PHAR To Activate Ricoh's Premiership Rugby Sponsorship

PHAR has been appointed by Ricoh to activate the company’s five-year partnership with Premiership Rugby. The deal brokered by PHAR in 2014 saw Ricoh become the Official Document Services Partner to Premiership Rugby, with the partnership providing a opportunity for Ricoh to educate rugby fans on the company’s technical ability and IT expertise. Some of the partnership assets are already in place this season, including in-stadia branding via LED perimeter boards and the Ricoh Premiership Rugby Golf Day that took place on April 15th at Stoke Park.

The 2015/2016 season onwards will see an increase in collateral including unique assets such as big screen branding around every Television Match Official decision in Aviva Premiership Rugby. Ricoh will also be working with Premiership Rugby Clubs and conducting technology audits with the aim to streamline processes and increase efficiencies, which will in the long term benefit Premiership Rugby fans all around England. Details of the 2015/2016 activation will be announced later this year.

In addition to activation, PHAR is also conducting research across the five seasons through its Insight division to measure the impact of the Premiership Rugby sponsorship at a B2C level.

Marcus Wight, PHAR’s CEO, commented: "We have been working with Ricoh for a number of years on a consultancy basis so it’s great to see our relationship expanding to now include Premiership Rugby activation as well. We understand Ricoh’s ambition and are excited to be part of this journey as their partner, delivering a great campaign as well as measuring the effectiveness of the partnership against Ricoh’s objectives."

Chas Moloney, Marketing Director for Ricoh UK & Ireland, said: "Our ambition at Ricoh is to be the most trusted brand in the market by providing excellence to our customers. For us, sponsorship is one of the most effective channels to communicate this message and we’re very excited to welcome Premiership Rugby to our group of partners that already include the ATP, the LTA, Ricoh Women’s British Open as well as Gloucester and Bath Rugby. PHAR’s expertise have proved invaluable to us so far, and I have every confidence that together we will deliver some exciting campaigns that will allow us to engage with the rugby audience in what’s bound to be one of the most exciting years for rugby in this country."