A number of Irish agencies and brands walked away with several awards and commendations at the annual European Sponsorship Awards which were held in London last night (Thursday, March 7).
Some of the Irish winners on the night included Three Ireland for its City Stages music festival sponsorship which won the Arts & Culture Sponsorship Award; Electric Ireland for its ongoing sponsorship of Pieta House’s Darkness into Light in the Sponsorship with Social Purpose category; Just Eat in the Best Use of Talent category for The Nutmeg featuring John O’Shea and Londis/Core for its sponsorship of RTÉ’s Ireland’s Fittest Family.
In addition, Irish Life picked up the coveted gold in the ESA Best of Europe Award for the Irish Life Dublin Marathon.
Speaking after the awards, Sean Rea, head of media sponsorship for Core Sponsorship said “we are absolutely thrilled to pick up both awards in the Media Sponsorship category. In both entries the differentiating factor is the strong activation beyond the sting. This is down to exceptional collaboration with our clients, the broadcaster, RTÉ and importantly with the production companies ShinAwiL (HOTY) and Kite (IFF).”
The judges of this year’s awards also highly commended a number of other Irish entrants including SSE/Airticity, Guinness, SuperValu, PwC Camogie All Stars.
A record attendance of more than 520 professionals gathered in London to celebrate the best of European sponsorship in what was the 16th annual ESA Awards ceremony. Hosted by former England and British & Irish Lions rugby player Martin Bayfield, the ceremony crowned a first-time winner of Agency of the Year with sports and entertainment marketing specialists The Space Between bagging the top award of the night.
A full list of Irish winners and highly commended entrants is below.
Arts & Culture Sponsorship
Winner: Three Ireland/ City Stages
Environmentally Sustainable Sponsorship
Highly Commended: SSE Airtricity/ Pookie
Media Sponsorship
Highly Commended: AIB – Proud Sponsors of Home of the Year
Winner: Londis – Proud Sponsors of Ireland’s Fittest Family
Music Sponsorship
Highly Commended: Guinness “Lovely Days”
Sponsorship with a Social Purpose < €250,000
Winner: Electric Ireland for Darkness Into Light
Sponsorship with a Social Purpose €1M+
Highly Commended: SuperValu Community Includes Everyone
Sport Sponsorship €1M-€4,999,999
Highly Commended: From Sponsorship to Partnership: The Evolution of the Team Of Us, Vodafone Ireland
Best Use of Content
Highly Commended: The Nutmeg: Just Eat x John O’Shea
Best Use of Digital Channels
Highly Commended: SuperValu Community Includes Everyone
Best Use of Talent
Winner: The Nutmeg: Just Eat x John O’Shea
Event of the Year
Highly Commended: PwC Camogie All-Stars
ESA Best of Europe
Gold Winner (Ireland): Irish Life Dublin Marathon
