Sport Sponsorship - whats in it for the backers?

IRELAND WILL surely never see a racing car emblazoned with the word Durex - as caused a row in Britain recently. But the name Guinness is firmly linked with events as disparate as the Irish Oaks and Wexford Festival. Carrolls is almost synonymous with the GAA Allstars and the Open Golf chammpionship, and Gallaghers with the Motor Circuit of Ireland. By PAMELA READHEAD

This insidious association of sport and cigarettes and alcohol has upset the new Minister for Health, Mr. Haughey. He has already announced in the Dail that he plans to ask tobacco and drink manufacturers not to increase their involvement in sponsorship as part of a new look at their advertising practice in general. If he decides to go further and curtail their present spending, the repercussions could be felt on every greyhound track and hurling ground in the country.

F or the world has seen an enormous growth of sponsorship in the past few years, not only in sport, but in the Arts and Education as well. The leaders in the field are the giant multinationals like Colgate Palmolive, which is ruumoured in the trade to spend as much as $83m a year, much of it on promoting professional golf. Not only does the company run prestigious tournaments with lavish prizes; most of the leading players are also on its payroll.

The question is, why? In Colgate's case the logical answer is that the company has diversified into leisure companies, so it is worth encouraging interest in sports to encourage sales.

More puzzling is how to decide when to stop. When does this investment turn into an ego trip or charity? And more important, are sports spectators really influenced by sponsorship? Do they choose to smoke a certain brand of cigarette or drink more beer because they see the name on a race-card or a rugby pitch? Is there really any harm in it?

No sponsor has yet been able to give a convincing reply. The old adage by Lord Leverhulme, 'Half of the money spent on advertising is wasted, the trouble is, which half?', is always in the back of any advertiser's mind, but if ever there was a grey area, Sports Sponsorship must be it.

The tobacco companies moved into sponsorship partly because of restricctions on their more conventional advertising. They now concentrate on colour pages in magazines, posters, and PRo Carrolls, for example, spends at least £400,000 ~ year on sponsorship ranging from greyhound racing to top of this, an increasing number of competitors are' personally supported by commercial companies. Eddie Macken's Kerrygold , for instance, is probably the best known.

Apart from the belief that a direct association with a prestigious event like the Horse Show is in itself good for a company's image, there are other considerations which determine which sports fixtures attract a sponsor.

The best, according to Carrolls, are those which attract an on-going Press coverage, such as the GAA Allstars or the Greyhound Derby. Both these operations are in the public eye for several months. The Allstars awards are given as a result of votes by journalists for the best performances in each position in the field for both hurling and football players. As a climax the winning players also get a trip to America. There is, therefore, a considerrable volume of Press interest throughhout the season, during which the cigarette company's name will be mentioned hundreds of times.

The same applies to the greyhound Derby which is run after qualifying heats on the 22 tracks in the 32 counties, building up to a final in which the winning dog collects a prize of £17,500.

Similarly, horse-races such as the Grand National, the Oaks and the Derby, push the names of Irish Disstillers, Guinness and Hospitals Sweeps, in front of the public on the sports pages for months.

Other types of event which attract, are those with a local interest in an area where a company feels the need for goodwill. For instance, in a town where a big company has a factory, it will usually sponsor anything from drama festivals to baby shows.

But the most satisfying kind of sponsorship must surely be the one where the sponsor's product is being avidly consumed on the spot. My favourite would be the Galway Oyster Festival, which for many years has been an integral part of Guinness's public relations armoury.

Yet even Carrolls, one of the counntry's biggest sponsors, cannot explain what the company gets out of sponsorrship in terms of hard cash. 'One third of the population smoke. Less than half of the smokers choose Carrolls. If our name is thrust in front of the public more than another company's, we hope it will persuade more people to choose our brands.' In other words, simple hunch.

Ireland's small population does not attract the largest sponsors in the world, yet even so a total of over £2m is estiimated to be spent on sports sponsorrship alone. The sports involved range from the most elite, such as the Open Golf Championship at Portmarnock which costs Carrolls over £100,000 a year, to small local hurling fixtures.

The Dublin Horse Show too, is suppported by an exclusive group of sponsors: Shell, Guinness, Irish Distillers, Hennessy Brandy and Players Wills each provide a prize for a major event, plus hospitality for a day.