Tag: Charity Sponsorship

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]

Charity Sponsorship: Top 5 Reasons Why Companies Get Involved 24th February, 2011

With the current economic downturn and the critical financial issues of the market, it is vital that companies find new ways to differentiate themselves against their competitors and increase brand awareness amongst their target audience.  There are a number of ways to do this, but one of the best ways to increase brand awareness is through sponsorship – specifically sponsorship in relation to charitable work and activities.

Brands have been involved with charities as part of their corporate social responsibility positioning for decades.  However, a recent occurrence that is increasing is linking brand support of charities through marketing campaigns and sponsorship activation.  Associating charitable support through sponsorship rights is an effective way to create an emotive response alongside the goodwill already built through their sponsorship activation.

But what are the reasons that drive a company to sponsor a charity? Although there are many reasons, here are our top 5:

1.  Increasing brand loyalty: sponsoring a charity is a business deal rather than a charitable donation. Companies choose to sponsor a charity in order to align their PR activity with a cause-related issue that enables them to build or increase their reputation amongst their target market.

2.  Brand differentiation: sponsoring a charity has the potential to differentiate their brand against other competitors who don’t support charities.

3.  Awareness and visibility: as charities typically rely on volunteers to run their business and have small marketing budgets, social media plays a vital role in their marketing strategy.  Brands who are involved with charitable work can typically work with the charities to utilise these social networks in order to promote their association providing a greater reach into a different audience.

4.  Highlighting corporate social responsibility: supporting a charity enhances a company’s credibility in a way that can spread a positive attitude amongst their audience and help them reach a new market.

5.  Client entertainment:  this can form a key part of a brands strategy, especially in regards to cultural or athletic events in which brands can activate their experiential marketing campaigns and/or meet with key individuals.

Global Action Plan supports London Irish Big 5 10th February, 2011

Global Action Plan has signed on to support London Irish Rugby Club alongside the London Irish Big 5, set up through the Slingshot Sponsorship agency. The legendary rugby club has this season expanded the annual St. Patrick’s Day Party into five big events with live entertainment and activities for supporters young and old. 

Global Action Plan is an award winning environmental charity that works with all kinds of groups, from school children to corporate employees, to bring about engagement and action on sustainability issues. For the London Irish Big 5 events, Global Action Plan will be promoting their youth volunteering project, Climate Squad, with its wide-reaching environmental initiatives; Operations Pump It Up and Bust-a-flush.

Some of the young volunteers will be based in the car park of the Madejski Stadium pumping car tyres and explaining to car owners how keeping your car tyre pressure at the recommended level can save you up to 8% on fuel costs and reduce emissions.

Felicity Greenland, London Irish Marketing and Events Director, comments: “We are very happy to have Global Action Plan involved in our Big 5 programme. We are excited about helping to showcase environmental issues as well as providing an engaging experience for our supporters.”

Through their support, Global Action Plan will be provided with a fantastic profile opportunity to get involved in sport sponsorship and to promote their cause to an engaged audience.

Trewin Restorick, Global Action Plan CEO, states: “We are looking forward to bringing our Pump it up Programme to London Irish and the Big 5.  We can’t wait to showcase how our charity works and how young volunteers can get involved.”

Global Action Plan has agreed involvement with the February 12th – Valentines vs Newscastle Falcons and the February 26th– Festival of Rugby vs Harlequins. 

More Information

London Irish Big 5: http://www.london-irish.com/Big5.ink

Global Action Plan: http://www.globalactionplan.org.uk/

Slingshot Sponsorship: localhost:8080/slingshotsponsorship.com


UK AWARE Partners with Climate Week 10th December, 2010

>UK AWARE will be aligning Britain’s largest sustainable lifestyle exhibition with Climate Week. The new dates of the exhibition will now be Friday 25th March and Saturday 26th March 2011. 

Climate Week is a new national occasion taking place from 21 – 27 March 2011. Thousands of businesses, charities, schools, councils and many others will run events showcasing the practical solutions to climate change, encouraging thousands more to act during the rest of the year. UK AWARE will be one of main highlights of the week, and one of the largest events taking place, providing a unique opportunity for the general public to come and discover some of the easy sustainable alternatives available for a modern lifestyle. 

UK AWARE and Climate Week share the same vision of providing a platform for ideas, demonstrating and inspiring small steps that individuals can take towards a low carbon, low impact lifestyle. Both will act as a catalyst for more people to discover, learn and create a positive impact on a personal, community and society basis. 

From political leaders to well known celebrities, Climate Week has already galvanised a huge number of famous individuals, with names as diverse as  David Cameron, Kofi Annan, Lily Cole and Sienna Miller all backing the campaign. There is support from a huge number of national and regional organisations, representing over 6 million individuals, who are all being asked to take part in a concentrated week of positive action and awareness. It is easy to see that there is a huge amount of support already behind the initiative, and UK AWARE are proud to be both a key supporter and a major feature of the week. 

UK AWARE dispels some of the myths around living a green lifestyle, while answering many of the public’s questions and creating positive messages on sustainable living. 

Danny Carnegie, UK AWARE Director said: “As a unique social enterprise, UK AWARE has been doing great work for over four years. It is very exciting to be working with Climate Week as they are a wonderful organisation and I believe that strong partnerships are key to results. According to Continental/KNOTS research, 77% of British still feel guilty about not doing enough environmentally friendly activities. Together UK AWARE and Climate Week offer realistic and accessible solutions.”

Kevin Steele, Climate Week’s Chief Executive said: “We are delighted that UK AWARE is now taking place during Climate Week. It provides a superb example of the sorts of inspirational actions and positive solutions that are taking place throughout the nation, showing how everyone can do their bit to combat climate change. It should prove to be a real highlight of the week.”

Notes to Editors

About UK AWARE

UK AWARE is the brainchild of brothers Danny, (a fire-fighter) and Jodie (a teacher) Carnegie who were so baffled about how to make positive changes in their day to day lives to help tackle climate change, they decided to take action to bring green business and consumers face to face.

For further press information, ticket offers or press access contact Philippa Cox on 0207 091 7214 or email [email protected].

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