Heineken has had a close relationship with rugby over the past 20 years, and it was by chance that we also found ourselves involved at the very start.
We had just been introduced to ERC via sports PR firm, Westgate Media and were invited to what was actually the sponsorship signing between ERC and Heineken in a room at The Queen’s Hotel, Cheltenham.
European Rugby Cup Limited was a brand new initiative, set-up between rugby’s 5 Nations Committee to provide a new level of cross-border club competition.
ERC had no formal identity and quickly needed something to represent them for the announcement, quite literally by the following morning!
There were a few options and one was selected.
As the tournament progressed everyone simply mucked in together providing signage and sponsorship hoarding and the match programme for the final.
As success grew year on year so did the sponsorship deals meaning greater focus on the Tournament branding and how the sponsors visually sat side by side and so on.
So many happy memories and memorable years working with ERC, different CEO’s, marketeers, supporting media organisations and journalists alike. Not forgetting each host city and rugby union representatives.
As the game, the organisations, the people, the Tournament, all continue to evolve, let’s hope that through change of circumstance things can and will continue to grow.
