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Guinness sponsorship
GUINNESS AND THE RUGBY WORLD CUP
Guinness were not one of the official sponsors of the 1999 Rugby World Cup but were committing no less than £16 million to the event and associated marketing to create the impression of overall ownership of the tournament.

Times Newspapers specifically tailored a communications package that fulfilled Guinness’ overall marketing objective of ‘dominating the Rugby World Cup’. The sponsorship included: preview supplements, a major match ticket promotion, interactive fantasy games and online sponsorship of The Times’ Rugby World Cup content.

RESEARCHING THE RESULTS
Research was commissioned to explore just how deeply the target audience became involved in the Rugby World Cup experience and Times Newspapers coverage of the tournament.
Quantitative research revealed that,during the Rugby World Cup,readers of The Times and The Sunday Times were much more likely to drink Guinness, both at home and in the pub, to enhance their enjoyment of the tournament.


GENERATING AWARENESS
The Guinness sponsored supplements in both The Times and Sunday Times achieved good levels of overall awareness.
22%of The Times and 36%of Sunday Times readers recalled the Guinness sponsored supplements in their respective publications. More importantly, amongst the key audience of ABC1 men, awareness reached 26% for The Times and 43% for The Sunday Times.

Qualitative research illustrates why both publications achieved such strong recall levels.The Sunday Times supplement was not only read and enjoyed by the general sports fan,but also retained by the rugby devotees. Many of them felt the supplement was ‘ the best publication from any newspaper ’.

The Times supplement was felt to be a ‘good background read ’,with welcome ‘touches of humour ’ which enabled readers to ‘dip in and out ’.

Guinness ’ own research conducted by Millward Brown also confirmed the saliency of the partnership amongst readers of The Times and The Sunday Times.

“Our sponsorship of The Times and The Sunday Times Rugby World Cup coverage played a pivotal role in our press strategy.The partnership worked on a number of levels. It enabled us to:

• Leverage shared brand values

• Achieve strong cut-through with an important male audience

• Interact with Times readers on a variety of levels, adding value to their
relationship with Guinness.

Wendy Darlington, Senior Marketing Manager, Guinness GB

For further information
on communication opportunities call 020 7782 7185