James O’Sullivan’s Blog

I found the following post in my google notebook which I forgot to post last year!

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Being from Kerry I absolutely love GAA! The passion, rivalry, commitment and intensity, it makes my heart jump with joy. The GAA is the fabric which knits communities large and small, urban or rural together which makes up part of our unique culture in Ireland. GAA followers are simply fanatical, a lot of these fans are involved with GAA at every level and what makes them extraordinary is their commitment and wiliness to give up their own time for the love of their community, county and the game. This year the GAA have decided to reclaim their brand and rename both the Hurling and Football championships by allowing Multiple sponsors. The Bank of Ireland All-Ireland Football Championship is now the GAA Football All-Ireland Championship sponsored by Toyota, Ulster Bank and Vodafone. The Guinness All-Ireland Hurling Championship is now the GAA Hurling All-Ireland Championship sponsored by Etihad Airways, RTE Sport and Guinness.

Sponsorship investment: Vodafone have been a great sponsor for the GAA over the years since their involvement in 1997. Since then Vodafone have played a huge role in sponsoring both Hurling and Football All-Stars which is a major event in the GAA calendar. Fair play Vodafone. In the March 2008, Vodafone secured a 3 year deal to sponsor the GAA Football Championship at an estimated 12Million. Their 2008 campaign features Sean Boylan reciting a poem by Rudyard Kipling “IF” The ad attempts to capture the feeling of what the GAA stands for and the imagery used is but is a little too over the top. The use of Kipling’s poem in this ad has been met with some distain since Kipling has been known as an enthusiastic supporter of British imperialism.

Ulster Bank: Sponsorship: Ulster bank are no newcomers to sponsoring major sports. They have almost done very well in creating a lot of brand awarness with their sponsorship of Rugby and creating quirky advertisements. They are now taking the next step and dive into to the hearts and minds of the general Irish public. They have secured sponsorship of the football championship.
I’m particularly impressed by Toyota’s campaign called “Meet Mike” who created an very innovative an humour campaign to engage with their audience online. Well done Eighty:Twenty for creating a truely outstanding campaign for Toyota.