PHAR hires Alastair MacDonald to set up new research & strategy division

PHAR Partnerships signalled an important move into new areas of business with today’s announcement that it has recruited Alastair Macdonald to build a new division offering research, evaluation and strategy consultancy services.
The new division will offer high-quality research and analysis into sponsorship value and effect, and expert advice on how sponsorship programmes may be structured to achieve their potential. These services will be of value to both brands and rights holders, covering all forms of sponsorship from traditional sports properties to fast-growing areas such as infrastructure, leisure and tourism.

Alastair Macdonald joins from Havas Sports & Entertainment, the international sponsorship network, where he was Head of Havas Sponsorship Insights. With 14 years’ experience in sponsorship analysis and consultancy, Alastair is recognised as one of the industry’s leading experts in this area, having worked for clients including The Premier League, The Football Association, The Ryder Cup, Volvo Ocean Race, Mercedes Grand Prix, Chelsea FC, Manchester City FC, Lawn Tennis Association, O2, Lucozade, Nokia and Zurich, to name just a few.

“The opportunity to create a new business division within PHAR Partnerships was too tempting to turn down,” commented Macdonald. “In two years, PHAR Partnerships has already grown into a significant international player with a great track record of putting together successful and truly innovative partnerships. Taking responsibility for the next phase of the company’s development by taking it into new analytical and strategic services is a hugely exciting challenge.”

Marcus Wight, CEO of PHAR Partnerships, added “We know how increasingly important it is to both brands and rights holders to have credible evidence for what sponsorship delivers for the business, and true expertise to help guide them through the sponsorship maze. Alastair is one of the industry’s true experts, respected across the industry for the quality of his analysis, thinking and advice, and it’s a real coup for PHAR Partnerships to have secured him. With this appointment PHAR Partnerships takes a substantial leap forward towards becoming a true all-round sponsorship consultancy.”

PHAR ASEAN team Christmas team building

PHAR Partnerships ASEAN teams (from across Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines) joined together in Phuket, Thailand for two days of team building.
The teams took part in a range of activities designed to encourage teamwork and communication skills. We’re now all looking forward to another amazing year in 2013!

PHAR Partnerships proud to be involved in The Apprentice Asia

PHAR Partnerships has been appointed by Sony Pictures Television’s networks, Asia as the regional advertising sales representative for the first ever series of The Apprentice Asia.
Marcus Wight, CEO, PHAR Partnerships says: “The Apprentice format is widely accepted as the best programme for authentic product placement on television and The Apprentice Asia will generate significant buzz which will ultimately drive sales for sponsors involved in the series.”

Mr. Ricky Ow, Executive Vice President, Networks, Asia, Sony Pictures Television says, “We are pleased to have PHAR Partnerships on board, which gives us additional resources and focus to support a mega original production like The Apprentice Asia.”

Partners who have already committed to the series include Expedia, Hilton Hotels & Resorts and AirAsia and further partners will be announced over the coming weeks. Set to premiere on AXN across 20 countries in Asia in the first half of 2013, The Apprentice Asia will be hosted by aviation tycoon Tony Fernandes; with FremantleMedia Asia producing the Mark Burnett Productions format.

PHAR Partnerships was set up in 2011 to develop long term partnerships between rights holders and brands in sports, entertainment, travel and visitor destinations, specialising in media sales, brand partnerships and research and evaluation. PHAR Partnerships has offices in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, India and is headquartered in the UK.

For more info please contact Nick Lockwood (nick.lockwood@pharpartnerships.com) or Rory Renwick (rory.renwick@pharpartnerships.com).

