PHAR NEWS

Success on and off the pitch for GAIN Capital and MCFC

As Manchester City won their second title in the last 3 years, GAIN Capital celebrated the completion of their major online retail campaign, which made use of some key assets from their official sponsorship with the champions of English football.
The MCFC.FOREX.com website attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world, who were able to watch exclusive interviews with MCFC players and staff, learn the basics of FX trading and play the innovative predictions game to win a chance to meet MCFC captain Vincent Kompany in person. PHAR’s Activation team project managed the campaign from the early planning stages through to completion, including coordinating video production, web design, digital advertising creative & optimisation as well as liaison with MCFC for delivery of all necessary rights. Visitors to the site showed excellent levels of engagement with both the football and trading content available, with many setting up their own FOREX.com demo account through the campaign.

As well as the retail campaign activity, PHAR also assisted in the delivery of many of GAIN Capital’s client engagement and B2B activities. These ranged from hospitality at MCFC matches, to exclusive opportunities to meet the players and take part in training sessions led by first team coaches, as well as a season ending celebration event in Abu Dhabi in the company of many of the Club’s senior leadership and players.
PHAR are now working with FOREX.com to plan for the start of the new season in August, looking to maximise the opportunities available through an association with the Premier League title holders.

BeIN Sports and PHAR launch European football pilot on Indonesian TV

PHAR partnered with Indonesian BeIN Sports channel to run an advertiser pilot for the Indonesian market during the last month of the European football season, showcasing Ligue 1, Serie A, Bundesliga and Barclays Premier League to millions of football fans. Phar was able to secure sponsors including Ponds, Axe, Vaseline, CIMB Niaga and Air Asia.
The pilot was a precursor to the 2014/15 European leagues season when packages will run across BEIN branded media, including but not limited to television channels, website, mobile sites, applications and social media (including Facebook and Twitter) in the territory of Indonesia. In addition to television commercial spots there will be live game graphics, bumpers leading in and out of the adverts and activation opportunities with the hosts.

PHAR Music produces exclusive talent content for Samsung in Asia

PHAR Music has worked with Samsung UK for some years, most recently devising Samsung Smart Ticket. To demonstrate the concept we put together the Samsung Studio Galaxy Live series of gigs, the first ‘general sale’ e-ticketed music events in the world. These shows featured major UK live acts including Biffy Clyro, Bastille and Laura Mvula.
Samsung Smart Ticket has received international acclaim and we look forward to developing it further in the near future.

When we shared this work with Samsung in Singapore we were asked to procure and film interviews with international talent for their highly successful pan-Asian Galaxy Life App. The first content will go live in July.

PHAR appointed by the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation

PHAR is working with The Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation to secure partners for Bart’s Bash, the monster sized attempt to set a new Guinness World Record for ‘The Largest Sailing Event in the World‘.
So far nearly 600 sailing clubs in 40+ countries across five continents have signed up to the initiative. Click here to see what clubs are participating in the interactive map.

The event’s Olympic champion ambassadors include Sir Ben Ainslie, Robert Scheidt, Iain Percy, Paul Goodison, Shirley Robertson and Tom Slingsby.

The Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation is a UK based charity set up to inspire the next generation of young people through sailing.

The Foundation was established in memory of Olympic champion Andrew ‘Bart’ Simpson, an elite sailor of exceptional talent and a man who understood the value that sailing could bring to the personal development and achievement of young people

Founded by Sir Ben Ainslie, Iain Percy OBE and Andrew’s wife Leah, it works to honour Andrew’s life and legacy by encouraging young people into sailing and to enjoy the water as much as he did.

The Foundation aims to promote the sport of sailing through a number of activities including the Olympic Ambassador school visit programme, the Bart’s Bash mass participation event and through its sailing centre on the Olympic waters in Weymouth.

If you would be interested in hearing more please get in touch with David Tyler – david.tyler@pharpartnerships.com

4 million take part in Big Lunch 2014

The Big Lunch, now in its sixth year, had around 4 million people taking part in street parties around the UK. Sponsors Halifax and Asda continue their amazing work in supporting the event and helping to spread the message to all corners of the country.
The Big Lunch was set up in 2009 by visitor attraction and education charity The Eden Project as a simple but effective method of bringing communities together all round the UK with participation having grown from 700,000 in its first year to around 4 million in 2014.

PHAR has been working with The Big Lunch since 2011 and has helped deliver significant commercial revenues for the event through sponsorships with the likes of MasterCard, EDF Energy, Kingsmill, Carling, Asda and Halifax. The 2014 sponsors Halifax and Asda have both activated their partnership through in-store activity, staff engagement and social media.

Halifax’s mission was to make a real difference in high streets and neighbourhoods by giving extra back to those who give extra to their communities and used The Big Lunch as a platform to do so and to build trust and reputation as well as creating a sense of employee pride. Halifax had commissioned YouGov research to identify key issues regarding neighbourhoods and had used this insight (and a media partnership with Trinity Mirror Group and Bauer Media) to announce the partnership and to spread the important message of The Big Lunch. All of this great work led to Halifax and The Big Lunch winning the ‘Best Community Sponsorship’ at the Hollis Awards.

Asda promoted their association through their in-store Community Life Champions across the UK and linked the sponsorship of the event in with Tickled Pink, their breast cancer charities, to create Big Pink Lunches and helping people to take part. Asda also encouraged staff to take part by running competitions to win tickets to Eden Sessions concerts at Eden Project this summer.

