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.”
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.
The last 18 months have been hard financially for consumers and brands alike.
Marketing budgets have been stripped back and non-necessities questioned. Across the board, there was concern about how long the financial crisis would last. “Brands who weren’t in partnerships were putting a pause on investing in new partnerships,” says Louise Johnson, CEO of sports marketing agency Fuse.
“And brands that were already invested were doing less with what they were doing, and focusing on ‘less is more’,” she adds.
However, this looks to have changed. “I’ve definitely noticed in 2024 more brands coming into partnerships, brands who haven’t been in sponsorship for, like, 10 years,” says Johnson.
Fuse has had more briefs and more pitches in 2024, she adds, which reflects the increasing drive for brands to get involved, or re-involved, in the sports space.
Brands now think sport can help them modernise and “build trust back”, says Johnson. Plus, as media continues to fragment, connecting brands with culture through sport is a “great way” to go about it.
The Men’s World Cup in 2022, followed by the Women’s World Cup last year, were marquee moments for sport, and moving into 2024’s big summer, “marketers are being more optimistic,” says Johnson, while still being “very cautious” with their budgets.
“I definitely feel people are leaning into partnerships and sponsorships as a way to drive their brand, not just through traditional media and marketing channels,” she adds.
As we reflect on a busy summer of sport, it’s been clear that brands have been going for gold in the sponsorship category. But the effectiveness of measuring these sponsorship investments is all too often coming in as a last place consideration.
Sponsorship is a complex marketing platform that rarely has just one objective, but media equivalency is still being used as the primary form of measurement used to determine its holistic value. While this makes sense for the media assets included in sponsorship, as the industry evolves brands are missing out on the real prize of sport sponsorship by only taking media value into account.
While some sponsors have become more sophisticated in the way they track sponsorship, this remains the exception rather than the norm.
There is inherently nothing wrong with the metric itself. It is crucial to understanding brand exposure and having a view on a “Marketing Return” vs. the sponsorship rights fee — therefore a key player in negotiation, shaping rights packages and comparing different properties.
However, equivalent media value unfortunately can miss many of the nuances necessary when dealing with sponsorship. It does not tell you how your target audience is reacting to the sponsorship, how noticeable your branding is, how your ATL campaign is performing, or give you a true sense of how fans are engaging with your sponsorship.
Too often referred to as ROI analysis, the method is still the norm for measuring partnership success. Suppliers often repackage the measurement process, updating it with current AI terminology — but apart from normalisation of social monitoring and better on-screen tracking capabilities, the metric has not meaningfully evolved in the last 20 years.
So yes, you should use media valuation, but not as the only metric for success — it’s just one part of the puzzle.
The basis of measuring any activity is to understand what success looks like from the start. As emotions and belief are still very strong drivers of decision making in the sponsorship industry, it is not unusual that clear objectives and KPIs are not set from the start.
While ultimately the aim of marketing is to drive sales, there are numerous steps to get there — whether this is shifting perception, increasing top-of-mind awareness, or building relevance to an audience.
To build an effective measurement framework, brands and their agencies must be clear from the outset about the objectives and KPIs for the partnership. They should identify which ones will be tracked over the long term and which in the short term, and then map them against each stage of the sponsorship cycle or burst of activity. For example, as sponsorship is a long-term brand building platform, any significant shift in consideration is unlikely to happen in the first year.
Additionally, clarifying not only the core objectives but also understanding the depth of usage of the partnership across the entire business will be key to ensuring holistic reporting and assessment. Questions such as: what parts of the business are using sponsorship assets and IP and how are we measuring success across these? The measurement framework should cover all of these elements even if deemed secondary at the start.
All of this to say — there isn’t one single metric that will really help you understand impact of sponsorship or success. The measurement framework should be the bible to refer to at any point to understand how we are measuring success.
Sponsorship doesn’t answer just one objective, as previously stated. This means that various techniques must be put in place to understand impact, requiring agile researchers to tie it all in together.
At Fuse we look at measurement across three pillars: media performance, impact on brand health and econometrics modelling.
We use various research methods and combine media research and our consumer research experience to extract the right story and insights from all the data points.
