When Doping Delivers – US Postal Service & Lance Armstrong 12th August, 2015

Following the fallout from the recent athletics doping scandal brought to the fore by The Times & German broadcaster ARD last week, this is an opportune time to look at one of the biggest and divisive scandals in sport. The continuing battle between Lance Armstrong and one of his prime sponsors, the US Postal Service.

The US Postal Service was a long term sponsor of Lance Armstrong’s cycling team, partnering from 1998 to the 2004 season. The US Postal Service paid $40 million in rights fees across the 6 year term with around $18 million received by Armstrong himself.

In the wake of Lance Armstrong’s sensational doping confession in 2013 the US Government are seeking damages of over $100 million under the False Claims Act as it was sold on the notion Armstrong competed as a ‘clean’ rider. In the blog Enter at Your Own Peril, Slingshot Sponsorship previously explored the facets that affect a sponsor when the rights holder is involved in controversy, however the current case has highlighted another valuable point of discussion.

The interesting development within the Armstrong vs. U.S.P.S. case is the comment from Armstrong’s legal team that the US Postal Service “got exactly what it bargained for, including tens of millions of dollars’ worth of publicity, exposure to more than 30 million spectators at international cycling events, and hundreds of hours of television coverage”.

Herein lies an interesting argument. The US Postal Service did indeed ‘get what it paid for’ with studies stating it received at least $139 million in worldwide brand exposure in four years. Bolstering this, in a document for a 2003 Postal Service news conference the Postal Service described the sponsorship as “may be one of the most effective public relations ventures the Postal Service, and for that matter, any other global service agency, has ever undertaken”.

The argument posed by the defending council is during the sponsorship of the team the US Postal Service reached its objective of overhauling the stereotypes of the postal workers, increasing brand exposure and driving sales and that the current revelations had no hand in the effectiveness of that partnership.

If the US Postal Service reached its outlined goals it would seem contrived to seek fiscal compensation over a decade after the sponsorship ended. With the battle still rumbling on in the courts only time will tell what the Federal Judge will decide.

Sky & British Cycling – When It Pays To Put All Of Your Eggs In One Basket 29th July, 2015

Fresh from the saddle of my first Sky Ride and currently in awe of the (super) human feat by Chris Froome in the Tour de France, I thought this the perfect moment to celebrate the partnership between Sky & British Cycling and question what’s next for both properties.

Since its inception in 2008, Sky’s partnership with British Cycling has been embodied across multiple areas of the business from staff engagement cycling events to wider reaching Sky Rides and the global media machine which is Team Sky. Sky’s involvement was initially seen as a revelation in the industry, only to be further magnified by the venture into Team Sky, with mass plaudits following shortly behind.

Hitting the targets of the partnership over a year ahead of schedule, Sky delivered over a million more regular cyclists across the UK and a British winner of the Tour de France. Now Sky is seen as an industry leader in cycling across all levels from the elite to mass participation with cycling becoming the epicentre of Sky’s engagement both internally and externally.

The announcement earlier this year that Sky will end the partnership with British Cycling in 2016 created a shock throughout the media. With such success and over delivery on the partnership, many have expressed an uncertainty about what will follow. Despite the decision to part been reached “amicably” as British Cycling’s chief executive Ian Drake advised, the challenge for British Cycling will be to find a partner that offers the same level of support as Sky for the long term.

The question which forms much speculation is what the focus of Sky’s next partnership will be. After all, people generally advise not to put all of your eggs in one basket – following Sky’s success with British Cycling, only time will tell if they choose to do so again.