p22,23 BRAND PROFILE 7/17/08 12:16 PM Page 24
PROFILE - Sports Retail SGB
Sports and Outdoor www.sgb-sports.com
abroad; before Nike I was with adidas, before that it was benefitting from
Puma… So the opportunity to come back to the UK and SportsAid.
start a new brand was a major factor in my joining. AP: The local
AP: My sporting background is as an athletics coach, but I community has the
don't get the time to do that any more. My oldest son is 14 opportunity then to
and he's good at most sports, but at the age of 11 decided support an athlete
to choose and gave up football, rugby, athletics in favour within their area, which
of swimming. He's moved home to Plymouth to be a we think is very
performance swimmer, because we couldn't get pool time important, not to
where the family lives. mention relevant. These
That made me aware of the costs involved and how are sporting talents that
hard it is to succeed when you're a young, aspiring athlete. are already in the top
So much is stacked against you in this country, including three of their age group
finance, and that's what drove me to develop the brand. in their particular sport
The missing link when we decided to do that as a group, in Britain; they're
was that we didn't have a design director. The easiest thing talented individuals who
for us would have been to simply make a donation to the have already out the
charity, but we wanted to build a brand that has longevity, hours in to their sport.
a brand that can stand on its own feet and be a brand in FA: The brand needs to
its own right. So we enticed Ffion to join us from Nike, have a British look, too. It
because she believed in the ethos of the brand and what needs a point of
we're trying to do. difference from other brands that can spend thousands of SGB: Are there any athletes you're sponsoring outside of
millions on advertising. We won't do that, because we SportsAid?
SGB: Will that not annoy those brands, your customers, that want to give the money back to the right people. AP: We've done a deal with Tongan rugby, who did
you're now competing with them? Advertising we've done has a raw edge to it [see pictures], exceptionally well in the last World Cup. We're sponsoring
AP: No. We're still supplying yarn, so they're still free to a realism that will make it stand out against the glossier their rugby kit for the next four years, which also includes
buy that as a totally separate brand. They've already got campaigns of the competition. producing replica kit for sale, and again benefits
established brands and we're just starting at the It has a sense of humour, the brand, a very British one. SportsAid.
beginning. AP: We can provide all the POS, stands etc. The key FA: They're the first team we're supplying, but we're
difference is that we can regionalise the branding for that looking at others.
SGB: How long have you both been with the company? store, as Ffion explained. So within each Intersport store,
FA: About a year. for example if there's a store in Devon, within a ten-mile SGB: Do you have any message for the independent retailers
AP: Myself, since its inception, about two years ago. The radius – bear in mind SportsAid sponsors on average out there?
key point at that time was to make sure that the money we 1500 athletes a year, ongoing – there's probably three or AP: We're giving 10 per cent from wholesale value to fund
raised, in whatever we did, found its way to the people four young athletes doing various things in sport, and we British sporting talent; all we need from retailer to make
that needed it when they needed it most. That led us to can identify them and use it in the POS if the store wants this work is shelf space. We're not looking for any
SportsAid, and we formed a partnership with them to it. contribution from them, we'll do that, but in order to
make that long-term commitment to give them 10 per We can also ring-fence figures, so we can produce achieve our goals and make it work, we need the retailer
cent of everything we sell at wholesale under the Field to materials saying that, for example, this store has raised £X to take it on board and distribute product.
Podium banner. for the future of British sport through SportsAid. We can
also ring-fence money moving forward in terms of
SGB: What POS materials or retail merchandise are you specific sports; so a swimmer, if he sees something that For a look at their products, visit
producing to support the independent retailer? will help British swimming, might buy into a garment www.fieldtopodium.com; if you're interested in stocking
FA: We've used our SportsAid athletes to help us there. which he knows will support British swimming, so they'll this fresh, forward-looking brand, contact the company at
We've photographed them in their own environment, buy into a garment that will help sport overall, but also alan.patching@fieldtopodium.com on 020 7487 7035 or
and interviewed them and we use that to help make their own specific sport. ffion.appleton@fieldtopodium.com on 020 7487 705.
promotional materials like POS in stores. Whichever area There's a lot we can do to help the retailer get the
the retailer is in, we also photograph a local athlete message across.
24 JULY 2008
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