Frontiers Group Africa and Unilever win only Grand Prix Loerie in Sponsorship category

Making the win particularly poignant is that it is the first time that sponsorship has been integrated into the Loeries and that only 4 Grand Prix Loeries were handed out across all award categories.

Says Kelvin Watt MD of the Frontiers Group: "It was great to have sponsorship as part of the integrated Loerie event, but it is important for sponsorship practitioners to understand that our medium is the most integrated of all and relies as much on delivery as it does creativity."

The Frontiers Group won both a Grand Prix and Gold in best medium-budget sport sponsorship category (R2.5 million to R5 million) for the Unilever Foods Flora margarine sponsorship of this year's Comrades Marathon. It is estimated that the event reached a cumulative audience of 16 619 000.

One of the elements of Flora's Comrades sponsorship was naming rights to the three day expo "The Flora Experience" which was hosted in Durban and had approximately 47 000 visitors through its doors. Flora's main activity was built around creating awareness of the role of cholesterol on overall heart disease. Over 5000 cholesterol tests were conducted.

Comments Watt: "Flora is about everyday people trying to accomplish personal goals by following a healthy lifestyle. Right from the beginning we saw the great strategic fit that the brand had with the Comrades Marathon. What made working with Flora so special was that they had clearly defined objectives and strategically delivered on each on these. Over two promotional bursts linked to the Comrades, sales increased by 102 percent and 52 percent in Pick 'n' Pay stores."

Adds Sandile Koza, director of the Frontiers Group: "A lot of the credit must go to the Comrades Marathon Association for having faith in us to produce a world class product on their behalf and SABC Sport and SABC 2 were fantastic media partners and really made the job of leveraging this sponsorship to the masses more effective."

The Frontiers Group packages the commercial rights elements of both event and broadcast sponsorship, offering a more complete marketing solution to their clients.