The ATP has signed a long-term extension to its partnership with Rolex.
The new agreement begins in 2021 and will see Rolex continue as the Official Timekeeper of the ATP Tour as well as the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin, Italy. In addition, Rolex will also become the Official Timekeeper of the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan, Italy.
Rolex has a long-standing relationship with tennis that goes back over 40 years, promoting precision, excellence and innovation, all hallmarks of men’s professional tennis.
In addition to the Nitto ATP Finals and the Next Gen ATP Finals, the Swiss watch brand is also proud to be a partner of the four Grand Slam tournaments, all nine ATP Masters 1000 tournaments, as well as the ATP Cup, and to count ATP stars among its Brand Testimonees including Roger Federer, Dominic Thiem, and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
“We are delighted to extend our successful long-term relationship with Rolex, an iconic brand with such a long tradition in sport,” said Massimo Calvelli, ATP CEO. “The partnership with the ATP extends back to 2005 when Rolex first became a valued partner at the season-ending finals and we highly value the commitment Rolex makes to our sport.”
New Zealand Rugby recently signed a partnership which will sees audio brand Nura become the Official Headphones of the All Blacks. To find our more, iSPORTCONNECT spoke with Daniel McCallum, Chief Marketing Officer of Nura, about the deal and the company’s ambitions.
Why was this partnership with the New Zealand All Blacks of interest to you ?
The All Blacks have been described as the most successful sports team on the planet, their winning record is unrivalled. That they come from a small nation like New Zealand is a testament to a relentless pursuit of perfection combined with bucket-loads of passion. We are a young company on a mission to revolutionize how humanity experiences music. That means the All Blacks are a huge source of inspiration for us as we look to disrupt an industry dominated by global giants.
Beyond this, music has always been a key ingredient in the All Blacks’ preparation, on and off the field. Before this partnership came about, the players used our products and told us they loved them. Now, Nura’s personalized sound gets the team even closer to the music that focuses, energizes and moves them, and we couldn’t be prouder.
We’re excited to take the Nura brand to places around the globe, so more people can discover and enjoy what personalized sound can be.
But the partnership doesn’t stop with the All Blacks. This is a three-year global partnership and Nura will also be the Official Headphones of the Black Ferns, All Blacks Sevens, Black Ferns Sevens, Maori All Blacks and All Blacks XV sides.
What is the role that sports sponsorship plays within your marketing and how big do you think the relationship between sport and music is?
Nura is, and always will be, a music company. Partnerships with artists and creators across the spectrum of music continue to be our core focus. We’ve also recognized that both music and sport are universal languages. Fans around the world are used to seeing their sports heroes enjoying music to warm up and warm down, to celebrate and recover. We believe that in music, hearing is feeling. So when you hear more, you can feel more and you can go further.
So by combining with a global sports team like the All Blacks, now Nura can bring the best sound in the world to rugby fans all around the world. We’re excited to take the Nura brand to places around the globe, around and inside the ears of New Zealand Rugby teams, so more people can discover and enjoy what personalized sound – and our totally unique hearing technology – can be, whatever their context.
While sponsorship sits at the top of the funnel, driving awareness and recognition across a very wide base of consumers, it’s our ability to activate the sponsorship through in-stadium and digital marketing that coverts that into interest and, hopefully, more people enjoying listening to Nura out in the wild.
Tell us about how your gaming products produce the best experience for players?
The gap between sports and gaming is becoming almost indistinguishable, so it’s no surprise that we recently launched a product for the professional and lifestyle gamer – the Nuraphone Gaming Microphone..
Not everyone realizes just how different our hearing is from those around us – or even between each of our own ears! The Nuraphone measures your hearing, automatically, in about a minute. It does this by sending sound waves into the inner ear and measuring the very faint echo it sends back – something known as Otoacoustic Emission. Based on that, we know where your personal hearing sensitivities lie so we can tune the sound to you. When you hear music with Nura, you hear music in full colour.
In our partnership with New Zealand Rugby, they took an investor equity stake in Nura, which is a great way to align interests and ambition.
We recently combined the Nuraphone with the Nuraphone Gaming Microphone so that gamers can get a competitive edge through even sharper focus inside the game. We’ve been lucky to spend time with pro gamers around the world and they told us it’s like gaining an extra sense, hearing things they’ve never heard before inside games they know better than anyone.
The great news is, we released the Nuraphone Gaming Microphone just as as some of the major gaming platforms are releasing their next generation consoles, so this is the perfect way to complete the gaming experience at home.
Are you interested in the potential of esports sponsorship?
