Industry Shorts: Two Circles, Callaway, Special Olympics
Organisers for the France 2023 Rugby World Cup have named Two Circles – winner of the Agency of the Year Award at the Sport Industry Awards 2020 – as its Official Ticketing Marketing Agency for the UK and Ireland.
The agency will be tasked with helping the tournament achieve its ambitions of selling a record-breaking 2.6m tickets and generating up to €373m in ticketing revenue by designing and delivering a three-year, end-to-end marketing campaign for the tournament’s biggest international market.
In recent years, the agency has worked with events such as the ICC Cricket World Cup, golf’s Open Championship and the Nitto ATP Finals, which all delivered record ticket sales.
Callaway has acquired golf driving range and entertainment brand Topgolf in a deal that values the company at almost $2 billion (£1.55 billion).
Callaway acquired a 14% share of Topgolf in 2006, and the pair will now combine fully, creating an ‘unrivalled golf and entertainment business,’ according to Callaway CEO Chip Brewer.
Kerry Group has extended its partnership with Special Olympics GB for another two years, as part of a broader deal which also includes the commencement of a new relationship with Special Olympics Germany, the upcoming host country for the Special Olympics World Summer Games 2023.
As partner of Special Olympics GB, Kerry Group says it will continue to build on key focus areas including creating more inclusive communities; supporting Special Olympics GB’s Athlete Leadership programme; and championing the employability of people with intellectual disabilities.
Since the pair launched their initial partnership in March 2018, the pair have helped 6,539 athletes train for 2,022 events, as well as supporting 985 Special Olympics Athlete Leaders through seminars, mentoring and giving. The partnership has also created a sustainable pathway to employment for people with intellectual disabilities within Kerry Group, which has seen people with intellectual disabilities hired at various locations across UK & Ireland.
Manchester United COO Colette Roche has said that the club’s Old Trafford stadium has been modified to hold some 23,000 socially distant fans.
Roche told Sky Sports that, despite the move, the club finds it ‘bemusing’ that people can gather together in other settings ‘such as on an aeroplane or in a restaurant, or even in a cinema to watch football, when we know we’ve got the plans and the process is ready to deliver a match day here safely.’
National Fitness Day 2020, co-ordinated by ukactive and integrated into the Great British Week of Sport, inspired a record number of people to be active, with 19.1 million people getting involved on the day beating the campaign’s 10 million target.
According to ukactive, it was the most successful National Fitness Day to date, while a national poll from Savanta ComRes showed a record 8.7 million children took part in physical activity on the day – an increase of more than six million on the previous year.
Organisers say this was partly inspired by schools taking part in a synchronised 10 minutes of activity at 10am, known as the 10@10 initiative.
