a-half-year deal, starting immediately and running until the end of the 2015-16 season.

football: English Premier League club Liverpool struck a three-year deal, from 2014 to 2016, with Indian smartphone brand Xolo, and sealed a multi-year agreement with US fast-food chain Dunkin’ Brands.

football: Beverage producer Aperol struck an agreement with English Premier League club Manchester United covering three-and-a-half years, starting immediately and running until the end of the 2016-17 season.

football: English Premier League club Manchester City agreed a deal with UK beverage brand, Jaguar Energy Drink.

football: German Bundesliga club Bayern Munich sealed a two-year deal, from 2014 to 2015, with consumer products manufacturer Henkel.

football: Telecommunications provider QSC extended a partnership with German Bundesliga club Hamburg for two-and-a-half years, starting now and running through the 2015-16 season.

football: Tyre producer Nexen Tire became a sponsor of German Bundesliga club VFL Wolfsburg for the remainder of

the 2013-14 season.

football: Paris Saint-Germain agreed an eight-year deal, from 2014-15 to 2021-22, with sportswear company Nike, and expanded a sponsorship agreement with car maker Citroen to include the French Ligue 1 club’s women’s football and men’s handball teams for three-and-a-half years, until June 2017.

football: Nutrition supplements producer Herbalife agreed a sponsorship deal with the Copa do Brasil domestic club knockout competition.

football: Beverage producer Viton 44 renewed a sponsorship deal until the end of 2014 with Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A club Botafogo in Brazil.

football: Chilean club Colo-Colo sealed a five-year agreement, from 2014 to 2018, with sportswear brand Under Armour.

football: Professional Game Match Officials Limited, the operating body for referees in England, agreed a sponsorship deal with video games company Electronic Arts and its EA Sports brand. The five-and-a-half-year deal started immediately and will run until the end of the 2018-19 season.

Gaelic sport: The Gaelic Athletic Association’s Sligo County Board in the Republic of Ireland agreed a three-year deal, from 2014 to 2016, with sportswear manufacturer Kukri and sealed one-year sponsorships with hotel chain Radisson Blu Hotel & Spa and educational institution IT Sligo.

Golf: The Emirates airline extended its sponsorship of the European Tour sanctioning body in a four-year deal, from 2014 to 2017.

Golf: Sports performance and fashion brand Oakley agreed a two-year partnership, from 2014 to 2015, with the Asian Tour sanctioning body.

Golf: Consumer electronics company Samsung struck a three-year deal, from 2014 to 2016, with the PGA of America sanctioning body.

Golf: Derivatives exchange company CME Group signed up as the title sponsor of the Ladies Professional Golf Association’s inaugural points race in 2014.

Golf: Car maker Hyundai agreed sponsorship deals with the PGA Tour’s Humana Challenge and Farmers Insurance Open tournaments in California, US.

Golf: Fota Island Resort in Cork agreed to sponsor the 2014 Irish Open as part of a deal to host the European Tour event.

Golf: Airport retailer Dubai Duty Free renewed a partnership with the Golf in Dubai organisation for the Dubai Desert Classic European Tour event for three years, from 2014 to 2016.

Handball: Sports Ball producer Molten Corporation secured a partnership with the International Handball Federation global governing body.

Handball: Qatar’s local organising committee for the 2015 Men’s World Championship sealed a sponsorship deal with EHF Marketing, the marketing division of the European Handball Federation, to promote its event at the Men’s Euro 2014 competition.

Handball: Mail order work-wear and protective equipment company Engelbert Strauss became an official sponsor of the European Handball Federation’s Euro 2014 men’s and women’s tournaments in a deal with EHF Marketing.

Handball: German Bundesliga handball club Fuchse Berlin agreed a two-year deal, from 2014 to 2015, with insurance company Axel Lange. The company also sponsors German Bundesliga football club Hertha Berlin.

Hockey: Energy provider Pakistan State Oil secured a one-year agreement, until the end of 2014, with the Pakistan Hockey Federation, covering the national governing body’s events.

Horseracing: Qatari private investment company QIPCO Holdings became a




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partner of the Royal Ascot event in England for five years, from 2014 to 2018.

Ice hockey: The USA Hockey national governing body struck a four-year deal, from 2014 to 2017, with sporting goods brand STX.