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Tony Fernandes Becomes Chairman of Phar Partnerships

PHAR Partnerships, the fast growing media sales & sponsorship company, has announced Tony Fernandes as the Chairman of the company. The appointment of Tony is a key development in the international growth strategy of the agency, which was founded by Marcus Wight and Nick Lockwood in January 2011.
PHAR Partnerships represents iconic landmarks, engaging media content channels, talent and leading brands within sport, entertainment and transport. It’s aim is to create long term partnerships that deliver against business, marketing and customer objectives, providing brands with measurable returns on investment

PHAR Partnerships now has over 25 staff with offices in London, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and most recently Indonesia and Philippines

“I have known Marcus and Nick for over 8 years since they first started working with AirAsia on using sponsorships to build our brand. The success that they have achieved in more than doubling AirAsia’s media revenues in just over a year and seeing how they have grown their business in such a short time, makes me really delighted that they have asked me to play an active part in growing PHAR Partnerships into a sizeable international agency” Tony Fernandes

“PHAR looks to build long term partnerships in the parts of people’s lives where they choose to spend their time like sport, entertainment, media and travel. We believe that by understanding how a business works, be that a brand or a rights holder, (and often our clients are both) that we can develop creative solutions that work for all parties, particularly the customer. Tony’s business career is the perfect example of putting these words into action and with his extensive contacts around the world and particularly in Asia, we are ready now for a period of rapid expansion.” Marcus Wight, CEO.

“We have a number of exciting announcements to make in the next few months about new projects and people that will be joining PHAR Partnerships to deliver our plans and having Tony on board will be a great catalyst to achieving our targets” Nick Lockwood, Managing Director.

Over the last 20 months, PHAR has set up offices in London, Kuala Lumpar, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines and has over 25 staff. Its clients include AirAsia, Eden Project, David Lloyd Leisure, Singapore Flyer, Apprentice Asia, Library of Birmingham, Kids Golf World Championship, British Champions Series, Expedia, Diageo, Malaysia Tourist Board, Blackberry, QPR, Caterham Group and SP Setia.

AirAsia is the leading Low Cost Carrier in Asia and this Malaysian company was co-founded by Tony Fernandes and Kamarudin Meranun. Tony and Kamarudin also co-founded Tune Group which hold many equity interest in sports, hotels, insurance, telecommunications and finance.

PHAR completes 3 ground-breaking partnerships with David Lloyd Leisure

Over the last 18 months PHAR has been working with David Lloyd Leisure to create a brand partnership programme. Jaguar, Yakult and Zoggs are all now working with Europe’s premier sports, health and leisure group with over 80 UK clubs and a further 10 in Ireland, Holland, Spain and Belgium.
• Jaguar has signed up as the central car partner and a sponsor of DLL’s outstanding junior and adult tennis programme and will run a number of events at selected clubs.
• Zoggs has become the official swimming partner in a deal that will include them providing uniform for the coaches and lifeguards and consumables for DLL’s 100+ pools over the next 3 years.
• As sponsor of the Lose and Shape Up course at DLL, Yakult will feature on all collateral promoting the programme and will run a series of sampling days across the clubs.

Central partnerships represent a significant step change for David Lloyd Leisure whose Head of Marketing Julie Porter believes the move was essential. “DLL is committed to working with like-minded premium brands that can engage with our members throughout the year. Not only do these partnerships provide ancillary revenue streams, they also benefit our members and give them all the more reason to stay with us. The work of PHAR is very important in not only approaching the market, but working with us to create packages that are relevant to brands.”

PHAR in continuing to find partners for DLL and is in the market talking to brands specifically about DLL’s racquet and triathlon programmes and its soon-to-launch online communities. CEO at PHAR, Marcus Wight, added “these brands have committed substantial investment over the next three years and have bought into the fact that DLL is a fantastic platform to engage with an educated, affluent, nationwide market across health and fitness. We see real potential in growing the existing partnerships and creating additional long-term ones that benefit the brands, David Lloyd Leisure and its half a million members.”