Yes, though as a startup, we are really looking for a partnership rather than traditional sponsorships. In our partnership with New Zealand Rugby, they took an investor equity stake in Nura, which is a great way to align interests and ambition. We are in discussion with some major esports franchises right now because we truly believe that our technology delivers a clear competitive advantage to players and teams alike.
How are you looking to evolve and expand the Nura brand?
The Nura brand is synonomous with personalized sound. We think we’ve kickstarted an audio revolution that will, eventually, be an expectation. Heading into 2021 with a broadening product portfolio, we know we need to reach a much wider audience and meet them where they are. The category itself is rapidly evolving with the ubiquity of wireless earphones and every week, new products hit the market across a very wide price-range.
It’s a matter of ensuring enough people know about us and get the chance to try our products at a time when there are a lot of large and established brands with much larger budgets.
What we won’t be changing is our focus on delivering the best quality sound in the world, tuned to the unique hearing profile of the user. That can’t be matched by anyone, so it’s a matter of ensuring enough people know about us and get the chance to try our products at a time when there are a lot of large and established brands with much larger budgets and ecosystems of products. We’re currently looking at evolving the way we express our brand across all of the customer touchpoints – online and offline – to grow the recognition of Nura as the leading audio brand in our category. Partnerships with artists, gamers, sports stars certainly help amplify that.
Tell us about your latest campaigns…
The last quarter of the year is always jam-packed with releases and campaigns, and this year is no different. We recently launched the Nuraphone Gaming Microphone that combines our unparalleled personalized sound with a gaming mic so pro gamers and lifestyle gamers and get an edge on their competition. We’ve just refreshed NuraNow, our subscription service for the Nuraphone from as low as $12USD a month plus a small upfront fee, no contracts.
We’re launching a limited edition variant of one of our favorite products later in November that’s truly one-of-a-kind. And as you would expect, the onset of the Holiday season means Prime Day, Black Friday, Cyber Monday specials that we know our community always keeps an eye on this time of year. Into 2021, expect us to continue to grow the portfolio so there are even more ways to enjoy Nura’s personalized sound.
In this week’s community piece, iSPORTCONNECT’s Taruka Srivastav looks at how the sporting world supported communities globally.
Since March, the COVID-19 pandemic has posed particular challenges for all, especially for small-businesses and communities. Understanding their own unique access to resources and ability to collaborate with local communities, sports organisations globally have stepped in to offer their support.
The Arsenal Foundation donated £100,000 to local charities and organisations that are supporting those most in need during this COVID-19 crisis.
Arsenal in a statement said : “We are in constant dialogue with Islington Council and our partners in the NHS to ensure this response is aligned with their priorities and supports those most vulnerable. A further £50,000 already donated to local community initiatives by The Arsenal Foundation, in partnership with Islington Giving, will also be re-directed to Islington Giving’s Crisis Fund as part of this COVID-19 community response.”
Arsenal further made all “Arsenal in the Community” cars available to transport frontline NHS mental health workers.
Manchester United was recently awarded the North West Football Award in the category of Community Initiative of the Season for their response to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic.
During the pandemic, the Foundation committed over £1m to communities in Greater Manchester and across the world. The funds were largely generated through last year’s hugely successful Treble Reunion match, which ironically wouldn’t have taken place if it was arranged for 2020. The main focus of the response has been to ensure we remain a constant in the lives of those who rely on our services on a daily basis.
Meanwhile, with the ongoing Lockdown 2 in the UK, EFL Clubs and their respective Club Community Organisations (CCOs) once again have resorted to Zoom, Teams and other digital platforms to keep people in their communities engaged, educated and, most importantly, connected.
At Luton Football Club, delivering books has been a major part of a key initiative to tackle loneliness in EFL communities.
In the US, NBA too announced its no-cost community COVID-19 Testing Program in Orlando and has expanded it to other Team Markets. The program, which is part of the league’s NBA Together program aims to “support, engage, educate and inspire youth, families and fans in response to the coronavirus pandemic.” The NBA is collaborating with UnidosUS and the National Urban League as well as a number of other private laboratories to identify areas most in-need of access to no-cost testing.
Teams like Warriors joined all Bay Area sports teams, NBC Sports Bay Area, NBC Sports California, and Timbuk2 to launch the Bay Area Unite Shirt Donations for Masks initiative, converting 10,000 t-shirts into 50,000 masks for healthcare workers in Northern California.
