Q&A: Sony Computer Entertainment Europe - June 2004  

As part of a series of questions and answers with companies influencing the digital sports space, Sport and Technology spoke to John Constantinou, European sponsorship and promotions manager for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE). The company has been a sponsor of soccer's UEFA Champions League since 1997 in a deal due to run until at least 2006.

Please describe your role and responsibilities at SCEE

"I am the European sponsorship and promotions manager for PlayStation. I service over 100 countries (from our London headquarters) with the remit of securing pan-European sponsorship and promotional opportunities - for the good of the brands we manage. At the same time I am an internal 'expert' in these areas for our 'local' offices to use as a sounding board for any deals they are negotiating."

What are your main sports sponsorships in Europe?

"Our main sports sponsorship is the UEFA Champions League followed by several motorsport and other soccer deals."

Why is soccer important to SCEE and in particular the UEFA Champions League?

"It is important to SCEE because our products/services are a perfect fit for the football [soccer] audience. It is an ideal vehicle to communicate to a vast percentage of our audience, in an environment that they are comfortable within, and more importantly passionate about."

What were your objectives in undertaking the UEFA Champions League sponsorship?

"Our objectives are widespread from maintaining brand awareness to specific strategies to increase sales of game titles."

How are you leveraging the sponsorship?

"We are leveraging the sponsorship through a range of initiatives including at-event sampling, widespread consumer promotions and business-to-business exercises."

What has been the return on your sponsorship to date and have your objectives been met?

"The return has been outstanding with the UEFA Champions League playing a significant role in establishing the original PlayStation brand while also launching the PlayStation 2 brand in the third quarter of 2000. Our objectives are continually changing with regards to the UEFA Champions League but it fair to say that the programme has been flexible enough to adapt to the dynamic and fast-moving nature of the games industry."

Are you planning to exploit the sponsorship differently in the future, i.e. what are your plans taking the sponsorship forwards?

"At present, exploitation plans are still being developed but as an ever-challenging brand it is vital we do change things when we can."

What are the main challenges or benefits from being a technology company sponsoring sport?

"We would classify ourselves as an 'entertainment' company but I do understand the nature of your question. The benefit for SCEE is that as developers of world-class software we are able to produce significantly realistic games to replicate the sports we sponsor. This significantly assists our objective to create a credible link with the sport and its audience. The challenge will always be to give a 'real' reason for being involved in sports. We are not a sports brand and so must always be conscious of this fact."

Between the 2001/02 and 2002/03 UEFA Champions League seasons, television ratings fell in all the major European markets except in Italy, according to findings published in "One Sport Year on television in the world: 2004 issue", published by leading television audience analyst Eurodata TV Worldwide. The report includes the latest trends for sport on television in terms of programming (including pay-TV), audience ratings details for over 60 countries, success and failures of the year together with analysis provided by ArkSports Limited, publisher of Sport and Technology. To receive further information and an order form, e-mail 2003sport@arksports.com

The next Q&A will feature Alex Chamberlen, head of sales at Wisden Cricinfo

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