UEFA's Research Tender Is A Moment To Note For Sponsorship
There’s a significant moment coming in the sponsor research business as Uefa prepares to announce which firms are on board ahead of Euro 2012. There are six packages up for grabs covering audience research through to TV viewership and sponsorship brand monitoring. The pitch process took place in Switzerland and is now complete. The results are due any day now.
Given the recent movements in the market, with Repucom’s takeover of IFM Sports Marketing Surveys in particular, the UEFA work may give an indicator of where the market is going. The pitchers included the new RSMG-Insights Repucom group, Kantar Sport (formerly TNS Sport), Sponsorship Intelligence and Hall and Partners.
The money in the sector has shifted from sponsor side to rights holders according to one person close to the business, adding to the significance of the UEFA pitch. No sponsor proposal is given the time of day unless it comes with all the usual numbers attached, said my source.
The Olympics has generated relatively little in terms of work for the sector, he said, given its famously ‘clean’ presentation (a word sponsors hate, as it positions them, and their money, as dirty).
The brands track their ROI in other, ever more creative ways, using their generalist agencies rather than sponsor sector specialists.
Richard Gillis writes for The Wall Street Journal in London and blogs at www.unofficialpartner.co.uk. Follow him on Twitter: @RichardGillis1.
