5th December 2024, Mumbai, India: Leading global sport and entertainment agency Fuse, part of Omnicom Media Group (OMG), has today announced the opening of its new office in Mumbai, India, led by Jigar Rambhia. Through Fuse, OMG will capitalise on the burgeoning potential for sports marketing in India, offering a full suite of services to support brands with their end-to-end partnership needs.
Rambhia previously held the position of Chief Operating Officer of Sporjo – a sports industry consultancy – where he was pivotal in driving growth for the business. Prior to this, he spent 16 years at Wavemaker and worked across agencies including TME (Rediffusion Y&R) and Madison Communications.
Kartik Sharma, Group CEO, Omnicom Media Group India said: “Sport and culture are increasingly seen to be significant growth drivers for brands and so we are excited to bring Fuse’s expertise into the market – it further underpins our commitment to create transformational experiences for our clients.”
Echoing Sharma’s sentiment, Rambhia added: “The momentum in sports in India is at an exciting juncture and we’re fully equipped to capitalise on this to drive effective partnerships for brands. Sport has increasingly become a vital part of India’s cultural fabric, and with Fuse, we are strategically positioned to help brands harness the power of this medium to drive deeper connections with audiences across the market.”
The new office officially launches with Shriram Finance and Uni League Cricket as clients and will have a particular focus on supporting brands with strategic planning and activation of effective sports partnerships.
While cricket continues to dominate the market, India’s sports landscape has been further bolstered by the popularity of sports like Kabaddi, Football and Badminton, and the country’s recent performance at the Olympics and Paralympics. India’s sporting ecosystem is currently valued upwards of USD 1.8 Billion, and with continued tech innovation, the rise of OTTs redefining the viewing experience, and immersive experiences taking centre stage, growth is expected to continue at pace. As India evolves into a multi-sport nation, not only is it paving the way for emerging talent across various sports but it is also experiencing heightened brand interest and investment in sports marketing.
The fast-expanding agency network of Fuse is already home to a wealth of sports and entertainment specialists working across strategic markets across the globe. Most recently, Fuse launched in Spain, with Juli Ferre heading the business and in Brazil led by Luiz Fiorese. Fuse’s current international clients include PepsiCo, Nissan and Philips.
Commenting on India office launch, Louise Johnson, Global CEO at Fuse, said: “Fuse’s expansion and launch in India marks yet another critical milestone for us, underscoring our commitment to driving growth for brands through the power of sports and entertainment. With Fuse’s specialist sports marketing expertise combined with Omnicom Media Group’s data and technology offering, we are exceptionally positioned to capitalise on the sports market in India.
Through our extensive network and under the leadership of Jigar we can offer brands the chance to create memorable experiences for their audiences and integrate themselves into the heart of India’s sporting culture.”
If you have Instagram, it is highly likely that you follow one of the top 50 accounts on the platform, given that they collectively account for over 107.34 billion followers.
Of course, the usual suspects Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber and Kim Kardashian have a strong showing but, after the official Instagram account, the two most followed accounts on the platform are Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi with 617 million and 496 million followers respectively.
These two aren’t only showing up with the most followers either. The two footballers each have seven of the top twenty most liked Instagram posts of all time, topped by Messi lifting the World Cup in December 2022 with 75.6 million likes.
When we turn our attention to similar metrics on TikTok, however, we see a very different story for sports accounts. While eight of the top 50 most followed accounts on Instagram are athletes or former athletes, Dwayne Johnson is the only athlete or former athlete in the equivalent list for TikTok.
On top of these athletes, another five sports related accounts, including Nike, Real Madrid, and the NBA, are featured in Instagram’s 50 most followed. However, the only sporting brands to keep The Rock company on TikTok’s most followed are the official accounts of Paris Saint Germain (45th) and ESPN (34th).
With the average user estimated to be spending an hour on TikTok every day in 20241, there is massive potential on the platform for brands to make the most of their existing partnerships and sponsorships to simultaneously engage with their current fanbase and reach new audiences.
With rights holders struggling to amass TikTok followers in the same way they do on Instagram, how do brands make better use of their rights as sponsors on one of the fastest growing social media platforms?
While followers may be a vital piece of the puzzle when choosing an athlete or brand to partner with on Instagram, number of followers becomes less important in TikTok’s out-of-network algorithmic feeds. Despite not having a place in the top 50 most followed accounts, Barstool Sports has amassed the fourth most likes of any account on the platform. Similarly, ESPN jumps to the seventh most liked account despite its ranking as 34th most followed.
