It was a great night for Irish entrants to this year’s European Sponsorship Awards (ESA) with Electric Ireland, An Post, Strong Roots, Aldi, Littlewoods Ireland and Vodafone Ireland picking up awards which took place earlier this week.
The Grand Prix on the night- ESA Sponsorship of the Year- went to An Post Irish Book Awards, a sponsorship initiative that was put in place by Core Sponsorship. It also picked up the top award in the Arts & Culture Sponsorship category as well as in the Best Newcomer category.
Meanwhile, the Mass Participation Sponsorship category was won by Electric Ireland’s Darkness into Light initiative for Pieta House. It was also highly commended in the Purpose-led Category (Cause).
Electric Ireland also fared well in other categories and its Game Changers sponsorship, a grassroots community-based women’s football initiative with the Irish FA in Northern Ireland, also won the Purpose-led Sponsorship (Sport) category as well as being highly commended in the Community Sponsorship category. Electric Ireland also won Best Use of Digital Channels for its GAA Higher Education Championship sponsorship.
The Best Media Sponsorship, meanwhile, went to Strong Roots and its sponsorship of Virgin Media Television’s Guinness Six Nations coverage in 2019 in a deal that was also brokered by Core Sponsorship. This brought Core’s haul on the night to four awards including the Grand Prix for An Post.
It was also a good night for Vodafone Ireland and its sponsorship of Irish Rugby through its #TeamOfUs initiative which won the Best Use of Hospitality category for hosting events for customers and suppliers on match day.
In one of the special categories, Aldi Play Rugby, the retailer’s sponsorship of the IRFU at grassroots level, also took home a Silver Award while Littlewoods Ireland won the Best Use of Social Media category for its #StyleOfPlay campaign to support its sponsorship of the GAA All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship.
Speaking about winning the ESA Sponsorship of the Year, Louise Cronje, sponsorship manager at An Post, says: “At An Post, our brand purpose is to act for the common good, to improve the quality of life in Ireland now and for generations to come. With this in mind, An Post are proud sponsors of the Irish Book Awards since 2018, and have worked with the collaborative team to bring #ReadersWanted to life to help more Irish people fall in love with reading. We are delighted that this work has been recognised by the European Sponsorship Association as outstanding in this field across Europe.”
Jill Downey, managing director, Core Sponsorship adds: “this year, Core Sponsorship celebrates its fifth birthday and we are delighted to celebrate this milestone with award winning work. The right mix of sponsorship valuation, a strategic platform, engaging activation and strong evaluation were the ingredients to creating high performing work. We are delighted to be recognised across Europe.”
