TV presenter Coleen Rooney "is leading the search" for the U.K.’s "most deserving football mum." The 2016 McDonald’s Football Mum of the Year Award "is looking for mums who go above and beyond so their children can enjoy playing football, week-in week-out." More than 800 "selfless mums were nominated for their work in grassroots football in 2015, the inaugural year of the award." Last year’s winner, Leah Poole, "was honoured for her commitment to coaching disabled children and being a head coach at several grassroots sports clubs." The winner of the McDonald’s Football Mum of the Year Award will be recognized "at a special ceremony at Wembley Stadium" on Aug. 7 (LIVERPOOL ECHO, 6/2).
ON TOUR: The British & Irish Lions and Land Rover announced that the vehicle manufacturer will renew its partnership for The Lions' '17 tour to New Zealand. The partnership, for the sixth successive tour, will see Land Rover become a principal partner to the British & Irish Lions, building on a relationship which started in '97. As principal partner as well as the official vehicle partner of the British & Irish Lions, Land Rover will provide a range of vehicles on tour in New Zealand and pre-tour the U.K. and Ireland (Lions Rugby).
DOUBLE THE FUN: Supermarket Iceland "decided to sponsor Iceland in its bid to win the Euros this year and will encourage Brits to make the national football squad their ‘second team’ during the tournament." The idea "was born after fans took to Twitter to congratulate the country on its surprising win to qualify for the Euros, but used the supermarket's handle instead." Iceland Food Social Media Manager Andy Thompson said, "Suddenly it made perfect sense; rather than supporting just our main national teams, why not get behind yet another, as our second choice, to double the fun?" It "will see Iceland (the supermarket) roll out a series of tongue-in-cheek short films on its social channels showing behind the scenes footage of the team in training" (THE DRUM, 6/2).
MARKETING BRIEFS ...
Bundesliga club FC Ingolstadt extended its partnership with Hamburg-based agency Jung von Matt/sports for another year until the end of the '16-17 season. The agency will support the club in its communication strategy. The JvM/sports has been a partner of the club since '15 (FC Ingolstadt).
Usain Bolt teamed up with Digicel to launch its Bring the Beat campaign in front of an inquisitive bunch of little kids from across the Caribbean at the Terra Nova All Suite Hotel in Kingston, Jamaica. The launch took the form of a fireside chat session with Bolt, hosted by nine-year old Naleighna-Kae McLean from Jamaica, followed by a "Kiddie Press Conference" (Digicel).
Rugby union club Yorkshire Carnegie named XBlades Sports its new kit supplier. The five-year deal will see the Doncaster-based company design, manufacture and supply the club with all of its home and away kits as well as leisure and training apparel for the forthcoming seasons (XBlades).
The game League of Legends and the beverage brand Sprite "came to a strategic agreement." The two sides "agreed to work closely on co-brand marketing, with Sprite being the presenting sponsor." Sprite "will launch a series of promotion plans including TV advertising, outdoor advertising, Wechat advertising and BTL activities with an investment of hundreds of millions of yuan." Among other items, one billion bottles of Sprite products featuring LOL "will be the highlight of the LOL-Sprite gala" (YUTANG SPORTS, 6/2).
