Cinch and Cazoo zoom into top tier of sports sponsors
Online car marketplaces Cinch and Cazoo, takeaway service Just Eat and social media platform Tik Tok were the biggest entrants to sports sponsorship in the UK last year, according to a new report.
The four brands were the only new entrants in consultancy Onside’s Top 10 Most Appealing UK Sports Sponsors, which is published today.
Cinch began high-profile partnerships in 2021 with the England and Wales Cricket Board, the Lawn Tennis Association and the Scottish Professional Football League.
Rival Cazoo also added to a burgeoning sports portfolio that includes new domestic cricket competition The Hundred, Premier League clubs Aston Villa and Everton and horse racing’s Derby Festival.
Just Eat and Tik Tok, meanwhile, capitalised on their official partnerships with football’s delayed Euro 2020, which was held last summer and saw England’s men reach a first major final since 1966.
“Cazoo and Cinch have followed a well-trodden path in using sport sponsorship to help build brand awareness and credibility,” said Onside’s UK and Middle East managing director Jon Long.
“They have both invested heavily in sport sponsorship since the middle of 2020 and these began to cut through with the UK public in 2021. Major sponsorship investment has been a common theme in disruptive sectors where market dominance promises to deliver significant returns. It has been a similar story with food delivery and started to play out in cryptocurrency trading in 2021.”
Sports sponsorship heavyweights Coca-Cola, Nike, Adidas and Barclays were the brands that maintained the strongest presence year-round, the report found.
But despite being closely associated with the Olympics, neither Coca-Cola nor Adidas benefited as much as sponsors of the European Championship.
Long added: “The Tokyo Olympic Games did not have as big an impact on sponsoring brands as the men’s Euros in 2021 and the impact of next month’s Winter Olympics in Beijing is likely to be even smaller.”