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‘WE WERE DETERMINED TO AVOID OBVIOUS FOOTBALL CLICHÉS. CARLSBERG EXPORT IS A PREMIUM BEER, DEMANDING AN ORIGINAL, SOPHISTICATED, WITTY IDEA’ SPENCER BUCK , FOUNDER, TAXI STUDIOto be worth more than US$45 billion per year, according to PwC. With so much money at stake, sponsors are obviously keen to see a return on their investment. Many have found that sponsoring a major sporting event can achieve new levels of exposure at a lower cost than traditional advertising methods, while other benefits can include an enhanced brand image through association with a popular event, and elevated brand awareness from increased exposure. For Heineken – which has partnered with the UEFA Champions League and the Rugby World Cup, as well as the British Olympic team through its Strongbow cider brand – sports sponsorships are a key component of its brand marketing.“Sponsorships of high-profile sports events allow us to be a genuine part of consumer conversations and provide a great platform from which to extend the message of our brands,” explains a company spokesman. “Successful sponsorship is about building sales and strengthening consumer loyalty, as well as attracting new consumers. We focus on world-class events which are aligned with our world-class beers, and we create exciting, cutting-edge global marketing campaigns that bring value to both the event and our brands.”Indeed, the effectiveness of sponsorship has been shown to be a direct result of the degree to which the sponsors are willing to leverage the sponsorship. As media consumption becomes ever more fragmented in this digital age, brands are being forced to shift advertising spend to find new ways of engaging consumers. For fast moving consumer goods companies, such as drinks brands, one way to capitalise on their association with an event is to feature the sponsorship on their packaging – a medium consumers can’t ignore, according to Steve Osborne, Managing Director of packaging and branding design agency Osborne Pike.“For me, packaging is media, but it’s unlike any other medium because it also contains the product,” he says. “This gives it a unique position in the marketing ‘armoury’ because it acts at the very moment of purchase and also at the moment of consumption.”Osborne believes drinks brands, in particular, are well suited to leveraging sports sponsorships through their packaging, due to the “billboard-like” qualities of cans and multipacks.“When talking about drinks brands and sports events or sponsorships, there is a natural link between watching or attending sports events, often as a group, and enjoying a drink,” he explains. “The predominant selling unit of drinks in supermarkets is a multipack of six, 12, or even more individual servings, providing a poster-like display area on the shelf. Of course, everyone else has one too, so smart standout is essential.”One way to achieve that standout is through limited-edition packaging linked to the event. In a 2014 survey conducted by Voxburner, 63 per cent of respondents admitted they were more attracted to products that celebrated topical sporting events on their packaging or promotions around the time of the event. The same survey also revealed the importance that young people attach to being an official sponsor, with 66 per cent of 16 to 24-year-olds surveyed saying it matters if brands celebrating sports events are official sponsors and feature the relevant logo.But according to Osborne, sponsors need to do more than simply add the event’s official logo to their packs.“Special event packaging such as that for a major sports sponsorship has moved ➤EUROPEAN CAN MARKET REPORT 2016 13SPORTS SPONSORSHIP