131 replies to this topic

[Johnoco]

There's got to be a Souper League joke in there somewhere.

[Dave T]

Heinz is a small ticket item OK for a minor partner but for a large naming rights deal forget it.

Not sure I understand this point CM.

Heinz may sell low value products, but then so do many companies. Some people will spend more per year on Heinz products than they will on beer products, betting shops, insurance, breakfast cereal etc. and these companies have all invested in sponsorship.

Heinz also have massive TV advertising campaigns, so this suggests they have large marketing budgets.

[Manx RL]

Heinz are a massive company by the way, one of the biggest in the World. They have 50% of the market share in the US

Just think how many products of theirs you have in your house

If we could have them involved it would be fantastic

They've been involved for quite a while.

[foozler]

They've been involved for quite a while.

They do a lot of work with Wigan I believe and then of course there is the Big Soup sponsorship.

[foozler]

Aside the general poor economic situation, I think one of the problems is the fact that so many "household" brands founded in the north are now owned by overseas multi-nationals or private equity firms who obviously have a very different relationship to the market. Another stumbling block is going to be the ongoing perception that rugby league is a working class sport whose fans have limited spending power/ wealth to invest and so be less appealing to sponsors than say rugby union fans.

If you look within the game, Broncos have a really interesting tie up with Selco, a southern England company, who have openly said they are attracted to the sport because they are looking to expand their business in the north. I'm sure there must be a number of companies down south who could be looking for a vehicle to help increase exposure and sales within the north. Now whether they are big enough to be competition sponsors I have no idea, but maybe there is mileage for individual clubs to do something.

On the subject of a competition sponsor, going by reaction on here it seems betting and booze companies are not viewed favourably, (even though they have the money), which kind of leaves a limited number of sectors to target one of which is financial services.

To the best of my knowledge, Co-operative Financial Services is one of the biggest financial services companies based in the north, is already involved in sponsoring RL, and is looking to make a major push in retail banking with the acquisition of hundreds of Lloyds branches. I would have thought extending their participation to sponsoring SL would be a natural fit with the sport, and well within their budget?

[RP London]

Ironically although you say the working class has limited spending power/wealth the likes of Heinz have to make sure that they are in the mindset so that the little wealth that is being spent is being spent on their stuff and not Tesco's own brand etc. At times like this the need for marketing is still very much there and you need to make sure that you are diverting what little money is being spent onto your products.

yes the money you can get for the sponsorship deal will be limited and the companies will be making sure they are getting a good bang for their buck and its directed at the right people but if you have the product./audience then you can still get these deals, it is just a little harder.

The person in the job sounds well qualified to know what he is doing and how to find these companies/pitch yourself properly to them. so i am confident, no matter how misplaced that confidence may be.

[EastLondonMike]

Seems the NRL don't have such problems finding a major backer.. read on.


According to Australian media reports,Telstra are set to renew their sponsorship of the National Rugby League worth a staggering $100 million.
The deal means Telstra will continue as major sponsor of the NRL competition, extending the six-year, $90 million deal it signed in 2007.
Although the new deal is expected to have the same annual value as the previous agreement, it is understood Telstra will now have rights to broadcast NRL matches live via mobiles, tablets and Internet protocol TV, as well as at least some of the digital rights for the three weekly matches telecast by the Nine Network. It previously held all the NRL digital rights.
Fox Sports, which has rights for the other five NRL matches every week, gained the IPTV and tablet rights for the matches it will broadcast when the ARLC signed its five-year, $1.05 billion agreement with Fox and Nine in August.
That agreement allows Fox Sports to telecast its NRL matches via the new Foxtel Go tablet app, over which is also broadcasts most A-League soccer matches. Telstra has the digital rights, including mobile handset, internet and tablet rights, to show AFL matches under the terms of an agreement signed last year.
The ARLC still has to finalise its Sydney radio rights agreement, and its New Zealand broadcast rights.
The radio rights are likely to be won by John Singleton’s Macquarie Radio Network, owner of incumbent broadcaster 2GB and Southern Cross Media.
The NRL is also yet to finalise its new collective bargaining agreement with its players and the amount each club will pay the players under the league’s salary cap. NRL chairman John Grant has held a series of meetings with players in recent days, although it is understood an agreement is not close to being finalised.

Edited by EastLondonMike, 11 December 2012 - 04:51 PM.

[CANETMAN]

What was the Engage SL deal worth?

