Guinness the top Sports Sponsor in Ireland

Guinness has topped the league of Ireland’s most appealing sports sponsors among Irish adults so far in 2016, while the level of new deals activity reported has slowed this year, according to the quarter 1 Irish Sponsorship market review by sponsorship advisors ONSIDE.

The latest ONSIDE QSR notes that since January, sixty-four different sports sponsors competed to varying degrees for the admiration of the Irish adult public, with 3 in 10 adults identifying either Guinness or Heineken sponsorship as best in class this quarter.

The next line of stand-out sports sponsors identified by ONSIDE’s Sponsorship Tracker for Q1 2016 included 3 Mobile as sponsors of Irish Football and Rugby, provincial rugby sponsors Bank of Ireland and AIB, whose GAA support peaked in March with the Club championship Finals and their ground-breaking TV initiative ‘The Toughest Trade’.

Strong results for other GAA sponsors that scored in the ONSIDE research were achieved by Allianz (League sponsors) and Super-Valu, while a noteworthy start was achieved by Lidl as they launch a €1.5m spend as sponsors of Ladies GAA.  Other sports sponsors singled out by the Irish public for stand-out recognition last quarter included brands active around the landmark event of the period, namely the 6 Nations, including Aer Lingus, Aviva, Canterbury, RBS/Ulster Bank and Sony.

9 in 10 of all deals done were sport-related, with significant new deals reported in the quarter including CityJet’s official airline partnership with the FAI as they prepare for the Euro’s and Kellogg’s official sponsorship of Team Ireland for 2016 Olympic Games.  New ambassadorial deals included the Budweiser link up with Conor McGregor and KPMG’s sponsorship agreement with Ireland’s rising golf star, Paul Dunne.