Irish sponsorships picked up two of the most prestigious awards at the ESA Excellence Awards last night, with Liberty Insurance winning the Business to Consumer category for its joint sponsorship of Gaelic Athletic Association sports, Hurley and Camogie, and Electric Ireland winning the gold medal in the ESA Best of Europe category for its Sponsorship of Team Ireland in the London Olympics 2012.
The ESA Best of Europe award is the prize given to the best of six national sponsorship association award winners from France, Germany, Ireland, Slovenia, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
The ESA Excellence Awards, of which Sports Sponsorship Insider is a partner, is organised by the European Sponsorship Association and recognises excellence within the sponsorship industry across Europe.
Sponsorships linked to professional football took just one of the 10 sponsorship category awards up for grabs. That went to quick service restaurant chain McDonald’s for its Euro 2012 Player Escort Programme in the Multi-National award category.
Golf figured in two of the award categories: Genworth Putts4Charity won the Business to Community award and Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open won the Business to Business award.
Swimming, sailing, rugby union and athletics took the rest for, respectively, British Gas SwimsBritain (Business to Employee), SAP at Kieler Woche (Business to Consumer – Low Budget), RBS 6 Nations (Social Media), British Athletics and Sainsbury’s (Rights holder).
Supermarket Morrisons took the only winner’s award not connected to a sporting property, winning the “Business to Consumer – Media” category for its broadcast sponsorship of the entertainment programme “Ant & Dec Bring Out The Talent”.
Agency MEC Access won the evening’s first award, the ESA Professional Development Award.
The Awards Ceremony took place at the Plaisterers’ Hall in the City of London and was hosted by Steve Parry, UK Radio/TV presenter and former Olympic swimmer. The sold-out event attracted a record number of guests.
The European Sponsorship Association’s (ESA) annual awards received entries from 11 countries which were assessed by an independent panel of expert judges from across the continent. The awards enjoyed the patronage of Mrs Androulla Vassiliou, Member of the European Commission.
To view a full list of winners and highly commended campaigns from last night’s Awards Ceremony and Dinner – see http://www.sponsorship.org/ESA-Excellence-Awards/winners-2013.asp