Havas Sports & Entertainment (HS&E), the global brand engagement network of Havas, has today announced a strategic partnership with independent Brazilian experiential marketing agency, Benza Promotions & Events.

Based in Rio, Benza will expand HS&E’s global brand engagement offering in this growing market in the run up to the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil and the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. 

Benza’s extensive track record in event creation and production will complement HS&E’s operations in São Paulo, which offers brands and institutions a wide-range of specialized services including strategic consulting and planning, sponsorship activation, brand content, events and promotion. HS&E has been present in the Brazilian market for over two years, benefitting from the support of Havas Brazil, and has worked for clients such as BMW, Entourage, Hyundai, Louis Vuitton, Tetrapak, and Wipro. 

Managed by founder Marcelo Benzaquem, Benza adds an attractive client base to the partnership, particularly its relationship with The Coca-Cola Company, already a client of HS&E and its recently-acquired US-based experiential agency ignition (which holds a prestigious ‘global partner’ status). 

Lucien Boyer, President & Global CEO, HS&E commented: “This partnership will up-weight the services we deliver to current clients – which includes 11 Olympic sponsors during London 2012 – particularly as global brands and sports organizations prepare their strategies and activations around the World Cup and the Olympic Games in Brazil.” 

“Marcelo’s team has delivered exciting, creative campaigns that place celebration at the center of sports and entertainment events. Our agencies share a common spirit which will help us engage Brazilian and international fans in meaningful ways. We will achieve great things together from this close collaboration at such an important time for Brazil.” 

Marcelo Benzaquem, Founder of Benza added: “We are delighted to join HS&E and benefit from the track record, insight, and global perspective of a network that is present in over 20 markets. We look forward to working together closely and offering innovative, integrated solutions to our clients.” 

HS&E Brazil Strategic Development & International Event Manager, Noémie Claret, will be in charge of developing synergies and new business between the two agencies, as well as between other sister agencies managed by Havas Brazil and Havas Digital Latin America CEO, Ricardo Reis.

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) have apologised to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after referring to them incorrectly as the “Sand Monkeys” in an article on their official website.

The AFC made the mistake after seeing the name written on a web-based encyclopedia and believing it to be the UAE’s nickname.

They have since admitted that the nickname, which the UAE labelled racist and “evidence of disrespect”, had been used in error and that the reference was fixed as soon as they had realised their mistake.

“The AFC apologises for an editorial mistake in which the UAE National Team was inadvertently referred to by an inaccurate nickname… in the article ‘UAE to take cautious approach’ dated 12 October 2012,” a statement for the Malaysia-based body said.

“The error, which was mainly because of referral to a popular web-based encyclopedia by the concerned editor, was corrected immediately after it was noticed.

“The AFC would like to apologise for any hurt this might have caused to the UAE Football Association and UAE football fans.”

The UAE’s secretary general Yousuf Abdulla said the affair “reveals the racist acts of some of the AFC officials from the eastern part of the continent towards the countries from the western region.”

The UAE’s nickname is actually Al-Abyad, or The Whites.

English giants Liverpool could sell the naming rights to Anfield, owner John Henry has revealed.

Since buying the club in October 2010 Henry has been investigating whether to redevelop the existing ground or build a new stadium in Stanley Park – the plan which was put forward by former owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks.

The American has now revealed that if they do decide to stay at historic home Anfield, they could sell the naming rights to help bring extra revenue into the club, though it wasn’t something being actively worked on at the moment.

Fenway Sports Group chief Henry told the Tomkins Times website: “A naming rights deal at Anfield could occur, I suppose, if the partner were right. We haven’t pursued it.”

“There are various ways to generate revenues,” he said. “A big club has to hit on all cylinders so to speak. Champions League, Premier League, commercial – everywhere that makes sense.

“As evidenced by Manchester City’s success and that of Chelsea and Manchester United, you have to have sufficient resources to replenish and improve your squad annually in the Premier League. You don’t have a choice.”

English Rugby League club Bradford Bulls have entered into administration and are faced with the threat of “extinction” if a buyer does not come forward in the next ten days.

It is understood that the club currently owes around £600, generic 000 with £196, drugs 00 in PAYE tax for May and June, troche  as well as an outstanding VAT bill of £250,000 and the club’s monthly wage bill is believed to equate to around £200,000.

Of the situation joint-administrator Brendan Guilfoyle said: “We have just 10 working days to save the club from liquidation because there are no funds to carry on longer.

“If anyone is interested in buying the Bulls we need to hear from them, this club is on the brink of extinction.

“The directors made every effort to try to save the club within the 14-day timescale issued by the courts, but the moratorium ended on Monday without any potential buyer coming forward.”

The club shocked the rugby league community when they announced in March they needed to raise £1 million or face going afloat due to an impending tax bill and a changed banking lending arrangement leaving them in dire need of money. Supporters across the rugby league world rallied to help the club raise an initial sum of £500,000.

After unsuccessful attempts to raise further money, chairmen Peter Hood stepped down after disagreements with majority shareholder, Chris Caisley.  At the start of June director, Stephen Coulby admitted the club faced going into administration.

The news will come as a forceful shock to the sport, with the Bulls being one of the game’s leading clubs and brands. They were one of the leading lights at the start of the modern era, winning four of the first ten Super League championships and were renowned as one of the pioneers in off-field marketing.