Moreso than other platforms before it, the rise of TikTok has marked the distinction between in-network feeds (like Facebook and Instagram), where users nominate who they want to see in their feeds, and out-of-network feeds, where users are algorithmically served content based on their behavior.
As such, while the rise of out-of-network feeds appear to have left rights holders with fewer followers and more problems on digital platforms, the reality is that perhaps there is too much focus on the wrong metrics. By looking at likes, comments, and quality engagements instead of followers, new strategies can be developed in a way that leads to exciting and unique ways to activate exclusive rights.
On out-of-network platforms, a creative-first strategy is the best way forward. If a fan can watch the game on TV and a press conference on YouTube, the challenge for a brand is to give users content that they wouldn’t have access to anywhere else.
With more content and more creators than ever before, brands need to use their access to sponsorships and make better use of highlighting the exclusive elements that are written into their rights. Exactly what this means will vary between brands and partnerships.
A recent example of a brand using these exclusive rights to incredible effect was when Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk took fans into team celebrations following Darwin Nunez’s winner against Nottingham Forest, courtesy of Google Pixel.
As the official mobile phone partner of Liverpool, Google Pixel brings fans closer to the team they love, putting players at the forefront of the content while natively integrating their product. While millions of fans were likely watching the game on TV, the right of Google Pixel to share pitch side footage meant that fans could only gain exclusive access by engaging with the brand. While Liverpool fans are most likely to engage with the content, the unbelievable access to a pivotal moment, posted on out-of-network feeds will also put the Google Pixel brand in front of audiences outside of those immediately connected to the Liverpool sponsorship.
This content doesn’t always have to be focused on access to players, however. Using their Wimbledon sponsorship rights, Vodafone’s partnership with Give Vision gave visually impaired tennis fans enhanced Wimbledon footage suited to their individual vision profile. Sharing this experience on algorithmic feeds opens exposure of Vodafone’s Wimbledon partnership up to people outside of tennis fans and those who are already engaged with Vodafone brand.
While the above activations are very different, they are perfect examples of brands using their rights to integrate their brand into their sponsorships, creating opportunities to connect with new audiences.
In summary, with the rise of out of-network feeds, brands who have access to sponsorships and exclusive IP rights have the potential to make a greater impact than ever. Creative-first strategies that offer exclusive content put brands in a position to appeal to the current follower base and simultaneously build familiarity and affinity by engaging with new audiences.
With the 2024 Guinness Women’s Six Nations kicking off last weekend at the Stade Marie-Marvingt, where France played host to Ireland, the buzz around this year’s tournament was more apparent than ever. Following the first round of fixtures, there are several storylines that make this year’s Women’s Six Nations incredibly intriguing.
Will anyone close the gap to the dominant Red Roses, looking to make it six titles in a row?
After an opening round win against Ireland, can France finally bring an end to the Red Roses’ authority after coming so close at Twickenham last year?
Which teams will take the top 3 slots, and secure automatic qualification to the 2025 World Cup in England and a spot in WX1?
One of the biggest headlines came during the build-up to this year’s tournament when Guinness signed an unprecedented £15 million per year deal to become the title partner of the Women’s Six Nations, replacing TikTok. With Guinness now the title partner for both the men’s and women’s Six Nations tournaments, it demonstrates the changing landscape of sponsorships in rugby and how major brands are becoming more committed to levelling the playing field between the men’s and women’s game.
‘The women’s game is the biggest growth engine for rugby’. This was a quote from Six Nations CEO, Tom Harrison, following the announcement of the partnership with Guinness, and when you look at all that has happened just in the past year, he isn’t wrong. Whether it be increased investment, record crowds, a higher quality product on the field, or vastly improved participation numbers at all levels, women’s rugby has seen significant progress across all areas in recent times.
A major step forward was World Rugby’s announcement of their ‘Accelerate Programme’ which has the sole aim to fast-track the development of women’s rugby through a new targeted investment approach. As part of the programme, World Rugby will look to form new partnerships with like-minded brands to help sustainably develop the women’s game on and off the pitch, following in the footsteps of the partnerships that they have already formed with Mastercard and Capgemini. With a US World Cup coming in 2033, the race is on for brands to be a part of the journey.
A major selling point for brands is the fact that women’s rugby and tournaments such as the Guinness Women’s Six Nations, offer a more diverse and engaged audience in comparison to the men’s game. During the 2023 edition 9% of those who watched were Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic, compared to 6% who watched both the men’s and women’s competition. Also, 21% of the audience were aged 35 and under in comparison to 9% who watched the men’s and women’s competition1. This diversity and engagement are crucial for brands / sponsors. Conrad Wiacek, Head of Sport Analysis at GlobalData says, ‘sponsorship is buying access to an engaged audience’ and with women’s sport this is exactly what you get. 65% of women’s sports fans are more likely to recall brands they have seen, a staggering number compared to 35% of men’s sports fans. This is a drastic difference, and in my opinion, comes from women’s sport fans advocating for new brands to enter women’s sport and become a driver for change.
