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Pernod Ricard invests in sports
French giant Pernod Ricard is investing heavily in partnerships with sports teams and events. Ron Emler investigates.
Pernod Ricard has further widened its sporting links by forming a worldwide partnership with France’s most successful soccer team, Paris Saint-Germain (PSG).
The global partnership, the first of its kind for Pernod Ricard, features the entire portfolio of premium brands and will covers all PSG’s professional teams, men’s and women’s football as official partner and handball, as an official provider.
However, because of France’s strict prohibition of advertising of alcohol or directly sponsoring sport, the four year-relationship in France will relate to hospitality only in their home country with Pernod Ricard becoming the sole champagne and spirits provider to the club.
Global
Beyond France there will be “dedicated visibility and communications rights as well as bespoke experiences”, in compliance with local legislation.
PSG has a worldwide following of more than 218 million fans and is ranked behind only Manchester United and Real Madrid in Deloitte’s Money League of the world’s biggest football clubs.
Alexandre Ricard, Pernod Ricard’s chairman and chief executive, predicted that the French company would soon be unveiling more sporting links “and not just in football.”
Chivas Regal
The PSG deal comes hard on the heels of Pernod Ricard’s Chivas Regal scotch becoming the official whiskey partner of Arsenal, who are widely predicted to challenge hard this season for both the English Premier League title and for European honours.
Earlier this year Jameson Irish Whiskey became the official partner of the English Football League and launched a “Connects FC” link which donates £2,500 to each EFL Community Club organisation that takes part to develop their community outreach programmes.
Last month Pernod Ricard acquired a minority stake in Almave, the super-premium, non-alcoholic tequila co-founded by seven-time Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton and Mexico-based spirits incubator Casa Lumbre.
This takes Pernod Ricard further into the burgeoning market for non-alcoholic spirits and increases its profile through the link with Hamilton, who is leaving Mercedes for Ferrari at the end of this season in a bid to win a record eight driver’s world championship.
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