Media&MarketingOnce upon a time, advertisers were happy to place their television advertisements in the commercial breaks. Now, though, a lot of money is being spent sponsoring the TV programmes themselves.

RTÉ has 23 sponsored programmes in its TV schedule and its flagship sponsorship opportunity is the Late Late Show. Being associated with the chat show did wonders in raising brand awareness for Renault, and now Halifax is hoping to repeat the trick as the second season of its sponsorship kicks in when the programme resumes tomorrow.

Other programme sponsors include Goodfella's (Big Big Movie), Whirlpool (Charity You're A Star), Friends First (ER) and Amstel (Entourage). Even TG4 gets in on the act, with the Irish Independent sponsoring some of its films. However, some shows are a harder sell than others: the RTÉ website currently lists 11 available sponsorship opportunities, including Killinaskully, Ryan Confidential and the Podge & Rodge Show.

TV3 also benefits from such deals. The National Lottery has sponsored Coronation Street since last year and, for the third year running, Kia Motors is sponsoring the X Factor.

According to Aidan Doyle, head of marketing at Kia: "The X Factor is a family programme with a bit of pzazz. The sponsorship suits Kia because the marque is still in a brand-building phase. Over the two years of the sponsorship, Kia's unprompted spontaneous awareness has risen from 3 per cent to 9 per cent. But that has been helped by all our above-the-line activity as well."

Sponsors such as Kia get promotional "stings" at the beginning and end of each commercial break in the sponsored programme. The theory is that these stings reach consumers who do not want to be reached before they have the opportunity to avoid the ads.

A typical sponsorship deal will give the advertiser 10-second stings at the start and end of the programme and five-second stings coming in and out of each ad break. Audiences expect clever stings: ad agency OMD's effort for Kia on the X Factor is: "Which Kia, you be the judge."

Gary Power, of media buyer Saor Communications, says: "Creative empathy between the programme style and content has to be leveraged in the stings to avoid consumer disconnection. Rotation of multiple stings will ensure viewer cut-through, and humour stands out more than serious or style messages."

Doyle won't say how much Kia is paying for the stings, but it is unlikely to be as much as Carphone Warehouse is paying ITV to sponsor X Factor in Britain. Carphone took over the sponsorship this year from Nokia and is reportedly paying €30 million over three years for the privilege.

Unlike TV3, ITV can offer Carphone Warehouse significant added value. The deal extends to an off-air package of rights covering broadband, interactive, licensing and merchandising rights. The mobile phone retailer also gets first call on contestants for store visits.

But sponsorships can backfire, too, as Carphone Warehouse discovered with Celebrity Big Brother. When that show was engulfed in the Shilpa Shetty racism row earlier this year, Carphone pulled the plug on its €4 million-a-year sponsorship of it.

Power says niche TV sponsorship opportunities are increasing and he believes it is not just a game for the big players. "Strong TV sponsorships can deliver higher awareness for small challenger brands which cannot afford a lot of spot advertising," he says.

However, Kia's Doyle cautions that sponsorship should be a long-term commitment. "No one benefits if a programme is chopping and changing sponsors every year," he says.

GAA cleans up stadium

Companies which advertise on the hoardings around the pitch in Croke Park have been informed by the GAA that from 2008 there will be no room for their boards.

Dermot Power, commercial marketing manager in the GAA, is optimistic that the association will be able to negotiate its way out of the contracts it has with perimeter advertisers. The move for a "clean stadium" comes as part of the GAA's decision to mimic the Champions League and secure three sponsors for the hurling and three sponsors for the football championships next year. It is seeking in the region of €1.5 million a year from each of the six sponsors.

Creative deals

The creative account for the Beamish & Crawford beer brands has moved to QMP from Grey Helme. Meanwhile, shortlisted agencies for the Fás creative, production and below-the-line business are Cawley Nea, Irish International, Hunter Red Cell and Owens DDB.

Animated accounting

A TV campaign for the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia has proved so successful that the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland has followed suit with an animated TV campaign of its own, created by ad agency Atomic.