The NFL, its teams, and players have also came together to do their part in supporting the country as they try to tackle the issues arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. Honeywell and the Panthers collaborated to create a safer stadium experience by offering individual personal protective equipment (PPE) packs for Panthers fans and staff, as well as deploying air quality monitoring solutions, via a custom Healthy Buildings dashboard, to give real-time information related to the health of the stadium.
The Bengals donated $70,000 to Activities Beyond the Classroom to fund the Academic & Athletic Accountability Pathway (AAA Pathway) program for the 2020-2021 school year. Also, the Ravens donated $250,000 to the Baltimore Health Corps, which is recruiting, training, and employing more than 300 residents who are currently jobless during the pandemic to serve as contract tracers and care coordinators for Baltimore City residents.
The biggest highlight was footballer Marcus Rashford, who amassed praised globally as his campaign to get free meals for children during the half-term holiday garnered massive community and political support The England striker in an interview to BBC said he was “overwhelmed” by the support offered by councils and businesses. It comes after a Labour bid to extend free school meals was rejected by MPs.
Cadbury partnered with multiple Premier League clubs to help the small-businesses and community as well.
In these uncertain times, the global sporting realm has stood by its fans and communities and despite amassing losses every day with no return of play in sight for many, is constantly fulfilling their social and moral responsibility. It is the need of the hour.
Philips has extended its current sponsorship contract with PSV by another 10 years, to 2031.
The extension will ensure that the tie between the club and the health technology firm from Eindhoven will remain extremely close for the foreseeable future.
The two organisations have been closely intertwined since the football club Philips Sport Vereeniging was founded in 1913. Their 107-year-old relationship is now the world’s longest partnership. Some important elements in the extended contract include the name of Philips Stadium and collaboration in the field of innovation.
In addition to this sponsorship contract, Philips will also be the first partner to extend its participation in the Brainport-PSV Partnership by another 5 years, to 2026.
“Philips has deep roots in Eindhoven, and we are closely tied to PSV and the Brainport region. The region is unique in the world because we constantly lead the way in technology, stimulated by a close collaboration within the regional ecosystem”, explains Frans van Houten, CEO of Koninklijke Philips. “Especially in these challenging times, when nothing seems self-evident, we believe it is important to express our affiliation and social tie to the club and to the region. That is why we, as the founder of PSV, have decided to commit to extending our relationship with PSV by another 10 years. Together, we can lay a strong foundation for further success in the future.”
“Philips is at the roots of our club’s past, present and future. Now, more than ever, we understand how special that is. What we took for granted earlier this year has now proven to be invaluable: the support and commitment of important partners”, explains Toon Gerbrands, General Director of PSV. “Philips is undergoing a massive transformation into a health technology company. Their expertise and innovations in the field of medical technology are vitally important to society. We also use them to lift the performance and health of our players, staff and employees to a higher level. That makes our partnership perhaps even closer than ever before.”
The partnership between Philips and PSV consists of an extension of the naming rights to Philips Stadium and the innovation partnership until 2031, in which PSV and Philips will collaborate on new innovations that will encourage the club’s professional sports climate, such as the PSV Top Performance Center.
Philips has also committed to extend its participation in the Brainport-PSV Partnership by another 5 years, alongside fellow Brainport companies ASML, High Tech Campus Eindhoven, Jumbo Supermarkets, Royal Swinkels Family Brewers and VDL.
This innovative partnership was formed on 1 July 2019. The companies, all rooted in the high-tech Brainport Eindhoven region, will open a new chapter in the partnership between the business community and professional sports. Philips is the first partner to commit to extending its participation in this partnership with PSV until 2026.
In addition to the companies’ financial contributions, they will also collaborate on projects to lift the region to an even higher level, such as a school challenge to get young people excited about technology, the Brainport Eindhoven Partner Fund for the region, and the vitality platform for employees.
Rather than printing their own names on the players’ jerseys, the companies will combine their sponsorship efforts under the name ‘Metropoolregio Brainport Eindhoven’ on the PSV players’ chests. In so doing, they can join forces to attract and retain technical talent and invest in the business climate and the health of employees and residents of Brainport Eindhoven, in order to reinforce the region’s national and international appeal.
Southampton Football Club has unveiled Positive Impact Pledge: the opportunity for one forward-thinking entrepreneur or start-up to kickstart their challenger brand of the future with a £20,000 tax-free grant and expert mentorship.
Creating positive impact has long been one of the leading principles behind the club’s successful collaboration with its commercial partners, working tirelessly to help them deliver a variety of business objectives via the club’s brand, the ability to engage the club’s extensive fanbase and the wider football community in addition to the far-reaching appeal of the Premier League.
