Piaras Kelly PR - Public Relations in Ireland

Feargal McKay has raised the downside of sports sponsorship in the comments section of this website on a number of occasions, highlighting the case of Floyd Landis, the disgraced Tour de France winner, and his sponsor, Phonak, a Swiss hearing aid maker.

Agenda Inc reports the opportunity “could have translated into a remarkable promotional campaign for Phonak, a rather obscure team sponsor—at least on a global brand level. Instead, Landis was stripped of his title after testing positively for illegally high testosterone use, and Phonak became the sponsor heard around the world as it retreated from professional sports sponsorships. The firm announced a new strategy to sponsor the arts, where, presumably, the risks are more manageable (the proportion of artists on drugs notwithstanding).“

McKay points out that firms often get more publicity from guerilla stunts. Examples of this are Corona’s boot sponsorship of a couple of Cork GAA players or Brian O’Driscoll’s Powerade deal. These are two examples which certainly grabbed the headlines, but there are plenty of other guerilla activities which fall flat on their face. Alex Gibson also points out in the comments section that “PR agencies are sometimes guilty of trying to be too cute by far and alienating the sponsors.“

Alex has two great podcasts about sponsorship that are well worth listening to. One on sponsorship trends and another specifically on sports sponsorship. Despite the potential scandals that could arise, Alex points out what John Trainor of Onside and John Redmond of Slatterys say on the subject in the Persuaders sports sponsorship podcast - “Both agreed that sponsorship contracts are tightening up with regard to get out clauses in the case of prospective scandals.“

With so much cash wrapped up in sport these days, sporting organisations are going to have to really scrutinise how they deal with scandals. The confusion surrounding Marion Jones following her negative B test for EPO really highlights this. If Athletics Associations aren’t careful they could end up in the same mess as the Tour de France organisers.

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