We have been used to waiting for an entire competition or league to end before reporting on performance. This is historically due to the focus on equivalent media value and the fact that metrics such as global TV audiences can be hard to collate on a frequent basis. This has been topped off by the lack of flexibility in sponsorship rights, meaning optimisation wasn’t possible. However, growth of digital and social rights combined with the growing role of paid media, means that inflight optimisation and reporting should be a fundamental.
This will provide the ability to test different assets, be reactive and culturally relevant to immerse the brand into fans conversation, shift distribution strategy in real time to ultimately deliver better results.
Measuring actual ROI is still a challenge for the entire marketing industry. When this big question comes up, it’s pertinent to investigate how the brand is currently measuring ROI of its marketing mix and map out if we can replicate the existing and trusted methodology for sponsorship.
Econometrics modelling has been improving and becoming the norm across the media industry. The good news is that models are becoming better at measuring long-term impact and we have been successful in integrating sponsorship into these for some clients.
In order to do this, getting the fundamentals of data collation is key. The model is only as good as the data that goes into it. So even if businesses do not currently have MMM in place, it’s still possible to collate the data in the right way for future integration.
If companies really want to go for gold in their sponsorship activities, they need to step away from an over-reliance on old measurement systems and look to set up detailed frameworks that allow for ongoing adjustments based on the sponsorship output, audience outtakes and business outcomes.
128 years after the modern Olympic era began in Athens in 1896, an historic milestone has been reached in Paris 2024 – equal male and female athlete participation. While this is undoubtedly something to be celebrated, gender parity has still not been reached across the board.
There may be equal male and female participants in the Olympics but in terms of sponsorship, media rights, prize money and fans, parity does not exist.
The gender parity debate has dominated conversations among brands, advertisers and media since the commercial and marketing opportunities for women’s sport began to emerge.
We’ve seen brands and sports clubs successfully launch new products and services to tackle inequality, change perceptions and make sport more attractive for women, but one area that could do with a little more love is fandom. Because more fans mean more attention; brand investment follows the eyeballs and is the secret sauce to parity.
Real gender parity in sport requires a ground up approach. If brands, sponsors, governing bodies and rights holders are to entice wider audiences and drive long-term change, while increasing their own awareness, they need to move from comparison between men’s and women’s sport to implementing tangible ways of driving fandom.
This means a more systematic approach to recognising – and encouraging – fans across sports regardless of their sex. To focus on overturning the lazy assumptions that only women watch women’s sport – or that it’s only the male fans that matter to the male sports.
Recent deals demonstrate the investment that is coming into women’s sport. The Caitlin Clark and Nike deal was the biggest ever sponsorship deal for a women’s basketball player, but why didn’t they offer Clark a venture deal (including shoe sales) as they did for Michael Jordan?
The WNBA just agreed a $2.2 billion broadcast deal over 11 years with NBC, Disney and Amazon which is worth more than three times its previous cycle. This investment is really encouraging and will give an even greater platform to the sport with an inevitable knock-on effect on fandom.
In the UK, the Women’s Super League has announced YouTube as a new broadcast partner. It means that non-televised games in the upcoming season will now be broadcast on the league’s official YouTube channel which again will support women’s football’s growing popularity and increasing access and viewability among fans.
Social media offers a powerful platform for fandom. More than 90% of Gen Z fans turn to social media to watch and create sports content and this audience is increasingly diverse, young and open-minded.
This is a gold mine of an opportunity for brand campaigns to lead with personal athlete stories, humorous content and tactical videos that appeal to the interests of those that don’t class themselves as die-hard fans.
We are seeing this played out to the full this Olympics – the first true TikTok games. Not only has the Olympics partnered with TikTok, it has also relaxed its rules for athletes. This means fans can enjoy more direct interaction. Expect to see new personalities born these games, not only as medal winners, but also as short-form storytellers.
Female sport stars have often excelled in this medium and smart brands will be watching carefully, ready to sign up new stars come the closing ceremony.
Using creative ways of celebrating women for being good athletes will drive fandom. We saw some standout examples win at this year’s Cannes Lions where creativity is celebrated with the much talked about WoMen’s football campaign from Orange using highly creative storytelling techniques to expose and challenge gender bias in football winning a Grand Prix.
