WLR’s Big Match Sponsorship Helps George Corbett Motors Establish Skoda in Waterford
George Corbett Motors is one of the largest motor dealerships in Waterford City. Established in 1995, the dealership moved to purpose-built premises on the Cork
Road in 2003, known locally as Waterford’s Motor Mile.
The dealership offers Mazda, Seat, Skoda, and Cupra cars to its customers and employs 40 staff.
The Challenge
In 2016, George Corbett Motors won the Skoda franchise for Waterford City and County.
With ambitious sales targets, the dealership needed to widen its customer base and attract customers from West Waterford, North Cork, and South Kilkenny. To achieve this, they sought the services of WLR.
Offered Solution
After discussing George Corbett Motors’ requirements, sponsorship of WLR’s Live GAA Coverage “The Big Match” was suggested.
The coverage of about 30 live GAA games a year attracts very large audiences. The sponsorship spoke to a very wide audience in a number of ways and attracted city and county listeners in equal measure.
The sponsorship included branded jingles, presenter talks ups and 3 x 30 sec spot advertisements before the start of a game, at half time, and after the match.
In the week leading up to each big match, the game received 30 x 30 second pre-promos highlighting the upcoming game, start time, and insights from the esteemed panel of former Deise All Star Hurlers - Fergal Hartley, Dan Shanahan, Stephen Frampton, and Eoin Murphy - as well as anchor commentator Kieran O’Connor.
The sponsorship also included coverage on WLR’S social media platfroms, reminding their 120k+ followers of the upcoming games.
Customer Benefits
• The sponsorship of the Big Match allowed George Corbett Motors to establish itself as the Skoda Main Dealer in Waterford.
• Within a year, Skoda sales were close to Waterford’s best-selling brands, Hyundai, Toyota, and Volkswagen.
• The success of the sponsorship was further cemented with Skoda supporting the renewal of the sponsorship every year for the last seven years.
ListenershipThe sponsorship of the Big Match allowed WLR to ensure the production values were of the highest standard. Coverage of league games attracted live listenership of 14,000 to 20,000 listeners to an average game. In 2021, a league match against Limerick had 42,000 listeners in 181 countries tuning in to the game.
SalesThe sponsorship of the Big Match on WLR by George Corbett Motors quickly established the Skoda brand as a quality, good value choice with the Waterford motorist. This sponsorship was instrumental in helping the dealership establish the Skoda brand in Waterford with listeners in the City and County. Additionally, it allowed George Corbett Motors to increase its profile with the local GAA community by sponsoring a Skoda Car for Waterford Managers, Liam Cahill and Davy Fitzgerald. While the revenue generated from this sponsorship is yet to be established, its impact on the dealership’s sales and reputation is undeniable.
The sponsorship quickly established George Corbett Motors as the Skoda Main Dealer in Waterford, helping the dealership to overachieve its sales targets and in 2022 to be named Ireland’s Skoda Dealer of the Year.
George Corbett, Managing Director