Kantar Media Launches Irish Sponsorship Division

Media intelligence provider Kantar Media has launched an Irish division of KantarSport, a solution dedicated to providing sponsors and rights-holders with research, consultancy and insight on the performance of a sponsorship. The Irish division will compliment the group’s international presence in the UK, France, Spain and China. It is estimated that spending on sport sponsorship will exceed €120 million in Ireland for 2011.
Dan Halliwell, Managing Director of Kantar Media Ireland said: “Sponsorship has become a major activity for many Irish brands and we have been providing media analysis around this for some time. The launch of KantarSport enables us to bring a much deeper level of intelligence to the client when analysing sponsorship performance. It also allows KantarSport’s international clients to receive core local data from the Irish market, something that no other competitor in the sponsorship area can match.” Kantar Media will provide clients with the ability to assess a current or potential sponsorship in detail over the course of a brand’s involvement. The company has worked with over 250 sponsoring brands or rights holders worldwide and provides intelligence to organisations including Barclays, Formula One Management and The Curragh. Richard Brinkman, Head of KantarSport at Kantar Media Intelligence commented: “Our launch at the Aviva underlined the hunger by local brands to measure sponsorship performance, with over 30 companies represented at the event. Particularly in the current climate, it is important that an organisation understands the brand benefits achieved from sponsorship, taking a scientific and measured approach - like one would in any investment. Adding Ireland to our international capability is significant, based on the markets maturity and the success and dominance of Irish teams on the international sports scene. It’s an exciting advancement for Kantar Media in Ireland and internationally.”