ENERGY SUPPLIER Bord Gáis has agreed a deal with Live Nation to sponsor the Grand Canal Theatre in Dublin for the next 6½ years.

As part of the deal, Bord Gáis will become the preferred supplier of electricity and gas to the theatre and the nearby O2 concert venue, which is also run by Live Nation.

The sponsorship deal, first revealed by The Irish Timesin August, will result in the venue changing its name to the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre.

Bord Gáis said the deal would allow the company to offer free and discounted tickets, as well as priority booking, to its customers.

It plans to establish a rewards scheme next March to offer its one million-plus customers tickets to the venue, along with other offers.

The semi-State company will also have the use of the venue for three nights a year, starting with a charity benefit on March 7th next.

The sponsorship will be the centrepiece of a new marketing strategy by Bord Gáis, which will focus less on acquiring customers and more on retaining them.

About one in five customers are currently defecting as consumers change energy suppliers in search of the best prices.

“There’s a cost of dealing with that,” said Bord Gáis chief executive John Mullins. “Our view is that if we’re going to do sponsorship in the future . . . we wanted something that would be interactive with our customers and imbue more loyalty.

“We looked at a whole number of projects out there in the sponsorship area and felt that this was a unique one because it represented a broad church, which is what we have as a customer base.”

Mr Mullins said Bord Gáis was pulling back from other sponsorships to concentrate on the theatre deal and its book club. These include a rugby awards sponsorship, the Cork City Marathon and the GAA’s under-21 championships, the last of which has one more year to run.

The company’s sponsorship budget will be reduced to about €1.7 million a year from €2 million. Its total marketing budget is being reduced by €1.7 million annually to a level of about €5.8 million.