Jamaica $1mil. Pepsi Boost/Ties England In Series

The Jamaica Netball Association (JNA) recently received a cheque for J$1m from Pepsi-Cola Jamaica, through its brand Gatorade . Aside from the cash donation, Pepsi-Cola has reportedly also pledged an undisclosed quantity of Gatorade and Aqua Essential Purified Water products to hydrate the players during training camps and tournaments and has assisted with the construction of a study room at the association's home located in Barbican.

This is great news for the Caribbean's number one team. The question is what is happening with Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados since they qualified for the world tournament. I had heard that Trinidad is making some strides, importing coaches with international experience to help prepare the team.

But will the teams from the South do enough to catch their Northern counterparts who are ranked #4 in the world.

Jamaica just concluded a two game series with England. England won the first game and Jamaica fought back tooth and nail to win the second. It is obvious that Barbados and Trinidad will have to scouts out sponsors and play a number of competitive games if they are going to take more than a jolly ride to the World Games as all the top teams have already started their preparations.

Good Going The co-operative

As a Public Relations Consultant who has been on both sides of the sponsorship table I understand all the planning, negotiating, budgeting and goodwill that goes into to winning and giving sponsorships.

The doom and gloom of the global economic forecast will make this already challenging task from both ends of the table more difficult. In sports then we have to 'big-up' companies like The co-operative who are sponsoring the three match series between Jamaica and England.

Thank you on behalf of the Netball Fraternity The co-operative!

Are Sponsors Exploiting Netball?

How much is our sport worth?

Digicel should be ashamed to be seen with this huge cheque, the making of which could be worth more than the figure written on the cheque itself.

That is a PR issue which I would deal with on my PR blog however here I want to encourage netball clubs, organisations and associations around the Caribbean not be exploited by corporations.

Small contributions like this should really be a behind the camera donation and should not be considered a sponsorship to warrant this level of return. Yes as a donor/sponsor I am looking for some return on my investment but this is where the good corporate citizenry comes in because there should be some equitable correlation between the donation and the return.

Netball is a rich sport. We have all the mothers, sisters, aunts and nieces. We have the people with the real spending power in the community and we have to demand our rightful due.

(Click on the picture to read the Virgin Island Platinum News story and have a laugh as this pitiful cheque was actually featured in an article that spoke to Digicel's billion dollar expansion plans for the region)