The partnership between Gala Retail and Team Ireland for the 2015 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Los Angeles has been a truly special sponsorship for the Gala Group.
As one of the official sponsors of Team Ireland, Gala helped to fund 88 Special Olympics athletes’ travel and participation at the World Summer Games in LA, which took place from July 25th to August 2nd.
For the Gala stores in Ireland, it’s been a truly amazing and humbling sponsorship to be involved with the Games. From the initial idea and the announcement of the partnership in May, to the campaign execution and 10-day Games in LA, the support for this initiative from Gala customers, retailers and employees has been overwhelming.
Gala stores across the country have shown their support for the partnership, decorating stores, sporting branded t-shirts and hats, and getting behind their local athletes and Team Ireland throughout the duration of the Games.
Since launching the sponsorship back in May, alongside golfing legend Christy O’Connor Junior, three-time Olympian and former 5,000m World Champion Senator Eamonn Coghlan and the athletes from the Team Ireland golfing squad, Gala made huge strides!
In just ten weeks, the campaign has included: the creation of a joint Special Olympics / Gala Retail logo; A massive in-store promotion, running nationwide; Branded merchandise for stores, including 400m of Special Olympics/Gala co-branded bunting; The production of 500 branded t-shirts, 1,500 baseball hats and 2,500 wrist bands for both athletes’ family members and Gala employees; A 30 second radio ad, broadcast across 17 local stations; An amazing holiday giveaway on top-rated RTE TV show, Saturday Night with Miriam; A week-long promotion on Today FM’s Ian Dempsey Show, live from LA and the creation of the #GalaSpecialMoment - a series of exclusive special moments being shared on Gala’s social media channels every day of the World Games.
Chief executive of Gala, Gary Desmond said, “It’s been a special project and we would like to thank all of our customers for their support, and our retailers and employees for wholeheartedly embracing the partnership.
“Most of all we’d like to thank Special Olympics Ireland and the 88 competing athletes who made Ireland a very proud nation during the World Summer Games, bringing home a phenomenal 26 Gold, 28 Silver and 28 Bronze medals along with 41 Placement Ribbons and 31 individual personal bests!”
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