British Olympic sponsor Tetley to launch sports scheme for schools

Tetley GB is to launch a school sports equipment scheme to support its sponsorship of the British Olympic team.

The company is poised to announce a sponsorship deal with the British Olympic Association (BOA) for Sydney 2000.

The national on-pack promotion is expected to offer drinkers the chance to collect tokens in exchange for school equipment.

The offer is to run from March, and the equipment will be available in the new academic year.

A TV ad campaign will break this summer, featuring hapless Tetley worker Sydney taking part in various sports.

An industry source says: “Tetley is about to announce its sports equipment for schools scheme. It’s similar to the Walkers books and McVitie’s maths equipment promotions.”

A Tetley spokeswoman refused to say how much the British Olympic sponsorship deal is worth, or to comment on the promotion.

Tetley’s creative account is handled by D’Arcy.

The &£8.3m media buying and planning switched from Zenith Media to MediaVest last month.

The BOA has signed up five “gold sponsors” for the games and is looking for seven more. British Airways, Kellogg, Adidas, Rover, Lloyds TSB and Lindemans Wines are believed to have paid &£1m to &£4m each.