PHAR Partnerships and The Eden Project

On Sunday June 3rd Eden will be hosting the Big Jubilee Lunch, the annual event in its fourth year, which encourages people to come together to change their neighbourhoods for good. PHAR Partnerships have been working with Eden for over a year to find a group of partners to support this event and inspire people to build stronger communities.
The initiative is funded partly through the Big Lottery Fund, and then supported by an impressive list of branding – MasterCard, Kingsmill, EDF Energy and was the most recent addition ASDA. ASDA’s activation programme will encourage all their customers, staff and key stakeholders to take part through in store activity, media across all their channels and the creation of a special edition Big Jubilee Lunch t-shirt.

The final company to join the party is another famous British brand, Carling, joining a list of secondary supporters that includes Buxton Water, Douwe Egberts and Lanson Champagne.

Marcus Wight, CEO of PHAR said “these companies have committed over £5m of funding to the Big Lunch which is another example of how a charity like Eden is able to galvanise stakeholders from both the public and private sector to make a real difference to people’s lives. We see enormous potential for companies to align with a super brand like Eden to deliver programmes that enthuse people to engage with the key issues around the environment, social and economic regeneration.”

According to Peter Stewart, Campaigns Direct at Eden, “PHAR have become an integral part of the Eden team in helping us to create partnerships with brands that deliver for all parties. If we are to continue to grow our programme of events, now more than ever, we need to align with brands that share our objectives and PHAR has been key in this process”

MyCEB to sponsor the Kids Golf World Championship in Malaysia in 2012

PHAR Partnerships has successfully negotiated Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau’s (MyCEB) sponsorship of the Kids Golf World Championship, Malaysia 2012 – the world’s biggest and most prestigious junior golf tournament.
For the first time in Asia, US Kids Golf will stage a World Championship between 3-6 December 2012. 480 players aged between 5 and 18 years old from more than 50 countries are expected to participate in this three round stroke play tournament.

A one day team tournament (Ryder Cup format) will also be played where a Malaysian and Asian team, “Team Malaysia” will play against the rest of the world which will be known as the “International Team”.

PHAR Partnership announces partners for The Big Lunch

PHAR has been representing Eden Project, the iconic visitor destination and educational charity, since the start of 2011, sourcing partners across a number of its events and initiatives including The Big Lunch.
The Big Lunch is a simple idea – to get as many of the 61 million people in the UK to sit down on one day and have lunch with their neighbours as a way of bringing communities together. In June 2011 over 2 million people took part.

Following discussions between Buckingham Palace and The Eden Project, the Big Lunch will form a centrepiece of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations and it is expected to attract over 5m participants on the weekend of June 3rd.

Over the past six months PHAR has brokered a number of commercial partnerships for the The Big Lunch.

Official Partners:

– Kingsmill signed as a top tier partner of The Big Lunch for 2012-13. Their activation includes on-pack promotion, the Kingsmill Big Lunch Tour bus (touring the country and engaging with local communities), in-store activity at Asda and social media competitions.

– Asda have signed as a top tier partner of The Big Lunch for the next 2 years. Their activation includes in-store activity, producing a charity T-shirt, rewarding organisers for buying their Big Lunch food at Asda and promoting the event through Asda media channels.

Official Supporters:

– Douwe Egberts is the official coffee of the Big Lunch and their activation plan involves a dedicated Facebook page, a community champions’ programme, press ads and in-store activation.

– Lanson Champagne has signed as the official champagne of the Big Lunch. Their activity is focused on outdoor awareness and promoting the brand as the perfect brand for the Jubilee.

– Buxton has signed as the official water to the Big Lunch and will use their partnership of the ECB to drive participation/awareness of the event.

For more information on our work with Eden Project and The Big Lunch please contact:
Ian Tussie
0207 395 0684
ian.tussie@pharpartnership.com

FIAT has partnered up with Transport for London to become an official sponsor of its website for the next 12 months

The deal will see FIAT gain significant presence on the TfL homepage which generates around 45m page impressions per year and is one of the largest travel websites in the UK.
In a step change for TfL, new inventory has been created on its Congestion Charge for FIAT to promote its FIAT 500 which is exempt from the congestion charge and on the Cycling pages for the car brand to drive awareness of its sponsorship of British Cycling.

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