Pat McDonagh: ‘GAA must clarify what sponsors can and cannot do’

Pat McDonagh: ‘There needs to be clarity over brand rights.'

FOR someone who has pumped up to €15m into GAA and other sponsorships over three-plus decades, Pat McDonagh is relatively sanguine when discussing the current legal threat against him by Croke Park.

McDonagh’s Supermac’s has been slapped with two solicitors letters in recent weeks by the GAA over use of official crests on advertising clips, where Croke Park says the firm has no commercial rights.

While disappointed with such “cease and desist” instruction, McDonagh is more interested in where the GAA will go from here when it comes to brand property rights, particularly with a firm that invests €3m over five years into Galway GAA.

The only problem for Pat McDonagh is that the orders from Croke Park were not about activations with Galway.

A quick recap: Supermac’s was recently forced to blur out the GAA and county crests in an advertisement featuring a group of Mayo supporters and a lone Kerry fan at one of the firm’s restaurants, in a production based around a typical matchday scene.

As the Mayo supporters prepare to order food while chanting “Mayo, Mayo”, the lone Kerry supporter turns in their direction and scoffs: “Huh, I’d be more of a curry man myself.” The tone is inoffensive, capturing the banter that comes with GAA rivalries.

The only problem is: Supermac’s doesn’t sponsor Mayo, or indeed Kerry, and for that Croke Park found the clip in breach of its own, and third-party county board, brand guidelines.

While the move may seem aggressive by the GAA, the organisation has become extremely protective of commercial rights, particularly against guerrilla marketing by opportunistic mischief-makers. However, could one of GAA’s longest associated commercial partners fall into that category like some jumped-up, start-up disruptor, rather than a long-established associate brand? Seemingly so.

“Occasionally, we are alerted to brands or companies, who are not sponsors of a county board or the GAA, using the crests and other assets to promote their own products and services,” Croke Park said in a statement. “We view this activity as ambush marketing, by passing off an association that does not exist, and as exploitation of the logos and crest for their own commercial gain.”

Since it was warned by Croke Park over the Mayo clip, Supermac’s was also presented with another order for a second ad — this time one featuring Gort GAA Club, with the players being told in a team talk to fight for it “like a fresh, never frozen, 100% Irish chicken breast sandwich”.

That one featured on TG4 recently and has since also been adjusted to have the GAA logo blurred.

For McDonagh, the stance taken by the GAA was an unnecessary one and has only increased attention on the brand’s “Official Food of Matchdays” campaign.

“It’s a bit of a storm in a teacup, and I don’t think there was any need to go down the legal route,” McDonagh says.

“It’s not something that was malicious or that was even considered by the people who produced the ads — we would never have had a second thought about it.”

While Croke Park might argue that the rules are clear when it comes to brand rights, McDonagh believes the situation needs clarification and presents a puzzle for sponsors of counties and clubs up and down the country.

“I have a query going forward around the GAA logos on jerseys,” McDonagh adds.

“The GAA logo is on the jerseys of an awful lot of county, clubs, colleges [teams], and whatever each sponsor is at, there needs to be clarity about what they now can and cannot do.

“Does putting up a picture of a team or a jersey in a plaza, a shop, or in an ad now break the rules?

“There would need to be clarity around it, because there would be a ripple effect across the sponsorship of different clubs and counties around the country.

“If that’s seen as something malicious and you cannot use a photo of a player or a team, it reduces the value of the sponsorship.

“If that is the case – that you cannot promote a sponsorship with a jersey that also carries the GAA logo – then where do we go?”

While there is a clear difference of opinion in what Supermac’s and Croke Park see as brand infringement, does McDonagh accept that the ad was deliberately mischievous to gain traction?

“This was not in the slightest part done for mischief, but just a bit of fun around Mayo and Kerry lads, and everybody took it like that.

“What brought more attention to it was the complaint from the GAA and it got a lot more views because of it.”

McDonagh believes his relationship with Croke Park has been a largely positive one, despite his calls last year for GAAGO to remove its paywall and past comments for greater transparency around the financial situation in Galway GAA.

“There may be a bit of residue from the fact that I queried integrity and how the money was being spent in Galway at one stage, and I stand by what I said, and things have improved in Galway. But I certainly wasn’t aware that they had a problem [until the logo issue was raised].”

Certainly, McDonagh has been ahead of his time in sports sponsorship, investing in Galway since 1990 and, along with the Kerry Group, is the most enduring commercial brand in inter-county sport.

Of the €15m invested in various sponsorships through the years, McDonagh says it’s “money well spent, a win-win for everybody” — primarily with Galway GAA, but also GAA clubs and across other sports, including supporting Galway Utd’s Women’s soccer and Waterford FC.

His marketing, advertising, and branding strategy is aligned to the most basic GAA principles, borrowing heavily on that ethos of community as a promotion of the sport — or in his case — the brand.

“We put more value in the sponsorship around supporting local, whether that’s sponsorship or advertising, something where there is a life in a sponsorship as well, and depending on how that goes with both sides,” he explains. “It’s a good business decision and for the teams who benefit and not just the money you put into it.”

Is he fearful, then, that as a fast food provider — and a successful one at that, with more than 120 outlets in operation — that his industry will go the way of alcohol or betting?

“Personally, I don’t think betting companies should be allowed sponsor teams and it is a habit, an addiction, and too many young people are affected,” he says.

“Drink is banned. But on the question of fast food, we have lots of healthy options, and I’ve never seen anyone getting high on a bag of chips.”