‘Transition Year’ for Irish Sponsorship as Spending Slows

Following a positive year for the Irish sponsorship industry in 2013, where spend grew by 2.7 percent, the market is set to experience a temporary dip of 1.5 per cent to €124 million in 2014, according to the 9th edition of the annual Onside Irish Sponsorship Industry Survey from Onside Sponsorship. 

2013 delivered better than expected results for Irish sponsorship, with more companies increasing spend (43 percent) than decreasing (29 percent) spend last year. The Onside research estimates sponsorship spend rose by 2.7 percent to €125.3 million last year, with 54 percent of sponsors in Ireland now spending more than 15 percent of their overall marketing and communication budget on sponsorship. Events such as The Gathering, the EU Presidency and strong performances from certain rights holders, in particular many in GAA, helped fuel the positive turnaround. 

The outlook for 2014, however, is for a temporary slow-down in the emerging growth. John Trainor, founder and managing director of Onside Sponsorship notes: “Many key sponsors and rights holders in the market will be in transition in their portfolios in 2014, with a lot of deals not likely to turn into real investment uplifts in the market until 2015.”  Although the Onside Sponsorship survey of sponsors and rights holders found that 37 percent of sponsors expect to increase spend on sponsorship this year, the scale of reductions in spend expected among the 3 in 10 planning to decrease spend in 2014 will marginally outweigh those intending to grow spend. Rugby World Cup 2015 and 2016 UEFA Euros and Olympics, as well as greater certainty around the future of European Rugby, are expected to be key drivers of real growth from 2015.

The Onside Outlook report is in line with an expected slowdown in sponsorship spending growth across Europe to 2.1 per cent in 2014, as forecast by IEG. 

Airline, energy, insurance and betting/online gambling sectors have been strongly earmarked by the Onside Industry Survey as sectors where brands are most likely to increase their spend on sponsorship in 2014, while rugby, venue naming rights and GAA emerged as the platforms believed to hold greatest potential.  Six in 10 rights holders who have the capability to are actively exploring venue naming rights deals similar to the Aviva Stadium and The O2 for their facilities and Onside consultants expect landmark new agreements in this area to happen in Ireland and internationally in 2014. 

Collectively, the Musgrave Retail Group and its key brands SuperValu and Centra received the highest recognition from sponsorship professionals for its various GAA & Tidy Towns sponsorships. O2 Ireland, set to be acquired by 3Mobile in 2014, was also highly esteemed for its best in class practice overall in 2013. Heineken (rugby), Guinness (rugby), Vodafone (music festivals), Electric Ireland (Electric Picnic), Liberty Insurance (GAA) and An Post (cycling) also gained top acclaim from Ireland’s sponsorship professionals for best practice in 2013.

The government’s Gathering initiative was generally regarded as positive for Irish sponsorship in 2013, with six in 10 organisations seeing the year-long initiative as “a good thing for the sponsorship industry in Ireland.” Meanwhile, a majority of industry practitioners (58 per cent) surveyed by Onside agree that the government was right to delay introducing legislation banning the use of sponsorship by alcohol brands.  Interestingly Irish rights holders look set to challenge a growing international trend towards e-cigarette sponsorship.

Brian O’Driscoll was identified by the industry as being the most marketable personality for brands in 2014, with 37 percent voting for the rugby star, the highest Onside has ever recorded for any personality in this survey.  He was followed by Roy Keane at 11 per cent, Rory McIlroy at seven percent (down 16 percent) and Martin O’Neill in fourth position at six percent. Amy Huberman made up the last of Onside’s top five most marketable personalities at four per ent.

Positive uplifts for 2014 in the sector will include a number of key sporting events such as the Giro d’Italia in Ireland and the Ryder Cup, which will provide Irish sponsors with opportunities to engage with consumers. The FIFA app launched to coincide with the World Cup 2014 and set to be the most downloaded sports application ever is expected by Onside to be a game-changer in what rights holders and sponsors can do to engage with fans to new depths.