Sponsorship that Saves the Planet
27th March, 2011
It is common to associate sponsorship with commercial value, fundraising activity, experiential campaigns and brand engagement, but rarely in terms of the environment. However, we managed to pull off a sponsorship campaign with our client London Irish that did just that!
Alongside the London Irish Rugby Club Big 5 games, Valentines’ Day and Festival of Rugby, the award-winning environmental charity Global Action Plan promoted its environmental youth initiative Climate Squad as a part of a brand experiential campaign through the support of Slingshot Sponsorship.
Climate Squad’s environmental initiatives at the London Irish Big 5 included Operations: Pump It Up and Bust a Flush.
Operation Pump It Up saw young volunteers pumping up fans car tyres in the Madejski Stadium’s parking lot. It was an opportunity to engage drivers and save carbon by ensuring fan’s tyres were pumped to the correct levels. The implementation was not only informative, but caught fans when they had time to spare to listen to how such a small activity can reduce their carbon footprint and save them money.
The second initiative with Climate Squad, Bust a Flush, showed how simple water saving devices and tips to reduce water use could help protect the environment. With human sized hippos approaching fans and providing free giveaways, this created significant engagement for both children and adults alike. While children had their faces painted by giant hippos, adults learned how to create a more sustainable future for their families.
The Global Action Plan initiatives were a great way to raise awareness of water scarcity and to introduce simple ways to practically reduce a household’s impact on the environment. Furthermore, it provided an informative and fun way to engage young people with London Irish before kick-off.
The astounding results through Global Action Plan’s activity during the London Irish Big 5 including:
- 209 water saving devices over 2 days
- 1.73 tonnes of carbon saved with Bust a Flush
- 5.93 tonnes of carbon saved with the Pump it Up
This resulted in a total of 7.66 tonnes of carbon savings throughout the sponsorship programme.
Jackie Fast, Managing Director of Slingshot Sponsorship commented: “Climate Squad’s Pump It Up campaign was extremely engaging with the London Irish rugby fans. We had cars queuing up to have their tyres pumped by the young volunteers and get eco-driving tips.”
Fast continued, “Bust a Flush was also a resounding success. The hippos were a really fun and effective way of getting a message across – and worked exceptionally well with our London Irish Rugby Club’s Big 5 event. It was great to see so many young volunteers deeply engaging with the fans, giving out devices and tips on how to make simple changes in your home that make a big difference” 
London Irish fan, George Crone further commented, “Bust a Flush was a great way to raise awareness of water scarcity and to introduce simple ways to reduce individual household’s impacts!”
We pride ourselves in ensuring that all of our sponsorship programmes at Slingshot create value for everyone involved – the sponsor, the audience and the property. However, in this unique case we were also able to create value for the environment, making it one of the few sponsorship programmes that actually can save the planet!
For further information on Global Action Plan’s initiatives, please contact Louise Groom: 0207 420 4429; [email protected]