Virgin new sponsor of London Marathon

by Ed Kemp Marketing 16-May-08, 08:29

LONDON - In a £17m five-year deal, the London Marathon has unveiled Virgin as its new title sponsor from 2010.

Virgin Money will act as the lead Virgin brand associated with the annual event.

The event has been sponsored for the past 14 years by Unilever brand Flora, which took the decision last December to end its association at the conclusion of the 2009 race.

The Flora tie-up, which began in 1996 when it succeeded NutraSweet as the event's sponsor, was widely recognised as an ideal fit for the brand.

Flora had used the sponsorship as a launch pad for products, such as its pro.activ. It has also used the event to back integrated campaigns, most recently the 'You don't have to run a marathon to love your heart' work.

For the full story, see next week's Marketing.

Comments

J G B Williams - 16/05/2008

Flora actually succeeded NutraSweet not Mars!

J G B Williams - 16/05/2008

Flora actually succeeded NutraSweet not Mars!

Jeremy Lee - 16/05/2008

yeah we know

B Agotcha - 16/05/2008

jeremy didn't even know that an orang-utan was an ape - duh

Jim tigersrule - 16/05/2008

what are you talking about?

Jeremy Lee - 16/05/2008

I'm afraid he's right - I also didn't know that they had opposable thumbs. How embarrassingt? I can outrun a cheetah though - FACT

Sean Murricane - 16/05/2008

You'd never guess it was friday would you? It's an odd tie-up this one, but will be interesting to see where it goes... (apart from 26 miles around London, I knew that bit already)

Jeremy Lee - 16/05/2008

Not as odd as ADT - seems quite logical, what with Virgin Active gyms and all and the Virgin Money tie makes sense - see next week's Marketing to find out why