British Gas Wins Top Prize At Hollis Sponsorship Awards

Hundreds of leading lights from the sponsorship industry gathered at The London Marriott Hotel last night (March 29) to see British Gas and Carat Sponsorship secure the Hollis Sponsorship of the Year Award for their work with British Swimming. The winning team was presented with its Award by Double Olympian James Cracknell, who was named Hollis Sponsorship Personality of the Year for his Herculean achievements in raising funds and exposure for the charity sector.
Altogether, 15 brands including British Gas picked up Hollis Sponsorship Awards this year. Among the highlights were HSBC’s success in the Arts Category with Festival Brazil, Specsavers’ success in the Media Category with the TV Book Club and Evian’s success in the big budget Brand category for its Wimbledon activity. Among new winners, Compeed’s partnership with the ATP won the first-timer Award while Theakston’s triumphed in the low-budget category.
Across the categories, a high number of blue-chip brands proved successful, notably Asda, Castrol, Unilever, Jaguar and O2, the latter picking up the Continuity Award for its naming rights deal with AEG. Lesser-known brands also shone, notably Brakes and Ekspan. Flying the flag for Scotland were Glenmorangie and Tennent’s.
Hollis Awards organiser Rosemary Sarginson said: “The quality of entries this year was excellent. While the economic downturn has clearly taken its toll on many companies and individuals, the sponsorship industry has again shown its resilience and innovation.”
Looking to the future, Sarginson was also delighted to see Carat’s Matthew Riches pick up the Barrie Gill Award For Most Promising Young Sponsorship Executive. “We had four great candidates in this category. There’s no question that the future of the industry is in safe hands if this group of rising stars is anything to go by!”