While social media channels grab a lot of attention, people still access content across a variety of platforms, allowing brands to play with different content formats – and here long-form cannot be underestimated.
Docu-series, such as Drive to Survive and Break Point, are part of still relatively new premium content formats that continue to shape fandom. And now with the release of Netflix’s Simone Biles Rising, a female athlete is finally securing this long-form attention.
Long-form options allow the industry to garner two types of audiences who can appear very different: those who already love the sport and those whose interests lie in everything but the main event. For example, Drive to Survive’s audience is much younger and more female, as the off-track drama, juicy sub-stories and F1 drivers’ personalities gain a different type of attention.
As the digital world evolves, so do contemporary fan behaviours. From video games to the use of technology in physical activities, humans are hard-wired to pursue goals for rewards. Gamification taps into this motivation to shift habits from passive media consumption to active participation – and gains fans along the way.
Bringing women’s sport into these arenas could build on the cross-cultural benefit of sports and gaming to boost fandom – the slow recognition of the role and value of women’s sports is mirrored in the treatment of women gamers so strength and synergy will come from bringing these two together.
The gamification market is set to reach more than $30 billion by 2025, playing a crucial role in the global development of the sports industry – and a key tool in enticing diverse fans to sports they may not otherwise have considered.
F1 is a “tried and tested platform for a number of manufacturers,” said Alex Charkham, chief strategy officer at sports and entertainment agency Fuse, and Aston Martin’s re-entry is a “significant marketing exercise” for the brand.
On race days, the brand’s marketers can step back and “let the Formula One team do the marketing for them,” said Charkham.
The Paris 2024 Olympics marked a cultural shift in how brands connect with global audiences, with the games being dubbed the “TikTok Olympics” due to many sponsors’ digital-first approach.
As the International Olympic Committee (IOC) acknowledges an ageing fanbase—the average age has risen by approximately 10 years in just a decade—the need to captivate younger consumers has never been more pressing.
This urgency has driven brands to rethink their strategies, moving towards innovative campaigns that blend cultural relevance, human stories, and digital engagement.
Samsung emerged as one of the most prominent brands at the Paris 2024 Games, successfully capitalising on the event’s global reach. Through their “Team Samsung Galaxy” initiative, the brand not only highlighted the talents of both debut and returning athletes but also bridged the gap between the online and offline experiences.
Their clever use of “victory selfies” taken on their latest flip smartphone, which was gifted to all 17,000 competitors, ensured that the product became a focal point in the games’ digital narrative. These images significantly boosted sales for Samsung’s foldable phone, with a notable 23 per cent increase following key victories by Team GB athletes.
The campaign’s success underscored the power of integrating product placement with real-time social media amplification, setting a new benchmark for how to activate Olympic sponsorship rights.
Relaxed IOC rules at Paris 2024 also allowed for more direct, unfiltered athlete-to-fan interactions – a move that brands were quick to leverage. Pampers, in particular, made a lasting impact by partnering with track and field star Allyson Felix to highlight the first-ever Olympic Village nursery.
This collaboration was a powerful statement on the compatibility of motherhood and athletic excellence. The nursery’s presence addressed a long-overlooked need and aligned perfectly with Pampers’ brand values.
Felix’s personal story, coupled with Pampers’ commitment, resonated deeply with audiences, especially considering Felix’s previous conflicts with Nike after becoming a mother.
NBC, the official broadcaster of the Paris 2024 Olympics, also adapted to the changing media landscape by betting big on pop culture. Snoop Dogg’s role as a special correspondent added a layer of entertainment that was unexpected and highly engaging.
His spontaneous dance moves at gymnastics events, pre-filmed clips with Michael Phelps, and humorous commentary on events like badminton and rugby went viral across social media platforms. The decision to integrate Snoop Dogg paid off handsomely, with the network averaging 34m viewers across its platforms in the five days following the opening ceremony—an increase of 15m from the Tokyo Games.
This strategic move highlighted the growing importance of cultural relevance and entertainment in capturing audience attention, even for a traditional broadcaster like NBC.
