David Hoggins
Partnerships Director
David heads up the Partnerships division in the UK, managing many of PHAR’s key rights-holder relationships and has a particular focus on growing the Cycle Hire team.
Can you tell us a little bit about PHAR Partnerships ?
PHAR Partnerships is a global sponsorship and brand partnerships agency that specialises in delivering ancillary revenues for owners of transport, infrastructure and leisure properties, through creating and selling sponsorship packages.
We advise our clients on how to package, value, market and sell their sponsorship assets, with our approach underpinned by our proprietary sponsorship tools developed in partnership with GroupM.
The packages we create aim to deliver long-term, mutually beneficial sponsorship relationships that deliver value for the rights-holder, brand and end-customer.
A really exciting part of our business at the moment is micromobility, where we have experienced exponential growth over the past year.
We are now exclusively representing many of the leading cycle hire schemes across the UK, including Manchester, the West Midlands, Glasgow, Cardiff, Brighton & Hove, Bournemouth and Norwich.
In addition, we are working with many of the leading schemes globally in Europe, North America, the Middle East and SE Asia.
How did you decide to focus on the micromobility sector?
We have worked closely with Transport for London over the last decade to consult on their sponsorship strategy for the cycle hire scheme in London and advised on both the Barclays and Santander deals.
We have seen first-hand the tremendous benefits that both brands availed through the sponsorship and in the case of Santander, conducted research which showed clearly bottom-line results attributable to sponsorship of the scheme.
However it is only in recent years that there has been a huge acceleration towards micromobility in towns and cities, as part of a wider trend towards decarbonisation and sustainable living.
For example it was only last year that the scheme in Birmingham and the West Midlands launched, and the scheme in Manchester is currently in soft launch.
The growth in the sector is offering huge potential not only in official transport authority led schemes but also through the opportunities offered by micromobility companies such as Lime that are operating across the world.
McKinsey estimate that the shared micromobility market could reach $300bn – $500bn globally by 2030!
Can you tell us more about one of the partnerships that PHAR has delivered over the past year?
We secured Ovo Energy as the sponsor of the cycle hire schemes in Glasgow, Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan for next three years and were particularly proud to see the ‘Ovo Bikes’ playing a key role at COP26 in Glasgow last year.
All delegates were offered free rides during COP26 with “virtual” pick-up and drop-up stations set-up around the security perimeter.
The sponsorship is a really strong embodiment of Ovo’s mission to net zero carbon, by supporting a truly green transport mode operating within two of its key communities.
Ovo have already started to activate the bike sponsorship and its ‘Ovo Bikes Green Route’ is a really good example of an activation that lives beyond the bikes itself. The specially chosen cycle route helps riders to discover some of Cardiff and Glasgow’s sustainable independent businesses with each store given a OVO green plaque to match its green credentials.
Why do you think Cycle Hire is an appealing sponsorship platform for brands?
Cycle Hire is a unique proposition in that it delivers for brands a 24/7 sponsorship property at the heart of our towns and cities. It encompasses both physical branding which is highly visible and memorable, as well as integrated digital touchpoints that offer opportunity for gamification and first party data capture – many of the schemes around the world are now powered purely through a mobile app.
The intangible associations with sustainability, public health and community support are particularly strong.
There has been a clear trend towards brands using purpose to create deeper connections with consumers and to invest in the communities in which they operate.
Consumers expect brands to support the adoption of more sustainable living, and many of our clients can now track the CO2 emissions savings delivered in real time and package this data in a really compelling way to show the tangible impact the scheme is having on the environment.
There are also real public health benefits in helping to encourage more healthy and balanced lifestyles to help tackle obesity. According to CoMoUK’s Bike Share Users Survey, a bike share scheme was the catalyst to starting cycling again for over 55% of users.
Positive outcomes like this are really powerful stories for brands to be associated with.
How do you see things developing over the next five years?
The sector is clearly experiencing strong growth which we expect to continue. Cycle hire and micromobility will be a key element in future urban planning, with future mobility hubs planned to enable people to switch from one mode of transport to another with convenient facilities designed for a low-carbon society.
As cities look to increasingly integrate public transport services with sustainable modes of transport, this may widen the opportunities further for brands, beyond supporting a cycle hire scheme to supporting a city’s whole sustainable transport network.
We expect to see global operators develop brand partnerships programmes which will become an important long-term revenue stream for their businesses.
The opportunities for brands will likely broaden further too as the digital infrastructure develops. The ‘Santander Cycles’ scheme in London has already seen the advancement of “gamification” through the integration of achievements and rewards unlockable by the user as they reach certain ride milestones.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
We’d love to hear from other ESA members that might be interested in learning more about cycle hire sponsorship. We are working with schemes in countries like Germany, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Poland and are keen to explore partnerships with like-minded agencies that have a presence in these markets.