Marketing

Irish sponsorship spend to fall 6pc in 2010

01.02.2010
Sponsorship spend in Ireland may have been up by an estimated 2pc to €133m in 2009, but 2010 will see a 6pc decline, according to a new industry study from Onside Sponsorship.

This drop is expected to be driven largely by a reduction of fees paid for rights with 70pc of sponsors surveyed in the study expecting rights fees to decrease this year.

According to Onside, last year’s overall growth was stimulated by several major landmark deals including the naming rights of the Aviva Stadium and Puma’s new IRFU partnership, as well as a series of high-profile renewals.

“The nature of sponsorships multi-year deals in most cases certainly insulated this area from dramatic cutbacks, although large scale reductions in spend were more so evidenced on activation spend around sponsorships,” said John Trainor, managing director of Onside. “Our research into the Irish sponsorship industry reveals that while one in two Irish sponsors will curtail their spend on sponsorship generally in 2010, one in five will be increasing their investment in this tool.”

Through its sponsorship of both The O2 and The Irish Rugby Team, O2 was viewed by the industry as the best in class sponsor of 2009. The Guinness partnership with the GAA All-Ireland Hurling Championships, meanwhile, was singled out by the industry survey as the Best Sponsorship of the Past Decade.

With The 02 now firmly established in the Irish market and the imminent opening of the Aviva Stadium, the Onside research also reveals that the Irish sponsorship industry is overwhelmingly in favour of naming rights to music venues and sports venues

“In terms of what sponsors are aiming to achieve with sponsorship, four in 10 sponsors outline stimulating sales / trial / usage now as their most important objective,” said Trainor. “This movement to using sponsorship beyond pure brand affinity building is a trend that has deepened significantly over the past year.”

Trainor said it is too early to predict a longer term rebound in sponsorship spend. “Major sponsor categories like auto brands, banks and other sectors are still at the planning stages of recovery,” he said. “New money will come in from some companies ready to fill the void while these established sponsor sectors get back on their feet. Rugby World Cup 2011, The Solheim Cup in Ireland and the new cycle of GAA Football Championships deals will be just some of the prospects for a possible return to slow growth in the industry beyond the down year ahead.”