Wednesday, October 20, 2010

'Brought to you by Guinness, proud sponsors of the EPL'- a case of ambush?

The English Premier League is by far the Number 1 football property in Nigeria (by follower ship). That is why the TV broadcast has always been a big deal when it comes to bids from broadcasters. Of course, that also means that brand managers try to get in through the door to bring in their brands on the broadcast at a high cost.

However, in recent times, in Nigeria, brands like Guinness, who are broadcast sponsors have take it one step forward. Guinness has extended the link to the early morning drive-time Sports Radio show the brand sponsors on Rhythm 93.7 FM. Consistently, the brand presenters use the by-line, ' Guinness, Proud Sponsor of the EPL'.

Guinness is a broadcast sponsor of the EPL on Supersport across Africa but not event sponsors, hence, 'proud sponsors of the EPL' is actually not correct, 'proud sponsors of the EPL on Supersport' or 'proud sponsors of the EPL broadcast in Nigeria' is more accurate.

Hence, Guinness may actually be intentionally ambushing the EPL.

Is ambush a sin? Well, the jury is out, but there are some brands which will never go into ambush due to their stature and personality.

I do not think Guinness should open itself to any kind of ridicule from such descriptions. I certainly think the brand is too big for such 'roforofo' play. Guinness is not Kulula.com.

This is free advise.

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2 comments:

  1. Akin AdesolaOctober 20, 2010 at 5:02 AM

    Hey Tunji,
    Nice piece. Of course, all is fair in war and play. "Proud sponsors of the EPL" is a shortened version of "Proud sponsors of the EPL on Supersport." So where's the ambush?

    In a sense, sponsoring the broadcast of the EPL is the same as sponsoring the EPL in principle. It involves revenue, a portion of which eventually gets to the organizers or owners of the EPL through the holders of the broadcast rights. And since the whole of the EPL is propped up by funds that come from rights to different aspects of the property/asset, it is indeed a "Sponsorship."

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  2. TOctober 26, 2010 at 12:53 AM

    Hi Bushfire,

    Thanks for your comment. You are partly right that by extension or by implication, sponsoring the broadcast in Nigeria is contributing sponsorship revenue to the EPL. But even with the revenue, there are rights that are sold for the payment and there are certain things that can be implied and expressed. I think 'Proud Sponsors of the EPL' is being smart but not being correct. Fortunately for Guinness, the EPL will not look into this market for ambush, if not, they would have expressed the same. I am talking from experience because I have tried to extend broadcast sponsorship as a proxy for event sponsorship before and I know the kind of scrutiny that came under.

    The principle is not really about the contribution of funds, it is about the rights given.

    Thanks for your contribution.

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