From the excellent www.sponsorpitch.com website anda very short blog from me, can you really blame them, who wants their logo all over images of blatant cheating? Clients always used to use the argument, " We don't want our logo on images of a crash"....
Hard to get brands into the sport when their sector is on its knees, easy way to give them an out.
Renault's sponsorship programme will recover but sports lawyers worldwide
will now working on a new clause....team corporate morality.
ING announced today that in light of the verdict of the World Motor Sport Council of 21 September 2009 concerning the events that occurred at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, ING will terminate the contract with Renault Formula 1 with immediate effect.
ING is deeply disappointed at this turn of events, especially in the context of an otherwise successful sponsorship. As announced on 16 February of this year, ING decided not to renew the three year sponsorship (2007-2009) contract with Renault F1 and to end its presence in Formula 1 after the 2009 season.
Earlier today, fellow Renault sponsor Mutua Madrilena, a Madrid-based insurance company, also cancelled its sponsorship of the French team with immediate effect.
Dubbed "crashgate," the wrath of F1 and its sponsors have come down upon Renault after it came to light that the team deliberately caused a crash in order to fix the result of Singapore's Grand Prix. ING had previously announced it would end its sponsorship of the Renault team at the end of this season
Thursday 24 September 2009
Thursday 17 September 2009
Cheating in sport, let's live with it?
Another day another cheating scandal in sport. Diving in football, false blood in rugby, staged crashes in Formula 1, mass indignation all around in the media and in general everyday conversation.
All these instances were about gaining an advantage, to win a game, to progress in a tournament or to win a race.
These examples reflect the pressure to compete, win and succeed whether the success is ensuring your team gets to the group stages of the Champions League(££££), the semi final of the Heineken Cup(£££) or wins a Grand Prix and sells more cars(££££££).
The pressure comes from the overriding need to deliver, on players, coaches/doctors and team management.
The Renault case is the most disturbing because a young man was allegedly asked to carry out the antithesis of his sport, crash the car rather than try to win, in the process putting himself and his competitors in potentially mortal danger.
All sad when looked through the rose tinted glasses of the Corinthian spirit that we try and engender in our kids as we teach them the importance and values of sport as a life improving activity.
Perhaps we need to add a new chapter to that book of sporting instruction. It would read something like this....when money kicks and sport becomes a business,all bets are off on the integrity front, people will do anything to win regardless of the impact on the sport and the hopes of fans and spectators, so expect it.
A simple and increasingly true perspective that perhaps we just need to acknowledge and live with it.
All these instances were about gaining an advantage, to win a game, to progress in a tournament or to win a race.
These examples reflect the pressure to compete, win and succeed whether the success is ensuring your team gets to the group stages of the Champions League(££££), the semi final of the Heineken Cup(£££) or wins a Grand Prix and sells more cars(££££££).
The pressure comes from the overriding need to deliver, on players, coaches/doctors and team management.
The Renault case is the most disturbing because a young man was allegedly asked to carry out the antithesis of his sport, crash the car rather than try to win, in the process putting himself and his competitors in potentially mortal danger.
All sad when looked through the rose tinted glasses of the Corinthian spirit that we try and engender in our kids as we teach them the importance and values of sport as a life improving activity.
Perhaps we need to add a new chapter to that book of sporting instruction. It would read something like this....when money kicks and sport becomes a business,all bets are off on the integrity front, people will do anything to win regardless of the impact on the sport and the hopes of fans and spectators, so expect it.
A simple and increasingly true perspective that perhaps we just need to acknowledge and live with it.
Monday 14 September 2009
Club Rugby at Wembley with Saracens
On a beautifully sunny Autumn Saturday I decided on a whim, after hearing a pre event radio interview to go to the Saracens v Northampton Saints Premiership rugby game at Wembley Stadium, the first club match to be played at Wembley in the modern era. £10 tickets for adults and £5 for kids was too good a bargain to ignore, and getting there was easy on the Chiltern Line.
With number 2 daughter interested neither in a a day out with Dad or the rugby but the pre match entertainment supplied by Britain's Got Talent winners Diversity, off we set.
The daytrip got even better when we met a friend from Beaconsfield Rugby Club who had extra tickets in The Club Wembley seats.
Leave aside the dull first half when two defences cancelled each other out,and this was a fantastic experience for which Nigel Wray, Chairman of Saracens must be congratulated. The club took a serious financial risk, £300k-400k in venue rental, depending on who you believe, and got the result they wanted with a crowd in excess of 44,000. They probably still made a loss but they made a huge statement of intent about the building of the Saracens brand as the London Tribe.
Apart from excellent weather , several factors contributed to a great experience; 44,000 people makes Wembley a great venue, not to busy and everything works so much better, queuing for access, trains, food and beverage, merchandising programme sales, betting etc.
Saracens created a crowd friendly,kid friendly example of experiential marketing where thousands of people of all ages sampled Wembley for the first time and many will have samples a Sarries home game for the first time.Excellent family entertainment with bands, dancers, and 100 kids on pitch side at half time.
The proof will of course be the numbers who become loyal or occasional paying cuatomers at Vicarage Road, on this experience they deserve to succeed.
Congratulations of thinking outside the box, Wasps, Irish and Quins will need to be careful they don't get left behind by the Saracens marketing campaign.
With number 2 daughter interested neither in a a day out with Dad or the rugby but the pre match entertainment supplied by Britain's Got Talent winners Diversity, off we set.
The daytrip got even better when we met a friend from Beaconsfield Rugby Club who had extra tickets in The Club Wembley seats.
Leave aside the dull first half when two defences cancelled each other out,and this was a fantastic experience for which Nigel Wray, Chairman of Saracens must be congratulated. The club took a serious financial risk, £300k-400k in venue rental, depending on who you believe, and got the result they wanted with a crowd in excess of 44,000. They probably still made a loss but they made a huge statement of intent about the building of the Saracens brand as the London Tribe.
Apart from excellent weather , several factors contributed to a great experience; 44,000 people makes Wembley a great venue, not to busy and everything works so much better, queuing for access, trains, food and beverage, merchandising programme sales, betting etc.
Saracens created a crowd friendly,kid friendly example of experiential marketing where thousands of people of all ages sampled Wembley for the first time and many will have samples a Sarries home game for the first time.Excellent family entertainment with bands, dancers, and 100 kids on pitch side at half time.
The proof will of course be the numbers who become loyal or occasional paying cuatomers at Vicarage Road, on this experience they deserve to succeed.
Congratulations of thinking outside the box, Wasps, Irish and Quins will need to be careful they don't get left behind by the Saracens marketing campaign.
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