No sooner than we were done talking about the Olympics and McDonalds parting ways, the FA announces that it is pulling out of its sponsorship deal with Ladbrokes. The announcement comes just one year into a four-year sponsorship deal.

Plagued with controversy, the FA have been forced to make some difficult decisions, notably with Joey Barton being banned from football for 18 months.  With Barton, himself slamming the ‘huge clash between their rules (The FA’s) and the culture that surrounds the modern game’.

So, what does this all mean for the sponsorship industry? Our CEO Matt Turner (former board member of Crawley Town Football Club) gives his thoughts on the matter:

‘As we’ve seen in recent weeks, there are more and more sponsorship and partnership deals falling through or being cancelled due to bad press. In my opinion, all partnerships must create a win-win for absolutely every partner and stakeholder involved or associated. This is, of course, easier said than done, but the potential for positive and negative press should be considered from the outset.

Now the big thing. When done properly, solid successful partnerships stand the test of time – it just needs some thought and creativity put into it. The creative activation of the campaign is what sets it apart from another ego manic wanting their logo on someone's head.

Let’s think about it from a completely different perspective, for a moment. What could Ladbrokes have done to prevent this? What Ladbrokes should have done is launched a massive gambling support service in the community and around football, not only for fans but for players too. This is then responsible, clean, CSR. Plus, when stuff does go wrong, which sometimes it does, you have something impactful to fall back on and something to protect your brand.

Gone are the days of whacking your logo on something and everyone flocks to you. The new era requires partnerships to be sticky, close, integrated and impactful.’ 

Find out more about how ECHO can help your business with brand partnerships and brand activation opportunities by getting in touch with us at hello@weareecho.co.uk or for all our latest news and updates follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.