Ice hockey: The NHL’s New Jersey Devils signed a multi-year agreement with online betting company Bwin.party.

Ice hockey: The NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks struck a deal with local entertainment and gambling venue Horseshoe Casino for the remainder of the 2013-14 season.

korfball: The International Korfball Federation renewed a deal with Japanese sports equipment company Mikasa for four years, from 2014 to 2017.

Luge: Car maker BMW became a partner of the FIL, the sport’s global governing body, in a multi-year deal (see page 2).

Motorsport: Online trading investment company Saxo Bank secured a one-year agreement with the Lotus Formula One team, covering the 2014 season.

Motorsport: The Force India Formula One team unveiled sponsorship agreements with Mexican telecommunications company Claro, Mexican lubricants producer Roshfrans and Kazakh sporting foundation Astana.

Motorsport: Tequila brand Jose Cuervo extended a partnership with the Sauber Formula One team until the end of the 2014 season.

Motorsport: The Caterham Formula One team extended a partnership with computer technology group Dell/Intel.

Motorsport: Media company Haymarket Consumer Media agreed a three-year partnership, from 2014 to 2016, with the British Touring Car Championship.

Motorsport: Tyre manufacturer Pirelli sealed a five-year extension, from 2014 to 2018, to its title sponsorship of

the North American World Challenge Championships.

Multi-sport: GL Events Field & Lawn agreed a deal with the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.

Multi-sport: Pharmaceutical company Otsuka signed a sponsorship deal with the Olympic Council of Asia to make its Pocari Sweat brand the official sports drink of the next two editions of the Asian Games, in Incheon, South Korea in 2014 and in Hanoi, Vietnam in 2019.

paralympic: International oil and gas company BP became a global partner of the International Paralympic Committee global governing body in a three-year deal, from 2014 to 2016 (se page 10).

polo: Transactions specialist Equitrade International struck a deal to become a global partner of the World Series of Polo for five years, from 2015 to 2019.

rugby league: Energy supplier First Utility became the title sponsor of the European Super League club competition, in a three-year deal, from 2014 to 2016.

rugby league: English Super League club Bradford agreed sponsorship deals with the University of Bradford and local home furnishings supplier Coral Windows & Conservatories for the 2014 season.

rugby league: The Australian subsidiary of French car maker Peugeot reached a three-year deal, from 2014 to 2016, with the Australian National Rugby League’s Sydney Roosters.

rugby union: Vehicle manufacturer Land Rover sealed a three-year agreement, from 2014 to 2016, with South African club Western Province.

rugby union: Irish Pro12 club Connacht announced a partnership with gaming company BragBet.

Sailing: Financial services company J.P. Morgan Asset Management extended

its title sponsorship of the Isle of Wight’s Round the Island Race for two years, from 2015 to 2016.

Skiing: Banking group Raiffeisen extended a sponsorship of Swiss-Ski, the sport’s governing body in Switzerland, for three years, from 2014-15 to 2016-17.

Skiing: Sportswear company Adidas agreed a four-year extension, from 2014-15 to 2017-18, to its sponsorship deal with the DSV, the sport’s governing body in Germany.

Snooker: Online gaming service provider Dafabet became the title sponsor of the 2014 Masters event in England.

Snooker: Online casino and sportsbook operator BetVictor extended its title sponsorship of the Welsh Open for the 2014 tournament.

table tennis: Chinese car maker Qoros agreed a title sponsorship deal for the 2015 World Championships in Suzhou, China.

tennis: Opticians chain Specsavers became a partner of the 2014 Australian Open.

tennis: The DTB, the sport’s governing body in Germany, reached three-year deals, from 2014 to 2016, with sportswear company Erima and clothing company the Clinton Group.

tennis: Dutch bank ABN Amro reached a deal with the Ahoy Rotterdam venue to extend its title sponsorship of the ATP World Tour World Tennis Tournament for three years, from 2015 to 2017.

tennis: The Qatari subsidiary of the oil and gas multinational, ExxonMobil, renewed its title sponsorship of the Qatar Open for the 2014 edition of the ATP World Tour event.


The next issue of Sports Sponsorship Insider will be published on February 21.

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