Leading Welsh recruitment company, Smart Solutions, has secured a major sponsorship deal with the Elite League ice-hockey team, the Cardiff Devils.
The partnership will see Smart Solutions become the club’s Official Title sponsors for the 2013/14 season and covers a comprehensive package of benefits including rebranding the Devils VIP hospitality lounge as the Smart Solutions Lounge; becoming main jersey sponsors for the Elite League Cardiff Devils; perimeter advertising opportunities at the Cardiff Devil’s Cardiff Bay home including under ice logo branding.
The sponsorship also includes advertising on the Devils online channel, Devils TV – the official team channel that is streamed live at the ice arena and online through its website, providing match footage for SKY’s weekly ice hockey roundup show.
Smart Solutions chief executive, Nathan Bowles, is extremely enthusiastic about the partnership. He said: “We are keen to align ourselves with exciting professional brands that are also ambitious and committed to succeed.
“This deal will help to raise our profile even further in Wales, as well as the rest of the UK, which is an essential part of our growth programme. We are keen to engage with people looking for work as well as businesses looking for training programmes that we can provide through our training company, Smart Development, and this deal will help us to achieve our ambitions.
“Furthermore, we are keen to get involved with the great work that the Devils Community Foundation delivers, and our staff and their families are very excited about giving the Devils our full support over the next year.”
Smart Solutions has a national reputation for creating bespoke staffing solutions for multiple service sectors, and is acknowledged as one of the UK’s fastest growing independent training and recruitment companies.
Smart Solutions has received a Welsh “FAST GROWTH 50” award three times over its first five years of trading, and was awarded the accolade again for 2013. It has established itself as one of Wales’ most successful emerging brands. Smart Solutions has offices throughout south Wales and the UK, and puts in excess of 2,500 staff to work every day.
The alliance of two strong Welsh-based brands has been an aspiration of Paul Ragan, owner of Cardiff Devils, since the Welsh entrepreneur took ownership of the club in 2010.
Ragan has helped restore the business of the Cardiff Devils & Devils Community Foundation, producing one of its best financial performances last season. Ragan believes the club’s passionate fans have more to look forward to over the next three years including a new home for the Cardiff Devils next season.
Ragan commented: “We continue to build from the ground up and maintain a balance between a strong work ethic and disciplined cost control. The recruitment of Smart Solutions as our 2013/14 title sponsor is further confirmation of the growing support and interest in our brand and the benefits of an association with Cardiff Devils.
“Working with companies such as Smart Solutions is critical for our success. We need more winners engaged with our plans for the club. I’ve known Nathan and his team for some years now, and his strong leadership and great work ethic mirrors our own approach.
“This is a great club, and this season I’m expecting great things both off and in particular on the ice!”
Founded in 1986, the Cardiff Devils became a dominant force in the sport in the late 1980s and early 1990s, winning a total of seven Elite Ice Hockey league titles.
The last three years have been particularly positive, and as of 2011 the club holds the UK record for games unbeaten in all competitions (22), and most consecutive league games unbeaten (21), a new world record.
The Devils are now in their last season at Cardiff’s temporary ice arena before they move to a new home in Cardiff Bay which is currently under construction.