This point is supported by a 2023 report conducted by the Women’s Sport Trust, that found that 29% of fans think more favourably of brands that support women’s sport through their sponsorship, compared to 17% that support men’s sport.2 While specific to the UK, 16% of the population are more likely to buy from a brand that sponsors women’s sport, compared to 13% that sponsor a men’s sport.3 This data clearly shows that by investing in women’s rugby, and sport in general, brands are speaking to a far more valuable audience in comparison to the men’s game, hence why we have seen a far greater number of brands, such as Guinness, commit to major, long-term partnerships in the women’s game.
Women’s rugby has also become more visible than ever. Following a successful World Cup in New Zealand in 2022, World Rugby announced the launch of a new, three-tiered international competition, known as WXV. The first edition took place in 2023 and saw 18 teams compete across three different tournaments in three different countries. This significantly increased the visibility of international women’s rugby to a level not seen outside of a World Cup year.
2023 also saw viewership and attendance records broken across the Women’s Six Nations. A new TV viewership record was set in the UK, with 10.4 million viewing hours clocked up for the 2023 tournament, breaking the previous record of 7.7 million. While the Red Roses set a world record for the highest attendance at a women’s international rugby match, with a staggering 58,498 making the trip to Twickenham, Wales also set a record at Cardiff Arms Park with nearly 9,000 people watching them face England. This surge in interest and support for the Wales team has led to the WRU announcing that the team would be playing their first standalone fixture at the Principality Stadium when they face Italy in their final fixture of this year Championship.
Women’s sport also offers brands plenty of opportunity for rich storytelling, and this is no different with rugby. After significantly less media attention over the past decades, women’s rugby can provide audiences with a genuine sense of discovery. There are countless untold stories from female rugby leagues and teams across the world which are finally being shared with audiences and brands can play a role in providing access to this content in partnership with media outlets or via their owned channels.
A recent example of this can be seen through Vodafone’s partnership with The Good, The Scaz and The Rugby podcast which offers a unique insight into women’s rugby and shines a light on all the untold stories from across the professional landscape, whilst also taking every opportunity to promote the grassroots game. Through partnerships like this, brands have the platform to directly impact the relationship between players and fans, showcasing the incredible individuals who have helped make the sport what it is today and providing them with the media attention that they deserve. We are only going to see a rise in partnerships like this as the familiarity of the stories in women’s rugby continue to become more apparent.
In summary, the trajectory for women’s rugby has never looked more positive. During the rest of the 2024 Guinness Women’s Six Nations expect the product to be better than ever and more records to be broken. And keep an eye on the growing number of brands that you see associated with the game. If other brands want to seize the opportunities that the sport has to offer then they are going to have to act quickly as the market is only going to become more competitive with a World Cup approaching in 2025, and a US based World Cup confirmed for 2033.
[1] O2, RFU and Women’s Sport Trust join forces (englandrugby.com)
Vodafone and Global Sport and Entertainment agency Fuse have turned the Welsh Women’s Rugby team into Women’s Health cover stars as part of a unique paid media partnership. This is the first-time women’s rugby players have featured on the cover and comes ahead of the team’s historic game at the Principality Stadium on the 27th April – the first standalone women’s game at the stadium.
The special edition magazine covers, which feature current captain, Hannah Jones, and players Alex Callender, Lisa Neumann, Donna Rose, Sisilia Tuipulotu and Abbie Fleming, are part of a multi-channel campaign managed by Fuse. Fuse liaised with the Welsh Rugby Union to identify the six players featured, shoot the cover and build out the six-page spread within the magazine.
As part of Vodafone’s ongoing work as Founding Principal Partner of Welsh Women’s and Girls Rugby, the campaign runs across print, social media and digital (including video assets). Copies of magazine featuring the special edition covers will be distributed this weekend at the Wales and Scotland Women’s 2024 Guinness Six Nations match. The campaign is part of Vodafone’s ongoing drive to help grow the women’s game and helps to raise awareness of the matches, where tickets can be purchased for 2024 Guinness Women’s Six Nations and the location of Welsh Rugby Union home games going forward.
