Electric Ireland won the “Best in Europe” Sponsorship Award at the prestigious 2013 European Sponsorship Awards which took place in London on 29th January 2014. Electric Ireland received the award for its sponsorship of Team Ireland for the London Olympics 2012.
Electric Ireland scooped the award for excellence in sponsorship for its outstanding campaign to promote Team Ireland, beating stiff competition from the national sponsorship winners in the UK, Germany, France, Sweden and Slovenia. The award was for best sponsorship in Europe across all categories Sports, Music, Arts and Charity.
The European Sponsorship Association’s annual awards received entries from 11 countries which were assessed by an independent panel of expert judges across the continent.
ESA Judges commented that Electric Ireland’s campaign was an outstanding example of best in class sponsorship. They were particularly impressed by how the sponsorship strategy supported the introduction of a new brand and specific business challenges while also profiling the talent and determination of Irish athletes in their quest for Olympic glory in a way that made the campaign memorable, interesting and relevant.
The Awards Ceremony took place at the stunning Plaisterers’ Hall and was hosted by Steve Parry, UK Radio/TV presenter and former Olympic swimmer. Last night’s Ceremony attracted a record number of marketing and sponsorship professionals from leading brands and rights holders across Europe.
Note to the Editor:
The ESA Excellence Awards are organised by the European Sponsorship Association (ESA), a membership organisation that promotes and protects the sponsorship industry.
The Awards are held annually to celebrate sponsorship excellence across Europe. The categories for contention are: Business to Business, Business to Consumer, Business to Consumer Low Budget, Business to Consumer-Media, Business to Community, Business to Employee, Social Media, the Rights Holder Award and the Multi-National Award. Whilst the latter is designed to recognise excellence in campaigns that have reached a minimum of three European countries, the others are open to all projects, provided there is a focus within at least one European market.
The expert judges are drawn from across the Continent including Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, The Netherlands and the UK.
The ESA Best of Europe Award is developed in partnership with national sponsorship associations and national sponsorship award organisers. Both this category and the Professional Development Award have a separate and specialist panel of judges. For more, see http://www.sponsorship.org/ESA-Excellence-Awards/index.asp
The Awards enjoy the patronage of Mrs Androulla Vassiliou, Member of the European Commission.
For full details of the Winners and Highly Commended campaigns, visit the ESA website –http://www.sponsorship.org/ESA-Excellence-Awards/index.asp