Why Sports Personality Of The Year proves that a multi sport partnership is best.

We all love watching Sports Personality of the Year. It fills us with pride, patriotism and even encourages many of us to get more involved in sports.

Since the first award in 1954, there have been 61 ceremonies for the prestigious BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award. Thankfully, it’s not just athletes from big money sports such as football, rugby or cricket that win; 17 different sporting disciplines have been represented reflecting a more diverse sporting landscape than the one the media typically present.

Over the years, there have been 49 English winners of the award, and 20 of those have represented their country at the Commonwealth Games. The Games is a key staging post for many of the world’s greatest athletes and on top of England’s stars, there has been success from other home nation’s Commonwealth medal winners such as Ian Black, Mark Cavendish, Sir Chris Hoy and Lennox Lewis.

Team England athletes and international personalities including Sir Steve Redgrave, Sir Bradley Wiggins, Dame Kelly Holmes, Paula Radcliffe, Jonathan Edwards and Linford Christie and all received the gong.

And we shouldn’t forget the likes of Fatima Whitbread, Steve Cram, Lord Seb Coe, Daley Thompson, Steve Ovett, Brendan Foster, David Hemery, Henry Cooper, Mary Rand, Dorothy Hyman, Gordon Pirie, Tommy Simpson Anita Lonsbrough and Sir Christopher Chataway.

This year a number of Team England’s stars could shine at the 2015 awards. Following a successful year that saw swimmer Adam Peaty setting a new world record at the World Swimming Championships as well as Jessica Ennis-Hill and Greg Rutherford  winning gold medals at the World Athletics Championships. These great athletes are joined by cyclists Lizzie Armitstead and Chris Froome plus gymnast Max Whitlock and so Team England make up 50% of the 2015 shortlist.

Additionally, Team England is proud to have a handful of athletes who have won the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year Award with the likes of Claudia Fragapane, Tom Daley, Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, Kate Haywood, Dean Macey and Amber Hill taking home the prestigious award. This year, Commonwealth Youth Games weightlifting gold medallist and Team England flag bearer, Rebekah Tiler, is a very strong candidate in this category.

Many of England’s athletes have had a number of sponsors supporting them throughout their career who have helped them achieve success. Commercial partnerships are becoming more prominent in today’s sporting landscape, not just with athletes but also with organisations investing millions of pounds into single sports teams and resting all their hopes on one individual team. England’s winners of both awards have represented their country across 8 different sports at the Commonwealth Games which leads me to question; should organisations be solely focused on partnering with individual sports teams, or should they also be getting involved in a multi-sport environment?

Companies regularly invest millions into leading sports teams in England and pin all their hopes on one sole team, but let’s look at what success these companies would have seen and been able to be a part of if they partnered with Team England at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow?

174 medals across 18 sports, with 58 of those medals being gold and England topping the medal table – that’s what.

Partnering with Team England means that you are partnering with a variety of sports, as opposed to resting all of your hopes on one team.

I’m not by any means saying that these brands shouldn’t partner with England’s individual sports teams; I’m just saying that they are missing a trick by not backing Team England in a multi-sport environment.

Partnering with Commonwealth Games England gives brands the opportunity to work with an assortment of sports, ranging from athletics – to rugby 7s – to lawn bowls. We’ve worked with companies to engage online via social media, sponsor local athletes and become a key part of their journey and creating positive PR and CSR opportunities. We have staff engagement programmes, leadership training, B2B networking, VIP entertaining at sporting events and of course athlete engagement in following the journey and the success of our heroes.

CGE, through the opportunities presented by representing different sports, offers a unique opportunity to help build brand’s profile and corporate reputation, motivate their employees, win new clients, boost credentials as a socially-responsible organisation and above all, associate with some of the best sporting talent England has to offer.

So, on December 20th in Belfast, go Adam, Jess, Greg, Lizzie, Chris, Max and Rebekah!