Member Spotlight: ONSIDE

ONSIDE owes a debt of gratitude to ESA. John Trainor and Jon Long first crossed paths as Judges of the ESA Awards in 2018 and started collaborating on projects shortly afterwards. Isn’t that a lovely backdrop for ESA’s first ever joint profile?

What is your name and position within the organisation?

JT: I am John Trainor; I founded ONSIDE in Dublin back in 2005 and it has been a wonderful ride, providing exceptional intelligence to some of the world’s biggest brands and most of the country’s major rights holders in sport and entertainment. As we near our 18th birthday – which we will celebrate in June next year – it feels like a coming-of-age moment for the business and a good time to spread our wings.

JL: I am the Jon without an ‘h’, Jon Long, and have been working with John and ONSIDE as a consultant for the past couple of years. It became increasingly obvious to us both that we have a similar world view and complementary experiences and skills, so it was a natural next step to roll my business into ONSIDE at the start of 2022 and take on the task of delivering transformational outcomes to a wider client base in the UK and Middle East.

Can you tell us in less than 100 words what ONSIDE does?

JT: I will keep it simple. We aim to create extraordinary connections in sport, entertainment and society, built on exceptional intelligence, that deliver transformational outcomes. To make it memorable we say we deliver ON Strategy, Intelligence, Deals and Evaluation. Did you see what I did there?

JL: John’s heritage is providing outstanding sponsorship advice to top tier brands, many of whom ONSIDE has supported for over a decade. My background is providing strategic and commercial support to rights holders. The two things we have in common are an obsession with blending the best mix of intelligence and focusing on outcomes rather than output.

Who do you work with?

JT: The traditional view has been to break it down into brands and rights holders but we’re seeing the boundaries blur, and find ourselves working more and more with talent, investors, entrepreneurs and the public sector. We have been very fortunate to serve as a trusted advisor to sponsors like Vodafone, Diageo, Aldi, Bank of Ireland, Lucozade Sport and Aer Lingus for over a decade.

JL: John has outstanding credentials in venue sponsorship and naming rights across sport and entertainment, which has landed us in the middle of some of the most interesting naming rights projects in Europe, including the Aviva Stadium, 3Arena and Bord Gais Energy Theatre. We see this as a growth area, particularly for community-orientated businesses. When it comes to rights holders, our intelligence and strategic support has delivered positive commercial outcomes to many of Ireland’s leading clubs, leagues and federations including the FAI, OFI and Paralympics Ireland as well as non-sports properties such as Live Nation, Universal Music and Tayto Park. We also helped create the link between Boots and the Irish Cancer Society’s Daffodil Day which raised €6m for the charity in 2021.

Foundation clients outside Ireland since the start of 2021 have included England Hockey, British Triathlon, Extreme International, an exciting new venue in London, a convenience food brand and the snooker player Judd Trump. We also wrote the bid that will bring the men’s T20 World Cup to the USA and West Indies in 2024.

What makes ONSIDE stand out from your competitors?

JT: Our starting mindset is always collaborative rather than competitive. We aim to add value to the industry as well as our clients. That’s why we invest in our annual Industry Survey in Ireland and our Quarterly Sponsorship Review in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and share the findings liberally. Being independent also allows us to be flexible, open and – at times – very direct. We have the luxury of being able to prioritise quality and are never afraid to ask for help and bring in external expertise that will enhance the value of our service.

JL: John’s very modest but I’ve not met a sharper analyst of sponsorship rights and opportunities and he’s incredibly motivated by delivering successful outcomes for our clients. The ONSIDE business also has really strong foundations. The first and most important part of this is the exceptional team. We’re very fortunate to have Kim Kirwan as our Head of Intelligence and Paige Mosberg as our Head of Advisory in Ireland, and an exceptional roster of advisors including Rory Best, the former Ireland rugby captain and Joe Canning, one of the greatest hurlers of all time.

Kim and Paige are both based in our other unique asset, ONSIDE’s global headquarters at 56 Lansdowne Road. It is a beautiful historic building adjacent to the Aviva Stadium, and perfectly captures our established position at the heart of the industry in Ireland. Our task now is to take the lessons learned in Dublin and find out if there are similar challenges we can help solve, and opportunities we can unlock in other parts of the world, starting with those that have similar characteristics. We’re currently expanding our team in both Dublin and the UK to help us tackle this.

What are the current trends in your business area, and how are they affecting how you work and how you deliver on strategy?

JT: Our 2022 Sponsorship Industry Survey demonstrated that 2021 was a year of solid recovery and indicated that 2022 will be a year of further growth. While sponsorship has always been about connecting – fans with sports and entertainment; consumers with products, services and the companies behind them; sponsors with property partners – we believe the success of the industry will be defined by its ability to CONNECT in FOUR specific ways in 2022. These connections will either be authentic, smart, tricky or fun.

While most of the sponsorship industry dialogue and award line ups at the start of the year focused on authentic and smart connections, it is the tricky ones that are currently centre stage. We expected this to be the case with the Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics and Qatar World Cup but the war in Ukraine has made the focus even more intense.

We do think there will be a post-Covid revival of fun sponsorships too. That might seem counter-intuitive in the face of rising living costs and the Ukraine crisis, but public enthusiasm for sport and entertainment in the UK and Ireland is high. The sponsorship sector needs to be careful not to take itself too seriously and brands that find ways to enhance enjoyment, particularly in the summer months, will be positively received.

JL: We’ve also noticed that Ireland performs much better than markets such as Wales and Scotland across a number of key sponsorship metrics. Sponsorships in these markets are not cutting through as effectively as they should and, as we dig deeper into this, we’re starting to understand more about the factors that are driving this disparity. I’m hoping we can help brands in these markets better-understand the opportunities, and rights holders build better partnerships.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

JT: I’ve really valued the relationship with ESA that we’ve had for over a decade. I’ve learned a lot as a Board Member and ESA Awards Judge over the years and I think it plays an important role in connecting the industry and shining a spotlight on innovation and good practice. I’d like to extend an invite to 56 Lansdowne Road to any ESA Member, any time you’re passing through Dublin, you will always be welcome at our home. Just send us an email to info@onside.ie and we will roll out the red carpet.

JL: We’ve been producing an annual industry report in Ireland since 2009 and I’m currently exploring the feasibility of developing a similar piece of industry intelligence for England, Scotland and Wales. I’d love to hear from anyone interested in collaborating on this project and if you’d like to read the Irish Sponsorship Industry Report it can be requested here.

JT: Thank you for helping me answer these questions Jon.

JL: No problem John. Here are a few links to our social media channels and website too. Usually they are populated with useful industry insights and sometimes they have a picture of John’s dogs!

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