Tim Brady -TOM Research
One of my responsibilities for the ITV Network is to market all network sport sponsorship opportunities, and it is this subject that I will concentrate on today looking at past deals and looking ahead to ITV’s future sport packages.
But, before that, I would like to bring you up to date with some additional ITV research. The Television’s Omnibus Monitor has been tracking viewer response to a number of advertising regulatory matters since 1980.
From 1989, when the first major ITV sponsorship The National Weather and PowerGen began, viewer attitude and awareness to programme sponsorship has been monitored. This research was important to the ITV companies as they wanted to check the viewers response to additional and quite different commercial messages. Equally, I believe this research was essential to the future potential sponsors. In other words, there would have been no point for either broadcaster or sponsor in proceeding if a high amount of viewer aggravation had been found. This information has, from the start, alleviated any concerns that ITV had that the viewers were aggravated by sponsorship or found it interrupive . But, what is particularly rewarding is that this measurement of viewer favourability to programme sponsorship has improved over the first 8 years.
The TOM research for the first 3 months of the year shows favourability now scores a very healthy 52% and that, combined with neutral and don’t know, shows us that 91% of the viewers do not have a problem with this form of commercial message. This research has always been essential to ITV, but it is important for all of us here today that the concept of programme sponsorship has been accepted so readily by such a large majority of the viewers.
We also asked the question, have the viewers recently seen any broadcast sponsorship. 76% of all adults had, and, as you can see from this slide, ITV dominates that awareness of sponsorship. So it is apparent that the viewers accept programme sponsorship and are very aware of the concept on ITV.
One final point, on TOM research was the findings about parent’s views on sponsorship of children’s programmes. A year ago concern was minimal at 3%, but this has now reduced to 0%. ITV is, therefore, eager to explore this market in far more depth.
Sport and sponsorship existed well before the programme sponsorship market was born and – well before television was invented and therefore we felt particularly at ease with the sponsorship of sports coverage. This has been a sector which has developed very well for ITV and over the next few minutes I will endevour to give a very swift view of the sponsorship of ITV’s major sport broadcasts to date..
In the beginning there was the 1990 Football World Cup and we began by offering this genuinely unique idea to the event sponsors first, a discipline which ITV has correctly observed on all sponsored events since. After total apathy from the event sponsors, the first major ITV Sport sponsorship was taken up by National Power pursuing their arch rivals PowerGen into the programme sponsorship market. Both had the same ambition to build awareness in readiness for their flotation.
Everyone in this room who was alive, awake and who watched any ITV coverage of the 1990 World Cup will surely remember the National Power activity, which included considerable commercial support. The combination of sponsorship and advertising lifted them to second in un-prompted awareness, and third in total amongst the illustrious company of two major brands and above a considerable number of others. A huge success for a previously, almost unknown brand, bringing them quickly on to a par with PowerGen, who had built up to an awareness level of 33% having sponsored the National Weather since the previous September.
The Rugby World Cup followed in 1991 and the broadcast option ignored by the event sponsors was taken up by Sony. By the end of the coverage, they were perceived by 27% of adults as
event sponsor well ahead of the actual ones. In research, their perimeter advertising was recalled by four times more people than the next company. Interesting when they did not have any perimeter advertising. Their sales blossomed in the all important pre-Christmas period and spontaneous awareness of Sony increased by 8 points.
Sega followed, sponsoring the coverage of the Euro 92 Tournament and as a result reversing its brand awareness position with Nintendo. Awareness of Sega as broadcast sponsor amongst their target audience tripled by the end of the coverage. The pre-Tournament activity they created by being a team sponsor associated them with the event, but the sponsorship of the coverage built on this considerably and by the end of the Tournament 53% thought they were one of the event sponsors.
In 1994 yet again the event sponsors did not grasp the opportunity and Panasonic took up the ITV sponsorship of the Football World Cup, using the very well crafted painted faces creative work. Research suggested that these images in some way pre-empted the branding, but still Panasonic scored well and their sales increased accordingly.
1995 at last brought the first sponsorship by an event sponsor with Heineken taking up the option on the Rugby World Cup in South Africa. Spurred on by England’s run to the Semi-Final the viewing figures were again good, as they were in 1991, Heineken sales grew, and awareness of the Heineken Export brand, one of the principle reasons for the sponsorship increased markedly. Whitbread supported the sponsorship with considerable off-air activity. They were the first, I believe, to persuade Sainsbury’s to have TV sets showing the games actually on the shelves.
