Media & Marketing:Tomorrow evening, all eyes will be on the Ireland team when it takes on France in the Rugby World Cup. So far, the tournament has not gone well for the team, although fans will hope that the performance will improve in Paris. Also keeping their fingers crossed will be the sponsors who have built expensive marketing campaigns around the team and some of its stars.
Whatever about the narrow wins against Georgia and Namibia, off the pitch, this current Irish rugby team is the most commercially successful ever. In the past five years, Irish rugby has generated an unprecedented image and profile. That is largely due to the success of the provinces, compounded by the success of the national team - three Triple Crowns in four years and just pipped by the French for a Grand Slam.
That success has spawned stars such as Brian O'Driscoll and Ronan O'Gara, who can each command annual fees of about €100,000 for affiliations with sponsors, according to well-placed sources.
Sports agent John Baker represents team coach Eddie O'Sullivan and players Paul O'Connell; John Hayes; Girvan Dempsey; Peter Stringer, Denis Leamy and Jerry Flannery.
He attends to his players' contractual arrangements with the IRFU and commercial deals with sponsors.
According to Baker: "There is a core group of players that sponsors want to be associated with - Brian O'Driscoll, Ronan O'Gara, Paul O'Connell, Peter Stringer and Denis Leamy. With Paul O'Connell, we are now in a position where we can say 'no' to most of the proposals presented to us. Sponsors jump at Stringer and Leamy as well. But it's all a fickle business. I am amazed that John Hayes hasn't had more approaches."
Hayes has 77 caps, but he is a workhorse who rarely gets the glory. One agent said: "Hayes will do all the hard work at one end of the pitch, which helps Brian O'Driscoll get the flash try at the other end. The sponsors want to be associated with the guy putting points on the board."
With Eddie O'Sullivan, Baker has put together sponsorship arrangements with O2 and the team manager also does well on the motivational speaking circuit, delivering leadership speeches to companies such as Deloitte, Eircom and Nissan. If Ireland does not get out of its group, O'Sullivan may have to revise his corporate presentations.
Peter Stringer may have been dropped from the team for this game, but he is still in demand with sponsors. Baker has built associations with Lifestyle Sports, Nike and the fruit health drink, Adez. The dynamic ball carrier Leamy has deals with RugbyTec, Adidas and Elverys.
Baker also represents Argentina and Leinster back Felipe Contepomi. "Felipe is a good-looking guy and a doctor, but I'm not inundated with calls from sponsors," admits Baker.
Sponsors have also given wingers Denis Hickie and Shane Horgan a wide berth.
Says Baker: "If the guy signing the cheque is a rugby fan, he will opt to sponsor the rugby. If he is a football supporter, he will choose football. That factor, coupled with the strong personality of the player and success on the pitch, makes a sponsorship work.
"Agents also have to be careful to protect the interests of their clients. With Paul O'Connell, I have turned down good money deals because the fit wasn't right. We also have to be wary of over exposing their client. In my view, four is the optimum number of deals per player."
Fly half Ronan O'Gara (30) combines chiselled good looks with a lethal right peg. The Munster man has been top points scorer in the Six Nations for the last three years, generating familiarity with television viewers as he lines up his next kick. This has translated into sponsorship deals with Newbridge Silverware, Samsung, AIB credit cards and Tesco.
However, when O'Gara is misfiring, as he has been recently, he attracts the odium of the radio satirists. If he fails to produce the goods against France or Argentina, those sponsorship deals could dry up next year.
Brian O'Driscoll is more of a celebrity that O'Gara, at least as far as the showbusiness writers in the newspapers are concerned.
His commercial interests are handled by his father Frank, ODM and Promotions Ltd.
Sponsors including Adidas and Gillette have contributed to this company having accumulated profits of €620,000 in its balance sheet, dated August 2006.
Even if Ireland flop at the World Cup, rugby will go on coining it. Says John Redmond, director of sponsorship at Slattery Communications: "All the available categories are sponsored and there is a queue of companies lining up to become sponsors. In addition, the organisation is oversubscribed for corporate boxes at the new Lansdowne Road and there is a waiting list for 10-year tickets. Irish rugby is a strong brand with a tolerant, supportive audience."