PHAR continues to look for additional partners for the event for 2015 and beyond!

PHAR Insight takes sponsorship evaluation and strategy planning to a new level

A new set of sponsorship planning and evaluation tools developed by PHAR’s Insight team has been making a real difference for a growing number of brands and rights holders.
Recognised as one of the industry’s leading experts in sponsorship analysis and strategy, our Insight team has spent 9 months developing tools which are designed to provide better, more credible and more actionable evidence – to identify how sponsorship value can be maximised and to guide decision-making.

Ignoring ‘industry-standard’ practices and focusing on the ultimate reasons why brands invest in sponsorship in the first place, these tools have now been successfully rolled out across clients including the Women’s Tennis Association, Chelsea FC, the Liverpool Arena, the Malaysian National Stadium and several blue-chip brands.

“PHAR’s new analysis tools have given us a much clearer understanding of what our venues’ naming rights are truly worth,” says Rob March, Head of Commercial and Sponsorship at ACC Liverpool. “Rather than simply calculating a media-equivalent value based on estimated impressions, their analysis looked at each sponsorship benefit on a meaningful line-by-line basis – and, crucially, incorporated into the analysis the strategic benefits we offer. Without an evaluation of the opportunity’s intangibles any analysis is only assessing one half of the value – Phar has developed some really clever techniques to assess strategic strength and then work that into the calculation of value.”

PHAR’s tools include:

SELECTOR
Analysis to help brands identify which sponsorships best fit their strategic objectives and which deliver the strongest ROI

EVALUATOR
Research and evaluation to enable brands to assess the performances of their current sponsorships, including the impact they are generating for the brand and the business

OPTIMISER
A suite of techniques to enable rights holders to identify the value of their assets, to identify target brands, and to identify how to optimise the allocation of inventory between partnership packages

PHAR signs exclusive 5 year deal with Prasarana

In an effort to reduce deficits and promote public-private partnerships, Prasarana will be initiating a Station Naming Rights programme across certain stations in its network later this year. PHAR will work closely with Big Tree Outdoor, Kuala Lumpur’s dominant media concessionaire, to create bespoke marketing packages for Malaysia’s largest companies.
Malaysia will be the first country in South East Asia to offer such an opportunity, following the likes of New York City, Madrid, Rome, New Delhi and Dubai.

If you are interested in finding out more then please register your interest with andrew.fraser@pharpartnerships.com

PHAR continues to grow

We’ve had a lot of recent new additions to the team here at PHAR, with Henry Marks and Marcus Treacy joining our Insight Team, Monika Orolinova joining our Activation Team, Irene Corosu joining in PR and Amisha Choksi joining in Finance…… So much so that we’ll soon be moving into our brand new offices on Whitehall!
We’re also going to be moving into our new permanent office in Manchester later this month, where Kirsty Donkersley, the first new recruit to the team in the North West, will join on 1st July as Account Director. Kirsty has over ten years’ worth of experience in sponsorship, having worked brand side at McCain Foods and Aviva, and agency side at MEC and TVC Group, where she’ll be joining us from.

Earlier this year PHAR announced the official launch of Multisports Saudi Arabia, PHAR’s partner in Saudi Arabia. Click here to read more.

PHAR grows its Activation team with the appointment of new Account Director

International media and marketing agency PHAR Partnerships is pleased to announce Monika Orolinova as the newest member of their rapidly increasing global team.
Monika joins having spent the previous 4 years at Havas Sports & Entertainment, managing a number of diverse and large scale client sponsorships including Asda’s Kwik Cricket activity, EDF Energy’s London 2012 athlete programme and Olympic Torch Relay events as well as Aeroflot’s partnership with Manchester United. Monika will take responsibility for some of PHAR’s key activation accounts including FOREX.com, Stihl and Domikado, whilst also working alongside other areas of the agency in developing strategies for brands to maximise their investments across music and talent management.

Josh Green, Head of Activation & Consultancy UK, commented on the appointment: “Having someone with Monika’s extensive knowledge and expertise join the team will really help to develop the breadth and quality of services we can offer current and prospective clients. I’m really looking forward to continued growth of the agency’s Activation division, with Monika playing a key role in helping to drive this momentum.”

PHAR’s Activation and Consultancy team develops and delivers brand activation platforms for sponsors, working closely with other divisions across the UK and Asia to provide best in class client servicing and consultancy.

PHAR appoints VGI Global Media to Boost Outdoor Advertising Revenues for Thai AirAsia

PHAR has appointed VGI Global Media, Thailand’s leading provider of out-of-home media solutions, as the exclusive ambient advertising agency for Thai AirAsia. VGI will sell advertising space in both the exterior and interior of all Thai AirAsia carriers including overhead lockers, meal-tray backs and plane wraps.
Thai AirAsia, Thailand’s largest low-cost airline, flies to over 35 domestic and international destinations within the region. The airline operates with a fleet of 37 brand new Airbus A320 aircraft and has plans to receive an additional 6 more during the year. In 2013, Thai AirAsia carried over 10.5 million passengers and is expecting to exceed that number in 2014.

Marcus Wight CEO of PHAR Partnerships commented: “It is a very exciting opportunity for PHAR and VGI to create successful partnerships for Thai brands with AirAsia. VGI’s expertise and size in the Thai market makes them the outstanding partner for us to work with in maximizing ancillary revenue for AirAsia and delivering a package of rights that companies want.”