Therefore, as a natural follow-on, and in keeping with its reputation of challenging convention and doing things differently, the club is on the quest to uncover and propel cutting-edge ideas that encompass its values and epitomise innovation.
During such challenging and testing times, the club has identified the Pledge as a chance to help support like-minded businesses with original ideas and power their growth.
Rather than let innovation go to waste, the club wants to harness the creativity of entrepreneurs and start-ups and offer them support to help turn pioneering concepts into reality.
The Pledge will see fledgling challenger businesses that are dedicated to delivering positive impact submit an initial application detailing how they plan to drive change.
Proposals will then be shortlisted and successful applicants will be invited to St Mary’s Stadium to pitch their business plans to senior board members at Southampton Football Club.
The winning proposal will receive a £20,000 tax-free grant and gain invaluable business advice and guidance in order to help become a challenger brand of tomorrow.
In keeping with the club’s wider off-field strategy, the objective is that the club and the winning entrepreneur or start-up, together, can continue to champion innovation.
The Positive Impact Pledge will also be a key initiative within Southampton Football Club’s wider long-term Corporate Sustainability Strategy.
Southampton Football Club’s Chief Commercial Officer, David Thomas, said: “We work relentlessly with all of our club partners to create positive impact together and I am excited by the opportunity to create even more positive change through the launch of the Positive Impact Pledge.
“It is often in challenging times like this that genuine innovation can happen and we want to champion that creativity.
“The club has always been a challenger brand and we want to uncover an entrepreneur or start-up with the same mentality and values. We encourage anyone that this strikes a chord with, to give it a shot and submit an application.”
The Monaco Esports Fédération, Monaco eSports and Nicecactus are partnering to launch an annual esport event on the international scene; the Monaco Gaming Show.
Nicecactus, in association with the Monaco Esports Federation (MeSF) and its affiliate, Monaco eSports Society, have teamed up to organize a major annual esport event, the Monaco Gaming Show. The 100% international esports event will be a global extravaganza featuring the best esports competitors in the world competing on two major games: Rocket League and Fortnite.
The Monaco Gaming Show will establish Europe’s first major competitive event featuring amateur, semi-professional and professional players in a unique competitive environment.
This exciting and exceptional event will also host influencers and top notch esports celebrities, industry leaders and esport partners.
Louis Ducruet, President of Monaco Esports Federation states, “Our objective with the Monaco Gaming Show is to produce a pure esport event that can grow exponentially every year and establish the Principality of Monaco at the top of the esports scene. Monaco is recognized as a major sporting venue, and esports are no exception. But we also want this project to support the development and success of young Monegasque and international esport talents and help them become tomorrow’s esports superstars. Our partnership with Nicecactus will help this objective become a reality.”
Nicecactus, Europe’s leading esport platform offers its fast growing 1.6 million registered users, world class training, international tournaments and community-based features designed to help members fully realize their potential in gaming. Nicecactus’s unique ‘all-in-one’ platform will serve as the event engine for the Monaco Gaming Show.
On the 19th of December 2020, a “warm-up” event will officially launch the Monaco Gaming Show in the Principality.
Mike Hessabi, Nicecactus CEO says; “We share a common goal with the Monaco Esports Federation, through our will to develop the champions of tomorrow – WhereChampionsAreBorn. The synergy of this partnership is clear for us, by teaming up with the Monaco eSports Society, we are able to deliver a global event that will be spectacular, and with a worldwide dimension.”
Competitors at the Monaco Gaming Show will have the opportunity to win 40,000€ in cash prizes (20,000€ on Fortnite and 20,000€ on Rocket League). Additionally, the event will allow amateur players to face some of the leading players in the world and get recognition for their passion and efforts.
SportCaller, the leading free-to-play (FTP) sports-game provider, has announced its first CIS-facing partnership with Romanian betting giant, Superbet.
As the largest operator in Romania, the Superbet Group has been identified as the region’s most influential multichannel sportsbook, whose footprint will help significantly widen the reach of SportCaller’s flexible product portfolio into both Central and Eastern European markets.
As the foremost free-to-play provider, SportCaller’s product suite drives engagement through a series of games whose mechanics promote responsible acquisition and retention campaigns. Its unique proprietary platform not only allows Superbet to differentiate its offering from other CIS-facing competitors with bespoke local games, but also provides a strategic solution which works across multiple European jurisdictions, where the tightening grip of regulation has put the squeeze on outmoded bonusing techniques.’
