Robinsons retains firm Wimbledon association

by Ed Kemp, Marketing 24-Jun-08

Robinsons is still the brand most closely associated with the Wimbledon tennis championships by the UK public, according to research from Ipsos MORI, despite adopting a lower-key approach to the tournament.

Robinsons has traditionally worked with famous players, including
Britain's former number one Tim Henman, to leverage its sponsorship.
However, this year it has declined to work with the latest batch of

stars, such as Andy Murray (Marketing, 18 June).

Robinsons was associated with the tournament by 22% of respondents to
the Ipsos MORI's survey, which was carried out over the four weeks to 12
June. Next in the list was Slazenger with 6%, followed by Adidas,
Dunlop, Ariel, Buxton, IBM and Rolex.

The soft-drinks brand also fared best when respondents were asked to
name brands associated with tennis as a whole. Overall, 21% of
respondents aged 16-64 associated the brand with the sport, followed by
Slazenger (15%), Adidas (13%) and Nike (13%).

Beer brand Artois, which ended its sponsorship of the Queen's Club
Championships this year, has only a 4% recognition despite its 30-year
title association with the tournament.

This year Robinsons is promoting its tie to Wimbledon through an on-pack
promotion using the Robinsons Taste Buddies characters.

Last year, it ran only below-the-line work featuring Tim Henman, who
will appear in PR activity this year.