The landmark covers build on Fuse’s continued work with Vodafone and its commitment to helping accelerate women’s rugby with technology and connectivity. Previous work together on the proprietary menstrual tracking tool Vodafone PLAYER.Connect is helping improve female players’ performance, wellbeing and recovery and has placed Vodafone at the heart of the conversation on the impact of the menstrual cycle on sporting participation and performance.
Mark Huckerby, Head of Sponsorship Vodafone: “As Founding Principal Partner of Wales Womens’ & Girls’ Rugby, we are committed to growing the game to new audiences in the lead-up to Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 and beyond. We are really proud to have worked with Fuse, Women’s Health and the Welsh Rugby Union on this milestone ‘first’ for women’s rugby in the UK. These six featured players, and their hundreds of peers playing international and club rugby across the UK are incredible role models for future generations.”
Charlie Baddeley, Account Director Fuse: “One of women’s sport’s greatest assets is its individuals, and the amazing untapped stories they possess – whether that be players, fans or volunteers. It was brilliant to work with Vodafone to highlight these inspiring women and deliver a first for the sport.
Our Rights Consultancy team worked closely with our Digital Planning team to develop the rights package to provide an even stronger ROI with their power and expertise.”
Amelia Dabell, Digital Planning Director at Fuse comments:
Reducing the time spent creating social assets is important for marketers at teams and brands hoping to score points with big game moments, said Amelia Dabell, digital planning director at Fuse, a sports-focused Omnicom Media Group agency.
“We all know how quick social media cycles are,” she said. “To have a chance of being relevant, of people wanting to engage with it, [brands] needs to put out content as quickly as possible.”
Though social noise increases the league’s value to advertisers and sponsors, Dabell says access to the league’s media assets provides a significant direct benefit by cutting licensing costs; without NBA access, brands activating around the sport would need to license images from providers such as Getty. “That becomes a huge value point within contracts,” she explained.
It’s in the NBA’s interests for as many of its players to straddle the line between influencer and athlete, said Dabell.
“Every player is a brand in their own right now and the more they can grow their brand, the more it grows the prestige of their team and of the league.”
This article looks at the opportunity for brands presented by the annual music competition, Eurovision.
Eurovision provides brands with an opportunity to strategically resonate with a huge and diverse audience across Europe – an opportunity that hasn’t yet been fully utilised. It is a rare moment in the music calendar that truly transcends markets and encourages sharing of the experience in real time.
Eurovision’s scale and multi-market appeal should not be underestimated. It provides an opportunity for
brands to tackle the fragmented music landscape, with a ‘one-stop shop’ akin to those found in the sports landscape.
While Eurovision is both playful and entertaining, it can also be controversial so brands must understand
their role in the platform before committing.
To succeed in the space brands should:
Music is the biggest universal consumer passion point and provides brands with a huge opportunity to
strategically resonate with a multitude of audiences. The true scale of music fans is difficult to quantify but taking the music subscription service market alone you’re looking at a global audience of over 616 million users (massive). Then when looking at festival attendees this is over 37 million and for concerts 30 million….in the UK alone. With fans who attend live music events sharing their experiences at a rate of 92% and the hype around global tours such Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour being far reaching, it’s safe to say the influence of these events goes beyond their venues, making them an alluring tool for brand engagement.
However, time and again major brands are opting to invest in sports sponsorships instead. Of course,
established properties such as UEFA Champions League, Ryder Cup or F1 have huge global audiences, in-built media, local-level access and relevancy across markets, as well as having tried and tested activation playbooks with proven track records.
The challenge in music is that, for the most part, there isn’t the same fix. The European landscape is fragmented and can be challenging to navigate without the right stewardship (and even then, it can require a deep level of effort). The European festival landscape has a few major players, but these represent partial offerings in individual territories versus a one-stop shop for multi-market, consistent activation. The nuance of popular music also varies market by market. While a German football fan looks much like an English football fan (they are passionate about the same game), with music, the binding factor is a love of music, but it’s often very different music. This means ambassador or tour deals need to be with the highest-level artists to ensure multi-market cut-through (which of course comes at a high cost). Tours also aren’t as frequent or predictable as sports fixtures and rights can be inconsistent due to venue prohibitions and, for the most part, a lack of broadcast agreements.
These factors often result in brands struggling to find truly global or European platforms for local market
exploitation, which can result in brands having a fragmented multi-market music approach or being sworn off the space altogether.
Eurovision is somewhat of a unicorn in the music landscape. A single property that resonates across European markets and beyond. It provides brands the opportunity to buy into the ‘disco magic’ centrally and activate credibly across local markets, using a platform that consumers genuinely care about. However, it’s a property that hasn’t yet been fully utilised by brands.