The Paris 2024 Olympics have shown that the future of brand sponsorship lies in digital innovation and cultural resonance. As brands like Samsung, Pampers, and NBC have demonstrated, success at the Olympics now hinges on the ability to create meaningful, shareable experiences that transcend the boundaries of traditional media.
With the 2028 Games on the horizon, it will be fascinating to see how these trends evolve, what new technologies emerge to shape the next generation of Olympic partnerships and how open the IOC will be to embrace them.
In the background, NBC is working hard to “humanize” the Olympics in Paris this year, said Alex Charkham, chief strategy officer at Omnicom specialist sports agency Fuse.
“It’s about creating things that are talkable, that drive interest,” he said. NBCU is also set to shake up its commentary staff, adding celebrities such as Jimmy Fallon and Snoop Dogg to its on-screen talent roster.
The Figs-sponsored heart-rate monitors will help NBC bring “relatability,” said Charkham, to a sporting event that otherwise focuses on pushing the limits of human physicality.
“It’s very hard for us to relate to any athletes, but many people can relate to what it’s like watching your kids perform, and the trials, tribulations and nerves that you go through,” he said. “From a commercial standpoint, that then brings in a whole new raft of opportunities because of that story.”
The summer of sport kicks off in earnest on 14 June with Euro 2024 – and brands across Europe and in the UK will be tapping into ‘football fever’.
The tournament itself only lasts for four weeks. But with anticipation already building for one of the most competitive tournaments in a long time, fans and marketers’ attention will really dial up after the Uefa Champions League wraps up on 1 June, before the tournament kicks off in Munich. Essentially offering brands a six-week condensed period of activity around the tournament.
Euro 2024 gives brands a valuable opportunity to reach an inflated football audience – not just ‘core’ football fans but also ‘mass-eventers’ – those who only tune in to the major tournaments. Major tournament match viewing figures feature highly in most watched programmes across the year, and I fully expect this to be the case in 2024.
With potential economic benefits for the UK should England and Scotland progress, brands will also be hoping for competing nations to reach the later stages, ensuring Home Nation fan interest remains high for as long as possible.
Brands will generally fall into three key categories: official tournament partners, official partners of competing nations (England and Scotland) and ‘ambush’ brands; those with no official partnerships but leveraging football hype moments through their communications and marketing.
Whichever category brands fall into, there will undoubtedly be a lot of noise and clutter to cut through. So, any campaigns during this period will need to stand out in a busy marketplace.
Official Uefa Euro 2024 partners have invested heavily in their associations, so expect an upweight in activity and integrated campaigns across all marketing channels, leveraging their official association and tournament IP. These brands will take a longer-term approach to their marketing activity.
Lidl, for example, has already launched its new sponsorship platform, ‘We’re On Your Team’. Hellmann’s, the official BBQ partner of Euro 2024, has announced Jack Grealish as the face of their campaign, activating through the line and even creating the ultimate ‘Grealish Burger’. And official Euro 2024 partner HiSense, recently announced that Spanish goalkeeping legend Iker Casillas has joined Manuel Neuer as a brand ambassador.
Partners of competing nations will lean into the excitement, passion, ambition, and national pride they share with the fans. They’ll leverage their exclusive access to key players to drive association and deliver their brand messages. We’re expecting partner activity to really kick off in early June – so keep your eyes peeled.
Ambush brands will be taking a slightly different approach. While these brands won’t be able to leverage any specific tournament or team IP, we expect big brands to lead with general football creative across all comms and all channels throughout the tournament.
Natural football ‘brands’ (e.g. Nike, Puma) and those who can tap into the cultural moment and fan behaviours (e.g. beer, food takeaway services) will upweight their activity during the tournament. These brands will often use high-profile ambassadors to cut through the noise, using their association with fan’s favourite players to stand out from the crowd. For example, Nike’s 2022 FIFA World cup 2022 ad and Pepsi’s recently launched 2024 ad.
