Sky Sports duo Jeff Stelling and Chris Kamara’s entertaining #RoadtoCroker series helped AIB win the “Summer of Sponsorship” for the second consecutive year based on research undertaken with the Marketing Institute of Ireland’s (MII) professional marketing community, according to the Dublin-based sponsorship advisor Onside.
Whilst 75% of survey respondents named AIB’s GAA campaign as effective highlighting the #RoadtoCroker campaign, which was created by Rothco, the results also saw AIB top the list of brands most associated with sport overall this summer.
According to John Trainor, Founder and CEO of Onside: “Industry professionals rated AIB as the brand with the best sponsorship activation overall while Vodafone topped the list of brands that were top performers in the non-sports sponsorship space thanks to their Centrestage music and comedy sponsorship campaign”.
Marketing industry professionals voted for Galway Hurler Joe Canning as the No 1 most marketable Irish sports star nudging Conor McGregor and the O’Donovan brothers into 2nd and 3rd spots respectively. “It was a summer of great individual stand-outs with Joe Canning leading Galway to a Hurling Championship win after 29 years; Conor McGregor entering the boxing ring; and The O’Donovan brothers continuing their great form,” says Trainor.
Looking beyond traditional media, Pippa O’Connor, James Kavanagh, and Suzanne Jackson (of the blog SoSueMe) were seen as the most marketable digital influencers by the marketing budget holders of 2018.
“Further growth in the use of personality endorsement and influencer marketing in 2018 as new data allows businesses to monetize the earning power that the next generation of sports heroes and media celebrities provide in the cross-over between the experience and knowledge economy,” says Trainor.
Looking at future marketing trends and innovative technologies, marketing industry professionals surveyed by Onside believe live streaming offers the best potential for creating ‘disruption’ in the sponsorship industry, followed by experiential marketing and cause-oriented marketing. Almost 1 in 2 respondents identified Live Streaming as the biggest potential disruptor.
Trainor says that the research shows that the future is bright for the sponsorship industry “Marketing professionals will be looking to constantly innovate and keep ahead of developments in technology. Our research with MII marketing community shows that they are looking at the role data and analytics will play, as well as the exciting changes VR and augmented reality will bring to experiential marketing.