The scale of Eurovision cannot be underestimated, with a viewership of 181 million it has over 60 million more viewers than the Super Bowl Halftime show. When considering the NFL were looking for a reported $50m in rights fees for the sponsorship, which Apple Music took up in 2023, that’s pretty impressive. Interestingly there has been huge growth in both YouTube and TikTok streams of the event in recent years, up to 7.6m and 4.8m respectively in 2023. The growth in digital viewership is particularly positive for potential brand partners when considering varying degrees of brand limitations with the public service broadcasters who show Eurovision.
As well as drawing in huge numbers, Eurovision provides a rare moment in the music calendar where viewing live is inherent to the experience, and where the event invites ’watch parties’ akin to those you see for major sports finals. However, the audience make up for Eurovision is altogether more diverse, attracting youth, family, and LGBTQ+ audiences in their droves. These social-first audiences are hungry for content, expect brands to be playful, and are open to sharing their experiences.
Eurovision’s ability to resonate with LGBTQ+ audiences is of huge benefit for brands, especially when
considering the purchasing power of this group is over $3.7 trillion globally and the fact that 72% of
consumers, regardless of orientation or background, make purchasing decisions based on a brand’s inclusivity and diversity. Much more than a camp and playful event, Eurovision should be considered a major platform for engaging valuable audiences with huge purchasing power and cultural sway.
It would be remiss not to mention that, as with any sponsorship or partnership of this scale, there will be risk factors for brands. In a politically turbulent period, with a platform that millions of global fans feel passionate about and, just as has been seen in sporting environments, there can and has been controversy with fan groups and in the press – most recently, the ‘boycott’ in light of Israel’s inclusion in the competition for 2024. When entering a scaled partnership of this nature, it is important to acknowledge that there may be passionate social sentiment that puts pressure on brands to comment on highly sensitive subjects. It’s important that brands analyse the risk involved in doing so, stay true to their brand ethos and understand their role in the ecosystem. Ultimately, what is appealing about Eurovision as a consumer is its unpredictability and how it reacts to culture, which can be both fun and playful but also has the potential to be political and controversial. This comes with challenges and it’s a brave brand that enters that space.
Taking a look at Eurovision’s current and more recent partners, there are some obvious categories taking up these sponsorship spots. Travel brands such as easyJet and Royal Caribbean have a natural role in the fan experience – from the clear link with travel to and from the host nation to fun-filled entertainment for consumers. Morrocanoil, the presenting partner, leans heavily on behind-the-scenes storytelling and glamourous on-stage looks told through the lens of social to engage with Eurovision’s social-first audience. Baileys, a playful and ‘the world’s most loved spirit brand’ showcases unique cocktail recipes and encourages communal enjoyment and watching parties. TikTok, Eurovision’s Entertainment partner, focuses on being ‘the go-to destination for all things Eurovision’, hosting streams, behind-the-scenes content and performances in the app. A strategy for driving users and generating content on their platform which is implemented across their broad partnership portfolio.
We are yet to see the full breadth and scale of the official (and not so official) partner activity in the coming weeks, but looking back on 2023’s Eurovision, some key principles for brands to ‘get it right’ this year can be seen.
In the UK, nearly 85% of the population is on social media, so while there is such a huge opportunity to reach a big audience, it can be harder to cut through. Being creative, unique and playful is imperative to reaching the Eurovision audience. For example, last year Tesco’s campaign #Cheese4Cheese saw the brand launch a singing competition on TikTok spearheaded by The Fizz – the group spun off from Bucks Fizz, which won Eurovision in 1981. This tongue-in-cheek campaign saw winners receive giant cheese wheels as the top prize.
Whether that be for those fans travelling to the event, following their countries’ representatives, or planning their own watching events through brand-relevant moments, brands need to be able to cater for the entire fan journey and consider where they can have a meaningful role in the fan experience.
More than 80% of Gen Z and Millennials say an influencer would have at least some influence over their
purchasing or viewing habits. Last year, John Lewis’ Eurovision Disco leaned into nostalgic music talent and focussed on the communal watching aspect of the event by having Sophie Ellis Bexter host an iteration of her Kitchen Disco in their Liverpool branch. Booking.com also enlisted Eurovision icon Conchita Wurst, who won the contest in 2014, to front their campaign focussed on ensuring they were the go-to for booking a stay in the host city.
This year and in future iterations of Eurovision I would love to see brands take these learnings and fully
recognise the global to local market power of Eurovision, treating it as a major platform that can unify their approach and deliver a genuine multi-market music activation.