First year was £ 800K and i think it increased by around £ 50K a year after that so 6 years would have been ending up at around £ 1.1 million + what ever they decided to spend on top to make it work.CM

[CANETMAN]

Heinz are a massive company by the way, one of the biggest in the World. They have 50% of the market share in the US

Just think how many products of theirs you have in your house

If we could have them involved it would be fantastic

YES they are however its a small ticket item (How much for a tin of beans/soup maybe £1) outside of high level beer deals (Not ales as they are doing quite badly nowadays) say a pint of lager etc cost around £ 3.50 on average and maybe the average beer drinker has lets say 10/12 pints a week (that would = over 40 cans of beans:)))))))Mostly high ticket items do major sponsorships.CM

[Manx RL]

YES they are however its a small ticket item (How much for a tin of beans/soup maybe £1) outside of high level beer deals (Not ales as they are doing quite badly nowadays) say a pint of lager etc cost around £ 3.50 on average and maybe the average beer drinker has lets say 10/12 pints a week (that would = over 40 cans of beans:)))))))Mostly high ticket items do major sponsorships.CM

Maybe beans and beer sell at those ratios? £3.50 a pint and the lions share is taken in tax.

[Dave T]

Aye - you'll never see a company like Heinz engaging in sponsorship deals:

http://en.wikipedia....iki/Heinz_Field

Looking at the Olympic Sponsorship deals we see a few other companies with 'small ticket' items for sale:
McDonalds - $100m
Coca Cola - $100m
Proctor and Gamble - $100m
Cadbury - $31m
Trebor - $15m

If we are talking small ticket items, then surely that would rule out Gillette (I spend a hell of a lot less with them than Heinz per year!).

Heinz have all sorts of products that people use every day of the year - soup, sauces (inc. Heinz, Daddies, HP), weight-watchers food, Lea and Perrins, tinned food etc.

[JohnM]

How would we sell say SuperLeague naming rights: The TRL Forum SuperLeague. What have we to offer that can be quantified and then paid for out of a major company's marketing budget? Anyone know how much Engage put in, how they justified spending the money and how they measured the effectiveness of what they had spent?

[Matt J]

I wouldnt mind Heinz Super League.

Im guessing we wont see the real impact of this new Commercial guy until hes been in the job 18 months.

[Manx RL]

I wouldnt mind Heinz Super League.

Im guessing we wont see the real impact of this new Commercial guy until hes been in the job 18 months.

He won't stay that long....

[getdownmonkeyman]

He won't stay that long....

He was useless anyway.....

[HappyDave]

He was useless anyway.....

Sarcy sod!

[CANETMAN]

Aye - you'll never see a company like Heinz engaging in sponsorship deals:

http://en.wikipedia....iki/Heinz_Field

Looking at the Olympic Sponsorship deals we see a few other companies with 'small ticket' items for sale:
McDonalds - $100m
Coca Cola - $100m
Proctor and Gamble - $100m
Cadbury - $31m
Trebor - $15m

If we are talking small ticket items, then surely that would rule out Gillette (I spend a hell of a lot less with them than Heinz per year!).

Heinz have all sorts of products that people use every day of the year - soup, sauces (inc. Heinz, Daddies, HP), weight-watchers food, Lea and Perrins, tinned food etc.

These deals are for major sports,trust me for a sport like RL in the UK the bean counters (Excuse the pun:) would look at it and it would not stack up.150000 fans200000 average TVSponsorship £ 1M + It has to be a big ticket item,the other problem being for RL and it is the biggest one is the demographics in the old days it suited beer/fags and gambling as i stated before ales (Not lagers) are really struggling now fags are banned (not that we would want them anyway) and betting on RL is very minor its all racing and soccer.IMHO our best bet would be either a supermarket or a product from an emerging market.CM

Edited by CANETMAN, 13 December 2012 - 06:09 AM.

[nadera78]

These deals are for major sports,trust me for a sport like RL in the UK the bean counters (Excuse the pun:) would look at it and it would not stack up.150000 fans200000 average TVSponsorship £ 1M + It has to be a big ticket item,the other problem being for RL and it is the biggest one is the demographics in the old days it suited beer/fags and gambling as i stated before ales (Not lagers) are really struggling now fags are banned (not that we would want them anyway) and betting on RL is very minor its all racing and soccer.IMHO our best bet would be either a supermarket or a product from an emerging market.CM

Betting on RL is not minor, it's the third largest sport by some distance. Just like RL is a clear second on the list of sports shown on Sky. And Sky charge more to advertise during RL matches than RU ones.

[Matt J]

Betting on RL is not minor, it's the third largest sport by some distance. Just like RL is a clear second on the list of sports shown on Sky. And Sky charge more to advertise during RL matches than RU ones.

Hang on, youre coming on here with all these facts, some of us WANT to paint a negative picture.

[dkw]

These deals are for major sports,trust me for a sport like RL in the UK the bean counters (Excuse the pun:) would look at it and it would not stack up.150000 fans200000 average TVSponsorship £ 1M + It has to be a big ticket item,the other problem being for RL and it is the biggest one is the demographics in the old days it suited beer/fags and gambling as i stated before ales (Not lagers) are really struggling now fags are banned (not that we would want them anyway) and betting on RL is very minor its all racing and soccer.IMHO our best bet would be either a supermarket or a product from an emerging market.CM

Does anyone have a picture of some goalposts being moved please.