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06/04/2004 - Honda wins prestigious Hollis sponsorship award

Honda beat sponsorship heavyweights Flora, HSBC and Lloyds TSB to win the Hollis Award for Sponsorship Continuity at the UK’s top sponsorship awards ceremony on Tuesday 30 March.

The continuity award is presented to the most successful sponsorship campaign in existence for more than four years. The contenders are judged on the innovation of the collaboration, the exploitation of the strategy and the campaign’s overall success. The four-strong shortlist included seasoned big-hitters the Flora London Marathon, HSBC ITV Drama Premieres and the Lloyds TSB Edinburgh Literature Festival.

"It’s fair to say that Honda Formula 4-Stroke was the least-fancied of the four finalists," commented Martin Sanders from Honda. "The three rival campaigns are household names with sponsorship budgets that could accommodate Honda Formula 4-Stroke many times over! Yet when you consider the shortlist in terms of the award criteria it is clear that there could only be one winner.

"The Honda Formula 4-Stroke championship reflects Honda’s fundamental principles. As Soichiro Honda said, "If Honda does not race, there is no Honda." So when we launched our first large 4-stroke outboard marine engine in 1999, we naturally wanted to race it. As industry insiders know, powerboat racing at that time was in a state of disarray; poorly organised, confusing and accessible only to dedicated followers and the very wealthy. So we looked at how we could help the sport, went back to the drawing board and developed the Honda Formula 4-Stroke championship.

"It was undoubtedly a big idea, but then the company philosophy is ‘The Power of Dreams’," continued Sanders. "The success of the concept is beyond dispute. It took three years for the affordable, one-design, dual-purpose race/ pleasure boat fleet to become the largest offshore powerboat racing class in the world and to catch the eye of Channel 4 Sport. Now, in the sixth year of the championship, we have a twenty-strong 150hp fleet, ten 225hp powerboats and unprecedented media coverage including a fourth consecutive year as the only powerboat championship with terrestrial television coverage in the UK.

"In business terms, the Honda Formula 4-Stroke championship has proved that 4-stroke engines are not only quiet, reliable and more environmentally friendly but also powerful and with similar top-end speeds to the traditional 2-stroke racing outboards. It has revitalised powerboating, introducing new competitors and new fans to the sport and providing a championship blueprint that is being replicated by new powerboat series worldwide. It has also helped reposition the Honda brand as young and exciting.

"These credentials have lifted Honda sales to help the company viably compete for the status of number one 4-stroke outboard engine manufacturer," finished Sanders. "The esteemed Hollis Award has highlighted a championship that has achieved more than anyone thought possible and that everyone at Honda should be very proud of."