Eircom broadband TV weather sponsorship/ BCC ruling

eircomtribunal

Irish Times article:

Eircom's sponsorship of RTÉ's weather broke official rules
by Emmet Oliver
The growing shift away from conventional advertising to sponsorship is throwing up new problems for companies.

For the past few years, Eircom has been sponsoring the weather bulletin on RTÉ, presumably hoping that such an association would heighten awareness of its brand and lead to additional sales of its products.

According to a judgement this week from the Broadcasting Complaints Commission, such sponsorships should only narrowly focus on the brand itself and not on any particular benefit of a company's products.

A complainant told the Commission that Eircom's sponsorship – which referred to Eircom Broadband – was misleading viewers and represented subliminal advertising. The complainant said Eircom's broadband service was only available to 60 percent of its customers and this should be mentioned during the sponsorship slot.

The Commission did not go along with this but if found fault with other parts. Sponsorships must be "distinct" from advertisements in that they "should not promote the attributes of a product or service."

This is where Eircom's weather forecast sponsorship fell down. The first line says: "Want a faster way to check up on your latest sports results? Now you can with Eircom broadband". The second line says: "Whatever sports you are into, with Eircom broadband you can get instant updates."

The Commission said these types of lines were clearly promoting "an attribute of a product", thereby encouraging purchase of that product. While this is clearly just a single case, it is one of RTÉ's most lucrative sponsorship arrangements.

The narrow focus of the commission's ruling – which, to be fair, is based on ministerial codes – may put off other companies from going down the sponsorship route. It would seem that any future sponsorships are likely to simply confine themselves to a brief mention of the brand and maybe a quick blast of music.

Meanwhile, Eircom, for wider reasons, is ending its association with the weather forecasts. The contract with RTÉ is believed to be worth € 1 million(watty, I had typed in the article and must have subconsciously tried to keep the million for myself) a year.

Perhaps this can help RTÉ to deal more independently on matters concerning Eircom?!
Full decision is on the BCC.ie website.
Is the current sponsorship sting still shown? (My TV is kaputt)(The BCC decision was made on 12th March 2006 and published on the 30th!)

P.

watty

I'm sure I was annoyed by the advert yesterday ...

The contract with RTÉ is believed to be worth € 1 a year.

I'm sure there is someting missing there? One Euro sounds a bit cheap.

Sponge Bob

Did Comreg apologise to the BCI or BCC (not sure) for their unwarrented and unfounded meddling yet ??? I refer to when Comreg who have no remit in Broadcasting decided that these 'stings' were legal and contacted RTÉ unilaterally on the subject.

eircomtribunal

Sponge Bob wrote:

Did Comreg apologise to the BCI or BCC (not sure) for their unwarrented and unfounded meddling yet ??? I refer to when Comreg who have no remit in Broadcasting decided that these 'stings' were legal and contacted RTÉ unilaterally on the subject.

That incident was with the Eircom Directory Enquiry TV weather sponsorship and advertising, which was pulled by the BCC and BCI before this new (replacement) sting for the broadband service was brought on air.
With regards to Eircom's 11811 DQ service – operating in breach of all three specific ComReg regulations concerning DQ advertising and DQ service itself – ComReg have changed their attitude and are currently doing a proper investigation, the outcome of which I await with interest (and I don't mean that in an ironical sense).
P.

Sponge Bob

Investigating themsleves ?????

Mind you, being Comreg, the arse will probably take the elbow to the high court and lose

Altreab

eircomtribunal wrote:

Irish Times article:


Perhaps this can help RTÉ to deal more independently on matters concerning Eircom?!
Full decision is on the BCC.ie website.
Is the current sponsorship sting still shown? (My TV is kaputt)(The BCC decision was made on 12th March 2006 and published on the 30th!)

P.

Considering how much of the country that Magnet cover and the present ad campaign should they get the same treatment as Bulldog got in the UK here?
IMHO they should!!