WHEN Britain's team S3ils
to the Sports Council on
into the Solent on Thu~ay'
In 1 bid to Win the Admiral's
Cup. the contest ..ru be of
more tllan paum& rnter(SI to
Pc~r Qurnoen.
Quinnen. the charrman of
James C.pcl, London's lead-
in& 11ockbrokcr, admitted la.n
.. eet that he is 1 landlubber
tnd has never set foot on a
yxfrL But he ..m do so
durin& this run-up to C.,..'ti
Week. Uis form. now con·
rrollcd by the llongkong &
Shanghai Bank, has sunk
£90,000 this year into spon·
sorin& tlte team from the
R~al Ocean Racing Oub.
uanntn uckons that a
wcl ·publicised cup race
apinst last year's champions,
the We.<t Germans, will boost
braincss at C.pel's new office
in Frankfurt. "'hrch opms
neat mor.lh.
Sallin& bas been slow so
take to sponso!Vup, and it is
atill not popular with lite
aailin& estabhshmenL Yacht·
I~ rules 11111 bar C.pel from
Oy.nc its yellow-and-red "bat-
tle Oac" dunna the Admiral's
Cup races. But the brash
commercialism of Ibis year's
Amet'ica's Cup in Pcnlt
snrashe<l any pretensions that
sponsorship can be kept
uhore.
Capet has one advantage at
Cowes: many of the compel·
rton are hktl)' 10 be among
its clients. Stnce Big Ban&
Qu•nncn reckons C~pcl has
put £350,000 .. nto sports, of
.. hrch o.so.ooo has cone into
sarhnc.
The forst £100.000 ,.as
socnt on a tender for the
llrltosh entry for the
Amcnca's Cup: the same
ltndcr. appropriately name<!
the James ('apel, will be on
duty at Co.,.cs. Another
£60.000 went into rhe world
promoting their Involvement, tan!
sponsor on the side of ots
BUSINESS
FOCUS
12·metre champronlhrps io
Sardinia earhcr tlus month.
Yachll~& is stUI a Ion& way
from the more expensive
world of motor-naeon& spon·
sorship, wb>eh suit auracts
the most supporL E~ry
square inch of a radna
driver's sui! is up for auction,
with sponsors araui~a billerly
- som~ arc said to have
come to blows - over where
they can llitch on their
bad&es to JCI . the most
exposure. If a dn•er fOI'&l'\5
Riding a wave: Ouinnen
to wear hrs cap in front of the
cammr~ ~e "''" be rn for
more stick from the sponsor
th.ln of he had spun off the
track at the first tum
Thrs ~car an estomoted
£I S8m will be spent on direct
1ponsorship of all spons,·
compared with £S0m in
1981. C1ose to £lOOm more
wrll be spent by those
)pon5ors on marketing and
tbrou&h advcn i)ing. hospital· sponsorsbrp, who aru as ··a
hy at sponsore<l events and son of honest bro~er" be- o fficially labelled White
so on. twcoen companies and the Horse Fine Old Scotch
Tbe grand total is likdy to
be mace than Ll of evny £10
socnt by Briwb companies
on !Cievision and preu
adverti1ing. 11 has beeomc bic
business.
Last Thursd3y. the British
Olympic Committee became
tbe latest group to join inc it
anno11oced a £100,000
sponsorship by Doualas
Llambias, a financial recruit·
ment firm. for the British
team in the 1988 Olympics.
The minimum spo~tsorship
(or companies boptn& to bact
the Olympia will be £.SO,OOO
and the commiuee is already
b1 Ifway 10 ·ou £2· ~ m lafltL
The~ was • time that
sponsorship, particularly
• ....y from llM: drinlc tnd
~ giants, meant stUmJ>-
In& up a few thousand
pounds as a philanthropic
p:sture towards lhe company
chainnan's favourite sport.
That still bappcns; but
increasingly sponsorship is
seen as an activity lhrou&h
which a company can reach a
wide audience in a way that
rivals direct advertising or
other public relations,
Companies think hard
about ,.-here they put therr
money. C.pet's associa11on
With sailing it no accident:
Quinnen fceh it u tile son of
competitiVe spon with which
lite stockbroker should be
usociated.
"Th= art many parallels
between ~chtin& and the
securiues business{ he says.
"Both are teant enoru, both
are very competitive and
both require a combination
or strategic and tactical
decisions.~
Oerek Elhcnngton, CO"'"''•
COIIDCil, la)S he rs ~ng a
record nwnber of mquiries
from companocs that 11211
oever before thou,ht of
sponsorship. Last year aboul
1,7.SO were Involved. eom·
paned with 900 in 198l. So
far this )'ear, anolber 118
have joined on. l..arger com·
ponoes are be&inn•ns to ad-
vcrtise for sponsorship
c~ceutivcs.
