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The long arm of Patrick Law |
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Thursday, 30 October 2008 11:50 |
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Heather McGregor asks Patrick Law to recall a career path that led to his role as Barratt Developments’ director of corporate affairs: A Barratt show home would be more luxuriously decorated than Patrick Law’s office. In an anonymous building nestled in the heart of the West End’s former rag trade in W1, the room of Barratt Developments’ director of corporate affairs is notable for two things: its proximity to his CEO, Mark Clare, and the single painting on the wall, an abstract illustration by the Somerset-based artist Brian Elwell. The only other objects that draw the eye are the boards propped up against the wall, which depict a Barratt development. But this is not just another housing estate or block of flats. It is the artists’ impression of the zero carbon Hanham Hall, which this year won Barratt English Partnerships’ Carbon Challenge competition. |
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Tuesday, 24 February 2009 10:45 |
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Peter Thomas, Accenture’s Director of Marketing and Communications, is about to take wing and become the first Director of Communications for the Rugby Football Union. Heather McGregor charts his career: A tin shack was once the centre of Peter Thomas’s life. When, in 2007, Dubai Exiles RFC vacated Al Awir for their new purpose-built home on the outskirts of Dubai, they left behind the place where Peter’s father with two friends had established the club in 1969, and where Peter learned to play. For him, photographs and memories are all that is left of that what was once a lone sand pitch with goals that didn’t even have cross bars. Born and baptised in Argentina when his father was working on the construction of a major dam there, Peter narrowly escaped being called Graham. “It was a requirement that names were registered in Spanish, and they couldn’t find a translation for Graham.” So Peter – or rather, Pedro – it was. The family moved back to the UK and Peter’s brother was born in Middlesbrough before they moved again, this time to Dubai. |
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World Cup sponsorships backfire
 Every four years, brands clamour (at great cost) to associate themselves with the greatest sporting spectacle on the calendar in return for the promise of heightened brand awareness and the reinforcement of positive values.
But new research suggests that most sponsors of the FIFA World Cup have been wasting their time and money.
A poll by global reputation auditors Echo Research, conducted the day before the FIFA World Cup opening ceremony on 11 June and repeated after the World Cup Final on 14 July, shows that the British public remain uncertain which companies sponsored the tournament.
The 1,002 adults polled across Britain following the World Cup Final struggled to correctly identify eight World Cup sponsors (Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Visa, Adidas, Budweiser, Sony, Emirates, Hyundai) from a list of well-known brands. No sponsor was correctly identified by more than half of those polled, with recognition highest for Coca-Cola (48%) and McDonald’s (40%). Even after the tournament, one in five (20%) of the adults polled incorrectly identified Nike as a World Cup sponsor.
Two sponsors actually saw recognition fall significantly between the opening ceremony and the final: Coca-Cola (48%, down from 57%) and Adidas (25%, down from 29%). Only two sponsors, Emirates (up from 12% to 17%) and Hyundai (up from 10% to 15%) secured improvements from low pre-tournament levels.
According to Matt Painter, research director of Echo Research, the findings show how unconnected organisations are when they sponsor major events. He says: “They're getting visibility for their brand on television, but not working these big ticket items effectively in the media through both paid for and non-paid-for channels, nor are they engaging the public through social media discussions. With so much 'noise' going on, companies have to work harder than this to ensure better bang for their bucks."
The research also reveals that association with the tournament does little to improve sentiment towards the sponsors.
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