When we tune into our favourite events – whether sports, music or arts – we are still deluged with brand advertising. We generally understand the symbiotic relationship between external investment and the quality of our beloved event but surely there is a way for brands to allow us to enjoy our favourite pastimes without plastering their logos all over it?

Consumers these days expect to have a one-to-one relationship with their favourite brands and activities. The days of one-to-many are dying. Most of us now just see branding – like in the example above – as meaningless wallpaper. Why pay for something that people filter out anyway?

Sponsorships that genuinely add value to the customer experience – those with strong strategic fits, targeted and relevant activation and longevity – should be confident enough in their approach to withdraw overt branding that might otherwise detract from the event and allow the target audience to enjoy the experience to the full.

Brands are still being badly advised and still overly reliant on the crutch of media value. This is a bold approach – “strategy” is not a word often enough associated with sponsorship and activation in 2012 is generally still woefully below par – but sponsors need to recognise why their customers actually engage with particular platforms and develop partnerships strong enough to withstand the removal of overt branding. It would certainly challenge the industry to raise the bar and brands might even win a few brownie points from their customers!

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“The WTA Championships has gone from strength to strength over the past four decades, and is today recognized as one of a handful of truly blue chip international events on the world sporting calendar,” said Stacey Allaster, Chairman & CEO of the WTA. “Based on the significant demand by numerous cities around the world to invest in women’s tennis and host our year-end WTA Championships, we decided to launch an international bidding process to select a host city for 2014 and beyond. It’s a chance for some city somewhere to step up on the world stage. We are confident that through this process we will be able to identify the right city to become the next partner for the world’s premier sporting event for women.

“A trip to the WTA Championships, and the right to battle for such a prestigious title and possibly the world No. 1 ranking, is the goal of every single player,” said World No. 2 and three-time Grand Slam Champion Maria Sharapova. “Having only the best of the best together always makes for an incredibly exciting finale to each WTA season. And having the chance to bring our best event to new cities is always exciting for the players and fans.”

In order to showcase the best of women’s tennis to fans around the world, continuously expand the sport, and grow its value and fan base, the WTA has had a successful strategy of rotating its year-end Championships to different global markets. The WTA’s season-ending crown jewel has held in only a handful of world class cities including New York, Los Angeles, Munich, Madrid, Doha and Istanbul. The roster of former WTA Championships winners reads as a who’s who of the legends of the game, including Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport, Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Justine Henin, Kim Clijsters, Maria Sharapova and Petra Kvitova.

The 2011 WTA Championships – sponsored by BNP Paribas and its Turkish partner Türk Ekonomi Bankasý (TEB), as well as Rolex, Turkish Airlines, Sony Xperia, Oriflame and others, and held in Istanbul for the first of three years – was a hugely successful event, registering the highest attendance in 12 years, and setting record broadcast and digital audience milestones. The 2011 TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships broadcast more than 400 hours of live coverage in 164 countries through 22 international TV broadcasters, the widest reach of a WTA Championships to date. The WTA Championships will remain in Istanbul through 2013.

The WTA chose the London-based international sports marketing agency, The Sports Consultancy, to manage the Championships bid process, which will commence with requests for Expression of Interest sent to prospective host cities that are required to respond by June 29, 2012. Interested parties will receive a Bid Guide, formal Bid Application and Questionnaire that must be submitted by September 21, 2012. A short list of potential Candidate Cities will be announced in October 2012, with a final decision made in March 2013. Parties interested in submitting an Expression of Interest should contact The Sports Consultancy by email at thesportsconsultancy@wtatennis.com

Spain slipped into recession last month and the country’s government is in the midst of an austerity drive as attempts are made to streamline the euro zone’s fourth largest economy. The battle to host the 2020 Games was reduced to five combatants in February as Rome was forced to drop its bid having failed to secure the support of the Italian government. Prime Minister Mario Monti announced that it would be irresponsible for the government to provide the financial guarantees necessary for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to consider the bid.

However, Madrid 2020’s CEO of international relations, Theresa Zabell, told Reuters: “Madrid has absolutely no intention of backing out of bidding for the Games. This is not going to be Rome II. We will be in Buenos Aires next year with a strong bid.” Madrid’s tilt at the 2020 Games marks its third consecutive bid for the Olympics and Zabell believes victory can provide a timely boost for the Spanish economy.

Gunilla Lindberg, a member of the IOC’s ruling Executive Committee and the the secretary general of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC), had complained last month that Sochi organisers had promised “many times” that teams would be able to prepare on the venues that are being used for 2014 but that it remained a major problem.

Within the total economic impact from tourism, the lion’s share (68 percent) is accounted for by domestic spending, with foreign visitor spending accounting for a little under a third of the total.

Moody’s predicts that the hotel sector will be “a clear beneficiary”.

Hotels can expect “some very positive revenue per room numbers during and around the events themselves”, although “this could result in some weak year-on-year comparable results in 2013″.

Moody’s predicts that retail and consumer products will be the next largest beneficiaries.

“The mere presence of approximately 500,000 new potential shoppers in and around London can only be beneficial for the retail sector,” it says.

It predicts that corporate sponsors will benefit from the Games the most.

Click here to read Moody’s report online.

Wells spent six years at Chelsea, where he was responsible for marketing strategy, sponsorship and CRM and was instrumental in negotiating the club’s largest ever shirt sponsorship agreement with Samsung in 2009. Prior to his spell at Stamford Bridge, he worked at Redmandarin, the strategic sponsorship consultancy.

The addition of Wells will bring fifteen years’ experience in the marketing & sponsorship industry and will complement The Sports Consultancy’s existing consultancy services advising brand, host city and rights holder clients including TUI, Volvo Ocean Race and Falcon, Dubai.

Commenting on the appointment The Sports Consultancy Managing Director, Angus Buchanan said:

“Ben’s experience, professional approach and energetic work ethic will make him an excellent addition to our growing team of senior consultants. We have ambitious plans to develop our brand and rights holder consultancy offering and believe our combination of commercial, legal and marketing expertise and our deep understanding of the sports industry is well placed to meet this challenge.”

Ben Wells added, “I am delighted to be joining The Sports Consultancy as they build on their growing international reputation as high end strategic and commercial consultants and hope that my industry insight will support their continued growth.”