Because, they were an event sponsor as well, we examined the effect the programme sponsorship would have for Heineken. For the research we listed a number of brands associated with the Rugby World Cup, including the other event sponsors as well as South African Airways, the viewers’ prize supplier, Cellnet the team sponsor and Sony the 1991 broadcast sponsor.
As you can see Heineken Export, with a score of 74%, dominated these findings, especially when compared to the next event sponsor Coca Cola at 25%.
Also worth noting, is Sony’s forth position with 26%, their only involvement with Rugby as far as we know – the 1991 ITV Rugby World Cup sponsorship. There is, therefore, a strong suggestion of longevity of sponsorship message.
Last year, Vauxhall took up General Motors Euro 96 option, which had been branded on the event as Opel. Again we ran the research in a similar way to the rugby. This time we purely listed the events sponsors and Vauxhall Vectra the sponsoring brand took a strong second position to Coca Cola in two columns and first amongst those aware of the television sponsorship. But, this should be put in context to define the true success for Vauxhall Vectra. They were the one brand that were not truly an event sponsor, Opel were, and therefore perimeter advertising and associated branding for Vauxhall was minimal or non existent compared to those that were. Furthermore, significant image improvements for the Vectra were shown across a range of points chosen by Vauxhall.
That was a rather fast and furious view of the ITV sport deals done so far. It was, however, important, I believe, to give you some idea of their success and to put the market into context.
Now I would like to bring you right up to date with a current deal. These are still early days in terms of researching Texaco’s sponsorship of ITV’s coverage of Formula One, but I would like to share with you some of what we have so far. This slide shows well the early results of Texaco’s association with ITV’s on air promotions preceding the first Grand Prix in March. And, remember that this research will only include the first 3 Grand Prix.
What can be seen is a strong steady build which is to be expected from the fortnightly exposure. It will be very interesting to monitor this sponsorship in comparison to the normal event span of 4 weeks relatively intense exposure of say, a World Cup.
Texaco has scored the highest ever score for appropriateness, which is a great benefit given their position within the live races, and the credits are seen by a considerable majority as being very well produced and entirely pertinent. As we all know, not surprisingly, the breaks in the race have caused some consternation with Formula One fans, and others, but Texaco has not been associated with this negative opinion and, as expected, the complaints have now dwindled.
So, to the future opportunities. It would have been uncomfortable two years ago to stand here and talk about future ITV Sport, but now we have fought our way back into this sector. Formula One has bolstered ITV Sport considerably, as has the forthcoming coverage of the FA Cup both wrested from the BBC.
This slide shows the present available options although to use the parlance of Estate Agents, the World of Motorsport is now sale agreed, subject to contract and the FA Cup is at present under offer.
We will, as I explained earlier, always talk to event sponsors first, but that does not mean that those major events such as the two World Cups will definitely be bought by them. Look. at the first 4 major events of this decade I referred to earlier, not one sponsored by an event sponsor.
The recent trend with Heineken and Vauxhall has been for the event sponsors to take the option, but the television sport sponsorship market has become increasingly competitive, and I will of course do my best to nurture this.
We have exclusive terrestrial coverage of all the England football team’s home matches for at least the next four seasons, including the remaining World Cup 1998 qualifying games and qualifying ties for Euro 2000.
The ITV Sports Awards is a new programme scheduled for this November and already causing interest from sponsors and I believe, there will be many more ITV Sport opportunities. Highlights packages, such as the current Tournoi de France sponsored by Lloyds will, I hope, increase with ITV acquiring more secondary rights of important sports events for free viewing. In line with this, we are in discussion at present to purchase highlights of a forthcoming Golf Tournament and sponsorship will be an important factor in making that decision. Likewise, I envisage more strategic sports purchases such as the Liverpool/St German games which were sold for sponsorship until the agency suffered creative meltdown.
Other ideas, like a return to a weekly football and general sport magazine programme, are in the offing. All of these will carry sponsorship opportunities – sometimes in the short term, but always offering good exciting opportunities for those fast enough to turn them round.
I hope the swift examples of research results have given you a flavour for what can be achieved and look forward to discussing the future sport opportunities with you.