Sport Industry Group

17 Nov 2011

Corin Dimopoulos, Director of Cycling, Sports and News Marketing at Sky, recalls the company's 2011 Sport Industry Award for Best Sponsorship of a Sport Team of Individual, awarded for its sponsorship of Team Sky.

Winning a prestigious Sports Industry Award for our work around Team Sky really was the icing on the cake for what turned out to be a fantastic year for Sky and British Cycling. 

In 2008 Sky became principal partner of British Cycling, with the aim to work together to get one million more people back on their bikes and cycling regularly by 2013.  To achieve this goal our cycling strategy comprises three pillars of activity – our grassroots initiative Sky Ride, a series of mass participation cycling events; getting our 16,500 Sky employees excited about cycling; and supporting cycling’s elite athletes. 

The premise of our strategy is that success at the professional level will inspire people to get back in the saddle, but that’s no good if there aren’t sufficient opportunities for them to do so. That’s where Sky Ride comes in – giving people of all ages and abilities free opportunities to cycle freely and safely across the UK and Ireland. 

To support professional cycling and encourage further success at the top we went a step further than the typical practice of badging an already established and successful team. We launched our own. In January 2010 Team Sky, a professional road cycling team, was set-up with the ambition to change the face of road cycling in the UK. 

With David Brailsford at the helm as team principal and hugely talented up and coming riders like Geraint Thomas and Edvald Boasson Hagen, plus more established riders like Bradley Wiggins, the team got off to a great start. 

In the first year alone research showed that upwards of 140,000 people were directly influenced by Team Sky to become regular cyclists. The interest in, and interaction with the team exceeded expectations - teamsky.com averaged over 100,000 unique users per month and Facebook fans have topped 100,000.

The Sport Industry Awards are the Oscars of the industry. So to have the hard work of so many people involved in the establishment of Team Sky - the riders, the support staff, the marketing team, Sky and British Cycling, recognised in this way was a better result than we could have hoped for after year one. The Award has helped to demonstrate internally that our strategy is working and that in this ever challenging market we are doing the right thing to be investing in our cycling partnership.

Team Sky continues to push the boundaries and is continually seeking new ways to build and engage the fans, and use their position for the benefit of other great causes such as Sky Rainforest Rescue. So watch this space as we are working hard and hope to be back for more Sport Industry Awards!

By Corin Dimopoulos, Director of Cycling, Sports and News Marketing at Sky

Entries to the Sport Industry Awards are open now. To enter, or for more information, click here.