When England crashed out of the football World Cup the FA was staring into a cloud of dust as potential sponsors beat a hasty retreat from the smell of failure wafting around the sorry squad.Â
Fast forward a few months and the England cricket team is returning from Australia after a victorious Ashes series, the first English win of the diminutive trophy on Australian soil for 24 years. Not surprisingly, the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has a spring in its step as it begins its search for a new sponsor for England’s home test matches, after failing to agree a deal with the current backer, Npower.Â
With the sports world and potential sponsors all limbering up in advance of next year’s Olympic Games in London, it will be fascinating to chart the winners and losers both on the field and off. Perhaps more than any other marketing discipline, sponsorship is a long game and securing the rights to a team or sports person is only the start of the process (and the tip of the iceberg, investment-wise). An integrated activation plan and a not-insignificant cash injection are pretty crucial to deriving serious bang for your buck.
Without wanting to sound mean-spirited, as we know from our last Ashes victory (and the England rugby team’s World Cup win a few years ago), things can quickly go sour and a triumphant team today can be tomorrow’s also-rans.
