Pimm's, O2, Guinness and Beats were the brands that proved, in '15, that advertisers do not "need an official sponsorship deal to win big on digital during a major sporting event," according to Ben Bold of MARKETING MAGAZINE. That is "according to data from Amobee, and the marketing consultancy assigned a score of 100 to the brand that generated the most interest online around a particular event." All other scores are "relative to that benchmark." Pimm’s was the "number one brand associated with Wimbledon, despite not being a partner of the tennis tournament, and was 2.5 points ahead of official sponsor IBM in terms of digital brand engagement, and 80% ahead of Wimbledon partner HSBC (which scored an index of 16.6)." Of the top five brands associated with September and October's Rugby World Cup, "only two were tournament sponsors -- Land Rover and Heineken." While Heineken was "the brand with the most digital content engagement during the competition, rival and non-sponsor Guinness scored an index of 63, while other non-tournament sponsors O2 and Beats scored 64 and 49 respectively" (MARKETING MAGAZINE, 12/21).