Last November, Sa.atchi &
Saatchi became the first
advenisina acency to move
into tbe market o;hen it
formed • division called
Sponsorsbip in Business.
Stnce then, it bas move<! an
undisclosed · tmounl or
chents' money into motor
spons, runnona and yac:hrin~
Capcl's sponsorship effon
is llM: laraest by a British
ICCIIriliC$ firm and No 3 ·
amona· Bnush financial in-
stitutoons. bebond the Save &.
Prosper unit trust group and
Na11onal Westm•nst<r Bank.
v.hich both spend more than
.£400,000 1 year.
Etherington reckons- that
tfie excitement acnerated by
tclcvlsoon coveraae of the
America's Cup has ~de
sallina one of the biggest
powlh areas in sponsorship.
The 17 syndocates at Penb
spent an enormous £12Sm.
Such was the pressure of the
sponsors tllat, n&ht aOc-r
repononc !he cup, tlic Amm-
can skipper, Denllis Connor.
told I "''rld'*lde telev$1on
audoencc. '"I'm sorns 10
Olsne~ World."
This apparently sponta·
neous remark was on fact pan
Gf 1 carefully ortheSirate<l
eampaian by the Disney
.Pr&anlsation, which paid a
premium ror that remark.
··we wanted lhal momcm or
vic tory. There is oo
recreatin& it.'" said Tom
Elrod, Disney's markclins
vlee.presidenL
E•en now, the Inter-
national Yacht R3cin&
Federation ts Slruuting to
enfor~c: some obe<loence of ils
mucft-dcride<l Rule 26, which
bans commercial names from
the sodes of boau or on their
saals during races.
AI the Amenet's Clip
qu~lifyin& races in Pcnh l:ul
year, the Bntish challenger,
Crusade r, for11fred by
£800,000 of White Horse
"'hisky sponsorshap, was re·
named White Crusader.
This •~btle circumvention
of the rule, and the recos·
nltlon that tf this expcnsiv~
spon was to keep the rnt<rcst
of ill corporate patrons lhl'y
v.ould "'ant some visible
recoanruoo. finally =ult<d
tn the relaution of Rule 16
for la11 month's 12-metre
champronships in Sardinia.
Each boat wal 1llowcd to
have the name of one
hull. The British entry was
Wlristy. The tloatin& bill-
board eos1 tbe hquor rmn an
addrtional £J.SO,OOO.
Qunten reckoM th1t every
newspaper anicle mentioni11&
~ames C.pel's involvement
rn a spon u wonh at least 10
full·paae ads In 1 quality
newspaper for the way rt
promotes the company name.
The televisina of spon has
been the single most i m-
ponant factor in the &rowth
of sponsorshi p. The houJS
saven to spon have more
than doublc:sl. from 1.200 in
197S to 2,711 last )ear.
Channel 4 has brouV.t many
minority spon.s to the screen,
and that is likely to continue.
if only becaux spon is a
cheap "'ar to fill the K'lftn:
about £20.000 an hour. com-
paned ..;th £72.000 for light
entenainmenl. •
Twelve spons to1k< up 80%
of TV cove rase borsc-racina.
cricket. snoo~er, tennrs. SOC·
,TOP 20 SPORTS ·
ON TV, 1986 '
Sport Hrs/mlna
I Snoot<er 394/11
2 Croeltat 335/•t
3 Horse raCing 275/~
• Soccer Zf;2(00'
S Tenn1s 188/52
6 Golf ••&/59
7 Allltetoes 13tl().l'
a lloWis 1121oo
9 Boxitlg 58f57
tO Equestt~n Sllf41
11 O.rts 54/10
12 Wrestling 43/00
13 Molorracong 41/32
14 lea skating 40/57
15 Rugby UIIIPO 39/50
t6 Cycling 27/20
!7 Rugby league 21/09
t8 Gymna&IICs t 8/50
t9 Motor cyclong 17J51
20 Yachring t 6/40
' ""'1loQII'Io't.ICI'~'"'•..-"""~ti'IIP
«r. coli: alhlctocs. bo... ls.
bo•tnc. darts. equestrian
events and .,.resthna.
With the curb on cogarcuc
advenisinc. tObactO corn·
panocs hav~ found event
sponsorshop an cffectl'e way
or ceurn& lherr 1\ames on 10
the small screen Accordong
to 1 recent survey, spons
events sponsored by tobacro
compantes occupocd almost
tOO mor• hours on TV last
)'-'lr than in 1981.
Etherinaton says there has
been strona v.owth in sup.
pon rrom burldina societies,
the finance ond insuranre
sertor, and clcctoiral and
motor companl<s. But the
btClUI CfOW!h hu been from
dnnk companrcs Asrdc from
White Horse, ll«featcr Grn
hll I lhret•)Cir 030.000
deal oo sponsor the Boat
Race, and Uudwcr!Cr is
sponsonnJ Amencan football
rn Bntarn