In the UK, linear TV is going to be an important channel for all brands to target, specifically advertising around the big matches on ITV. Every match will be broadcast on free-to-air TV which has unrivalled audience reach. And major tournament moments regularly feature in the annual top 10 most-viewed broadcasts. The Euro 2020 final between England and Italy attracted over 31m viewers in the UK. But this huge reach comes at an inflated cost. If England progress through to the semi-finals, brands should expect to pay well over £600k for a premium half time 30s ad spot.
While TV advertising will predominantly focus on the key moments around big matches, brands will revert to social media for their always-on activity. Again, paid social costs are likely to be inflated during the tournament period, and brands will be competing to break through in a cluttered space.
We’ll also see a lot of ‘tactical’ media spend from brands, particularly across out of home advertising (OOH) where I expect to see many brands leading with football creative across the UK’s most impactful, high-value media sites throughout the tournament – whether they are official partners, nation partners or brands tapping in to ‘football fever’.
FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) brands and retailers will look to maximise points of sale – from on-pack ticket promotions to brands leveraging their partnership rights (e.g. Bud Light and England, Coca-Cola and Euro 2024) or supermarkets pushing ‘the ultimate viewing’ deals for football fans and families.
Euro 2024 promises to be an exciting tournament and offers a major marketing moment for brands. Whether you are a football fan or not, there will be no escaping ‘football fever’ – I for one cannot wait!
With the Cannes Film Festival about to begin, we interviewed Louise Johnson, a member of the jury for the Entertainment Lions for Sport category at Cannes Lions 2024. In addition to its role on the jury, Fuse, the agency led by Louise, is expanding into Brazil, marking an exciting new chapter in the company’s history.
Louise Johnson is the CEO of Fuse, a leading global sports and entertainment marketing agency within Omnicom Media Group. With more than 20 years of experience in the field, Louise has worked on both the client and agency side, managing Vodafone’s global portfolio that included Ferrari F1, McLaren F1, Manchester United FC, David Beckham and the UEFA Champions League, operating in more than 100 markets. Under his leadership, Fuse has tripled in size, with a team of 250 people serving 10 of the world’s top 30 brands. The agency has negotiated over $1.1 billion in rights over the past six years, making it one of the largest and most respected in the industry.
Louise Johnson: Since the inception of the Entertainment Lions for Sport category four years ago, the ambition has been to embrace purpose and inclusion. And these demonstrations of inclusion continue to be important. However, I believe we will also see a return of sports jobs that entertain audiences by connecting with lifestyle and humor. With brands fighting for attention and looking to credibly connect with culture, I expect more cross-cultural activations in sports involving music, fashion and film.
Louise Johnson: The Festival aims to celebrate creativity that harnesses fan culture and the power of sports and esports to connect people to brands. In judging entries, we strive for excellence in innovative creativity within the sports and esports ecosystem, through the effective use of strategic planning, sponsorship, brand management, media, entertainment, and/or talent. Participants should focus on highlighting their creativity and ability to connect with fans to stand out.
Louise Johnson: Bringing esports into the Entertainment Lions for Sport category is a positive step towards making the sport more inclusive and accessible for everyone. This highlights alternative ways of engaging in the sports landscape and helps diversify the application pool and areas that brands can address in their campaigns. The lines between sport and entertainment are increasingly blurred, with the sporting event itself being a small part of a larger fan experience. With over 3 billion players globally, esports creates a vast and interconnected audience, providing ample opportunities for brands to innovate and engage with specific communities.
Louise Johnson: In recent years, we’ve seen the advent of partnerships, rather than sponsorships. It’s a way of working that benefits both sides equally, creating a strong legacy, impacting important change, and generating a significant return on investment. Last year’s Grand Prix deservedly went to Michelob Ultra and FCB for the DreamCaster campaign. This campaign allowed a blind basketball fan to fulfill their dream of narrating a live game to millions of people in the U.S., showing how the sport can create valuable real-life impacts.
Louise Johnson: From my perspective, the Festival continues to work its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion strategy. Within the Entertainment Lions for Sport category, there is a specific category for this theme. This includes creative work led by brands that utilizes sport to address and confront disparities based on sex, sexuality, disability, age, race, ethnicity, origin, religion, or other status within a sports or sports-related community. I hope to see very strong work in this space in 2024.