SportCaller offers over 100 games across 37 countries and in 20 languages (via multilingual API) in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australasia and North and Latin America. In the past year, it has launched over 60 new games, more than doubling in its active and ongoing operator partnerships along the way. Key architecture – on which every FTP game is created, managed, reported and resulted – has been pivotal to delivering targeted fan engagement around popular local leagues, such as Romania Liga 1 and Poland’s PKO Ekstraklasa.
Adam Shaw, MD (Online) at Superbet, said: “We’re delighted to have secured SportCaller’s services in this new deal. And the early weeks of this relationship have only bolstered our confidence that the free-to-play vertical will elevate the fun for both new and regular customers, as sports betting continues to rebound from the sidelines.
“The best sportsbook journeys always hinge on the right mix of customizable content. SportCaller’s localised approach and proven reputation for high-quality delivery set them apart as the industry’s preferred acquisition and retention partner. Their expertise and accompanying marketing insights will be invaluable as we bid to develop and leverage this partnership over the years to come.”
Cillian Barry, MD at SportCaller, added: “Going live with one of the most valuable operators in the region is a strong statement of intent from us – not just in Romania but also for CIS-facing territories as a whole. Local free-to-play games are still to take hold here in any engaging or sophisticated way, so we know we’ve found the perfect partner in Superbet with whom we can improve the end-user experience, ramping retention levels in the process.
“The early engagement levels with Superbet have been very encouraging, and we can’t wait to see how our games perform across some of these exciting emerging markets.”
ELEVEN SPORTS Poland will broadcast the best action from Ligue 1 Uber Eats to fans LIVE for the next four seasons, until 2023/24.
ELEVEN will be the home of the French top tier in Poland, alongside CANAL + Polska (CANAL+ Poland), following the agreement of a deal with beIN Media Group – the international rights-holding partner of Ligue de Football Professionnel.
ELEVEN’s coverage gets underway on 21st November, after the international break, and will include the most high profile match-ups from each matchday in addition to a regular highlights show.
Patryk Mirosławski, COO ELEVEN SPORTS in Poland, said. “Thanks to the successes of Paris Saint Germain and Olympique Lyonnais in the UEFA Champions League last season, Ligue 1 Uber Eats is more popular with Polish football fans than ever. We’re delighted to be bringing Ligue1 to our viewers until 2023/2024.”
ELEVEN SPORTS Poland will add Ligue 1 to a portfolio of football rights that already includes LaLiga, Bundesliga, Serie A and the FA Cup. Last month ELEVEN also announced the acquisition of rights to Portugal’s Liga NOS.
W Series, the international single-seater motor racing championship for female drivers, will be on the support bill for eight Grand Prix in 2021 as part of a new partnership with Formula 1.
The precise locations and dates of the rounds will be announced in due course, but the series’ Chief Executive Officer, Catherine Bond Muir, says the move fulfils their promise of being “bigger and better in the future” after their 2020 season was called off amid the global pandemic.
“After such a successful inaugural season [in 2019], we at W Series are absolutely delighted to be partnering with Formula 1 for 2021 and beyond,” she said.
“Formula 1 is by some margin the world’s premier motor racing series, and, when we promised that W Series would be bigger and better in the future, partnering with Formula 1 was always our ultimate objective. There is no doubt that, now that W Series will be run alongside and in collaboration with Formula 1, our global reach, impact and influence will be increased significantly.
“Everything that made W Series so popular and successful in 2019 will remain. The cars will be identical, the racing will be close and competitive, and our mission will always be to further the interests and prospects of female racing drivers. We want W Series to entertain, and entertain it will.
“But we also want it to become a crucial default-option stepping stone for any female racing driver who wants to carve out a professional racing career, and our proximity to Formula 1 will help and enhance that process. The fact that W Series is now eligible for FIA Super Licence points will also be an important factor in that regard.
“We are very grateful to Chase Carey, Ross Brawn and their colleagues for having faith in W Series, and for prioritising diversity and inclusion in this way, and we intend to help them drive forwards their excellent #WeRaceAsOne programme this year and in years to come.”
The W Series news follows the announcement of Formula 1’s provisional 2021 calendar, as well as the F2 and F3 schedules.
“We are excited to announce our 2021 season this week and look forward to a thrilling season with an exciting mix of new races and established circuits that we missed during our unprecedented 2020 season,” said Ross Brawn, Managing Director of Motorsport at Formula 1.
“It is a really important moment for us to welcome W Series as partners for eight races this season. They have been a beacon to many since they began racing in 2019. We believe it is incredibly important to give everyone the chance to reach the highest levels of our sport and their partnership with Formula 1 next season shows our determination and commitment to showcase their exciting series and the importance of building greater diversity across the sport.”
