IRN-BRU Wins Sponsorship Of The Year Trophy As UK Industry Awards Celebrates Its 21st Anniversary, Lord Dobbs of Wylye – author of House of Cards – applauds creativity and effectiveness of the industry

RN-BRU’s Born To Support was revealed as Sponsorship Of The Year at the 21st UK Sponsorship Awards, hosted by Lord Dobbs of Wylye – author of House Of Cards - at the London Marriott Hotel on Tuesday, March 24 2015. At the same time, Fuse Sport + Entertainment and National Schools Partnership picked up Consultancy of the Year Awards.

The IRN-BRU campaign, entered by IMG, also won the Sport (£750,000+) Category. Completing a great night for Fuse, MD EMEA Mark Bullingham was named Personality of the Year.

Commenting on the results, UK Sponsorship Awards organiser Rosemary Sarginson said: “As always, the range and quality of this year’s entries was first-rate. It’s inspiring to work in an industry that channels so much creativity and commercial acumen into building brands and, at the same time, powers so many amazing community programmes.”

This year’s winners showed that sponsorship is thriving in all of UK plc’s major business categories. Retailers to triumph on the night included John Lewis and Morrisons, while successful car brands were Jeep, Citroen, Toyota and Volvo. Financial services, always a strong supporter of the sponsorship sector, was represented by Bank of Scotland, Barclays and Lloyds Bank. O2, a frequent winner at the Awards, came out on top in the innovation category.

Other winners included HTC, Samsung, Casio Edifice, Papa John’s, Caledonia Best, Cono Sur, Tennent’s, Coca-Cola, Lucozade and Castello. BP, a long-standing supporter of arts sponsorship, triumphed with What the Artist Saw.

According to Sarginson, “Two of the things that have enabled the UK to overcome the recent social and economic challenges have been the creativity of British companies and the passion displayed by community organisations. Both of these attributes were amply illustrated by the campaigns nominated for this year’s UK Sponsorship Awards. I look forward to seeing more of the same at next year’s Awards!”