Louise Johnson: In addition to the criteria set by the organizers, my jury and I will be looking for unique ideas that are relevant to the real world. This includes ideas that connect different sports fans across diverse regions/cultures and that can align with the values and purposes of a brand or organization. While the work needs to add value to the end consumer or the business, it would be great if there’s an entertainment factor too – after all, we’re in the entertainment category!
Louise Johnson: Artificial intelligence is still the buzzword and has already shaped some impactful work. If we look at last year’s winner – generative artificial intelligence helped a blind man narrate a basketball game. In addition, AI was incorporated into the process of creating Orange’s ‘Les Bleues’ revealing advertisement during the UEFA Women’s Euros last year, helping to highlight the necessary progression in attitudes towards women’s sport. While it clearly has wide-ranging benefits for sports marketing, brands need to be careful about how they engage with AI and ensure they are not completely eradicating human creativity. A new aspect of this year’s awards is an AI notice, which I hope will be a transparent and effective way to see how AI has been incorporated into the entries
Louise Johnson: São Paulo is the center of sport in Brazil, and having a Fuse office there will allow us to capitalize on the region’s fastest-growing sports sponsorship market. In addition to supporting brands and rights holders, we also aim to increase local participation in sport, from the grassroots to the professional level. Over the past ten years, Brazil has hosted two of the world’s biggest sporting events – the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic and Paralympic Games. With confirmation that the FIFA Women’s World Cup will also be held there, there are many untapped opportunities in this territory, ripe for innovation.
Louise Johnson: We cannot ignore that women’s football in South America is still developing, but it is evident that Brazil is going through a clear movement to expand and professionalize women’s leagues, bringing the region closer to the infrastructure of the US and Europe. With the confirmation of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, Brazil is experiencing a special moment with its venues, brands, sponsors and sports rights holders, all looking forward to the joy that the Cup will bring. This will also generate an excellent opportunity for Brazil to connect and relate to a significantly larger audience. In addition, Formula 1 recently extended its contract with the São Paulo Grand Prix until 2030, showing that the motorsport market in Brazil is profitable. It is the fourth largest motorsport market in the world and Lucas di Grassi, one of the country’s greatest racing drivers, is supporting the electric revolution in Brazil. We can see a lot of opportunities for new entrants in the sponsorship scene, and with sustainability at the top of global agendas, we’re likely to see an increase in these types of sports around the world.
Louise Johnson: Luiz has extensive experience in sports advertising and marketing, with almost two decades in the industry. He was previously Marketing Director at São Paulo Futebol Clube and, most recently, led the sports division of the Outpromo media agency, OMG Brasil. Leveraging their expertise will ensure that Fuse is at the forefront of sports sponsorship in Brazil.
Louise Johnson: The new office opened with a strong customer collection that includes insurance company Ezze Seguros, betting companies KTO and F12Bet, online sticker store Panini, the Brazilian Olympic Committee, payment wallet company Pay 4 Fun, and brewery Heineken. Fuse’s Brazil office will focus on offering partnership consulting, rights consulting, activation, measurement and effectiveness in sports and entertainment to clients. In addition to these services, Fuse Brasil will launch a sales and rights consulting offering, Fuse Ignite, designed to enhance rights holders’ sponsorship proposals.
Louise Johnson: Fuse is part of the Omnicom Media Group, and in addition to our deep understanding of what brands want in terms of sponsorship, we benefit from the group’s broader media, data, and business intelligence capabilities. The result is that our clients benefit from truly integrated thinking, suited to modern marketing.
Louise Johnson: In addition to Brazil, we now have offices in Chile, which is extremely exciting. In 2025, we plan to expand into other markets in South America that are strategically important to our industry. We are excited about the positive impact our presence in Brazil will have on the sports marketing and entertainment industry in the region.
Louise Johnson: Not only do we have great talent in Brazil, but Fuse is fortunate to be part of the Omnicom Media Group. Already one of the fastest-growing sports and entertainment networks, this connection to the broader OMG allows us to bring truly integrated thinking to customers’ sports and entertainment partnership needs, while ensuring a significant impact on brand image and business bottom lines.