Considering that they are the third Super League club to enter administration in three seasons, following Wakefield Trinity Wildcats last year and the now-liquidated Crusaders in 2010, serious questions of the game’s financial health need to be asked.

Bradford, who currently sit in 9th on the Super League table, still in contention for a play-off appearance, now face a points-deduction from the Rugby Football League. 

Twitter and global interactive marketing provider ExactTarget announced today the companies are partnering to host some of the world’s top brands for Super Bowl weekend at ExactTarget’s Global headquarters in downtown Indianapolis.

Building on a more than three-year relationship between the companies, allergist leaders from ExactTarget and Twitter will host executives from top consumer and technology brands, providing a central hub for socially savvy marketing leaders to connect in downtown Indianapolis.

“Twitter has been a catalyst for change, fueling brands’ ability to connect with consumers in real time online,” said Scott Dorsey, ExactTarget co-founder and chief executive officer. “Through our Social Media Lab in San Francisco and the continued evolution of our social media management solution SocialEngage, we’ve developed a deep relationship with Twitter and look forward to becoming Twitter’s Indianapolis headquarters for Super Bowl 46.”

Together, Twitter and ExactTarget plan to host more than 200 in Indianapolis over Super Bowl weekend.

The news of the partnership comes as Super Bowl-related tweets surged over the past 24 hours, topping more than 529,000 from 3 p.m. Wednesday to 3 p.m. Thursday – an increase of more than 65 percent over the previous 24-hour period.

Yamaha World Superbike team boss Massimo Meregalli will become director of their MotoGP team next season.

This season the team had two managers because of the garage being divided between former champion Valentino Rossi and new champion Jorge Lorenzo.

Seven-time champion Rossi will leave to join Ducati at the end of the season, taking with him the man who ran his part of the garage, Davide Brivio.

The final race of the season takes place in Valencia this Sunday.

Meregalli will start his new job after Sunday’s race, with the first testing session for 2011 taking place in Valencia on Tuesday.

He will work with team manager Wilco Zeelenberg.

The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) has selected Logi Analytics as their Official Analytic Software Partner.

The LPGA first partnered with Logi Analytics earlier this year, providing business intelligence and analytics technology to power its all new “Online Media Center.” The Online Media Center powered by Logi Analytics will empower global media covering the LPGA Tour with analytical capabilities and tools to report on player statistics, tournament information, all-time LPGA records and additional LPGA information.

“Simply put, our job is to help the media tell our story,” said Kraig Kann, LPGA Chief Communications Officer. “There’s nothing more important than having the tools to do it and this is a big step forward for the LPGA. Logi Analytics has been a terrific partner in building something we’re all proud of and together, we’ll keep working to provide media members with an Online Media Center that serves their needs.”

The long-term partnership with Logi Analytics will ensure the Online Media Center continues to evolve with enhancements set to be added over the coming year including tournament-specific stats and the addition of other historically based information.

“After an extensive evaluation of Business Intelligence vendors, Logi Analytics was the clear choice to power the Online Media Center,” said Jack Sumner, Chief Information Officer for the LPGA.  “The key differentiators were the ease and speed of development and the ability to embed the reports inside of the SharePoint.”

“There’s no better way to promote a sport than to empower reporters with a tool that can help them write compelling, data-driven stories about the athletes they follow,” said Brett Jackson, president and CEO of Logi Analytics. ”The LPGA is taking the lead in bringing analytics to professional women’s golf, starting with its ‘Online Media Center.’ Logi Analytics provides an extremely easy-to-use tool that any reporter – with no expertise in data or technology – can use to uncover new insights, using both real-time and historical data. By partnering to support the LPGA media center, we can help evolve the game with analytics and drive interest among a much greater audience of sports enthusiasts.”

The Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) announced today that it has accepted a bid from Traffic Sports for the commercial partnership rights to the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup and the 2013/14 and 2014/15 CONCACAF Champions League tournaments.

The multi-year agreement was reached after due process from the CONCACAF Evaluation Committee assigned to this bid, comprised of Mr. Pedro Chaluja, Panamanian Football Federation President, Mr. Dan Flynn, General Secretary of the United States Soccer Federation and Mr. Canover Watson, Treasurer of the Cayman Islands Football Association, who evaluated all  bids submitted.

“The strategic alliance with Traffic is the result of a long assessment process that showcases the vast and growing interest in the market for our Confederation properties and tournaments,” said CONCACAF President, Jeffrey Webb. “The number and quality of interested parties are also a true testament to all of our Member Associations’ efforts to elevate the game in our region.”

The agreement includes commercial partnership rights for the 2013 Gold Cup, CONCACAF’s biennial championship for national teams that continues to grow in popularity with fans worldwide, and also for the 2013/14 and 2014/15 editions of the CONCACAF Champions League, the regional club team competition.

Under terms of the deal, Traffic Sports acquires the right to package and market these CONCACAF properties globally with assets that include field of play branding, use of tournament marks, and hospitality, among others.

“We are honored to have been selected by CONCACAF to represent these prestigious competitions,” said Aaron Davidson, President of Traffic Sports USA. “Our company has been investing in soccer in the Americas for 32 years including being the commercial agency for CONCACAF from 1991 – 2003 and holding media and sponsorship rights to the majority of the CONCACAF Member Associations until today.  These are exciting times for football in the CONCACAF region and we look forward to globalizing Gold Cup and Champions League as we have done with Copa America, Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana over the years.”