January felt like it had 97 days, February about a week and before you know where you’re at, it’s March and the Sports Advertising year is well and truly in full swing.
We’ve been at more live sports events than Des Lynam and Steve Ryder combined this month and March even produced the possibility of us putting our Sports 360 ‘stamp’ on another great game…..
It’s been well documented that the weather hasn’t been great in recent weeks and to counter it, we took off to Perpignan and got to witness ‘Storm Salford’ completely and utterly shake Stade Gilbert Brutus to its very foundations and blow Catalans Dragons away, with one of the best performances we’ve seen for many a year.
We’re also making waves throughout Super League, with our sponsoring of Warrington Wolves home shorts and our new “In Trinity & Beyond” sign at Wakey. With both teams making great starts to the season, we’ve been on Sky more than Paul Merson this month and we’ve every reason to believe it will be maintained, as the two teams continue to flourish.
We managed to take in another close game between Salford and Wigan at the AJ Bell, where the Warriors had just enough to claim the points and enjoy a good weekend, in what has proved to be a tricky month.
Jasic have enjoyed some unbelievable exposure, due to their sponsorship of Welsh Darts ace, Gerwyn Price, as the Ice Man featured LIVE on Sky Sports no less than 5 times throughout the third month of 2019. The former Rugby League star has also managed to keep alive his hopes of winning the Unibet Premier League of Darts, at only the second attempt.
Netball continues to deliver week after week and has almost become part of the sporting furniture, with their Monday night slot, LIVE on Sky Sports. There were some fantastic live games that all clients on the LED Perimeter Advertising have benefitted hugely from, as the sport continues to attract more viewers by the week, as we head towards an exciting end to the season, the Grand Final and the World Cup in the summer.
The standout game this month was the closely fought clash between Loughborough Lightning and back to back Champions Wasps and Lightning emerging victorious only bodes well for the remainder of the campaign.
Cheltenham is one of THE weeks of the sporting calendar and it felt like we had to jump a million fences ourselves just to get there, as the weather caused havoc yet again and added a good hour onto an already lengthy journey. When world class racing action awaits however, a bit of wind and rain is easily conquered.
After the odd win here and the odd ‘near miss’ with Liz Hurley there, we were soon on our way home with tales of woe, empty pockets and that nagging feeling of, “Shall we go again tomorrow?”……………..A quick check of the forecast and we decided that “a bit of wind and rain is easily conquered,” just not twice.
Continuing the trend of bad weather, The Old Firm derby caused a storm all of its own, as Rangers looked to arrest the Celtic domination North of the border. Despite a valiant effort from the ten men in blue, the reigning champions just had too much on the day and increased their lead at the top.
Although not ideal for kit sponsors 32Red, aligning yourself with a giant club such as the men from Ibrox, allows you a continual presence across the media and therefore the public consciousness as the season unfolds. Add this to their sponsorship of top Championship clubs such as Leeds Utd and Preston North End (amongst others) and their Perimeter Advertising throughout English and Scottish football and you can quickly see why it has been a great start to the year for the online casino giants. They currently occupy 5 of the top 10 Championship places and sit second in the SPFL and it could get better yet before the season’s out.
We managed to get to plenty of live football at all levels throughout this last month, as we are firm believers in being on the ‘front line’ when we are working with clients, clubs or competitions. We don’t ‘wash our hands’ once the ink is dry, we like to get a feel for clubs, fans and clients alike, in order to activate or maximise deals where we can and the best way to do that, is often to just simply be there.
We got to see promotion hopefuls Preston take on Bristol City and Bolton attempt to cling on to life in the Championship as they travelled to Wigan, followed by National League action as FC Utd played out a 3-3 thriller against York and then we finished the month at Harrogate Town v Salford City, LIVE in front of the BT Sport cameras.
There’s lots going on at 360 House, which is par for the course and we love it, but it’s fair to say we are storming through 2019!