Guinness has topped the league of Ireland's most appealing sponsors among Irish adults for the year 2016, according to end-of-year research by sponsorship consultant ONSIDE.
John Trainor, managing director of ONSIDE, expects 2016 spend to be up around 5pc on last year's figure of €150m.
Two new deals - Aldi's endorsement of Irish Rugby and Lidl's deal with Ladies GAA - joined the ranks of Ireland's Top 10 most appealing overall sponsors. Established sponsor SuperValu also climbed into the top three in the study.
Over 200 sponsorship deals hit the headlines in 2016, with some of the stand-out deals of the year including Vodafone's new deal with Irish rugby and retailer Littlewoods' sponsorship of hurling.
ONSIDE research reported that in the past 12 months deals in GAA, rugby and soccer were all up year-on-year, while sponsors from the financial services and retail sectors were particularly active.
In total, 67 different sponsors were mentioned in the ONSIDE national survey of Ireland's most appealing sponsors of 2016, with Guinness and Vodafone scoring well with male respondents.
