With a slew of drinks sponsors (soft drinks, water, beer, wine and champagne) on show at Wimbledon, who’s winning the hydration battle?
The Arc London SponsorDNA research tool discovered that the brand with the closest image correlation to Wimbledon, based on our measured brand dimensions, is the official champagne of the tournament, Lanson. Both Lanson and Wimbledon have a strong brand match in the following dimensions: inspiration, posh, unique and affinity.
However, the fizz seems to have gone a little flat around Lanson’s sponsorship awareness figures. Just 14% of those surveyed by our research recognised them as an official sponsor, which was the lowest of all of the drink sponsors measured.
Wimbledon’s first-ever beer sponsor, Stella Artois, now in its second year at Wimbledon, achieved 24% awareness as a sponsor and 26% said they were a good fit with the event, which was 2% higher than non-sponsor Corona, a brand that has invested in tennis for a number of years via their ATP partnership.
However, it is the two non-alcoholic sponsors that dominate the rally both in the awareness and appropriateness stakes – 40% of people were aware of Evian’s sponsorship and more than 81% think they are a good fit.
Yet it is Wimbledon’s second-oldest sponsor, Robinsons, who has supported the event since 1935, that emerged as the biggest winners among the drink suppliers.
The brand has not only won in the awareness stakes, with 74% (30% higher than second place brand Slazenger, the oldest sponsor) but achieved a very strong perceived brand fit score (76%), meaning that its long-term investment is certainly paying off in consumers’ minds.
The official soft drink supplier has brought the long-term partnership to life by offering fans VIP experiences for those who find giant commemorative tennis balls in The Great Robinsons Ball Hunt.
Liam Hopkins is account director of Arc Sponsorship
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