ESI Media has announced that the London Evening Standard has partnered with specialist insurer Hiscox to become the newsbrand’s first ever multi-platform Arts sponsor. Beginning this week in the print edition of the London Evening Standard, the six-figure partnership will run across print, digital and events until the end of January 2017.
The partnership will see Hiscox become the launch sponsor of a new arts channel hosted at standard.co.uk that will include arts news, features, interviews and newly commissioned video content, alongside specially created native content for Hiscox, leveraging their arts sponsorship assets and focussing on the brand’s passion points.
Further activity includes Hiscox’s sponsorship of the Evening Standard’s Arts section in print Monday to Thursday. The Hiscox logo and sponsorship accreditation will be featured within a newly expanded masthead on the Arts section alongside a short sponsor message and promotion of the Hiscox Home Insurance web address.
ESI Media will deliver Hiscox branding in the News section of the paper, with sponsor-branded cross-references from arts stories running in News, directing readers to the paper’s Arts section and digital arts channel.
Hiscox will also become the official sponsor of the Best Play Award at this year’s Evening Standard Theatre Awards taking place in November. All of the activity will be supported through social media.
The partnership was brokered by Paul Gayfer at Goodstuff Communications and Lisa Darlington at ESI Media.
Dominic de Terville, Head of Sponsorship & Events, ESI Media said: “ESI Media is able to combine access to hard-to-reach and valuable audiences at scale, with high impact and unique touchpoints. We are really pleased to be able to build a partnership with Hiscox around one of the Evening Standard audience’s passion points, aligning Hiscox with what matters to their customers and prospects.”
Will Abbott, Marketing Director, Hiscox UK & Ireland said: “ESI Media has created a fantastic package for us. Our home insurance target customers and the Evening Standard audience share a passion for the arts, so the opportunity to build on the Standard’s Arts editorial and develop our own related brand content supported by advertising makes this partnership a perfect fit.”