Flybe is now Europe's largest regional airline following the successful acquisition of BA Connect. The low cost airline flies 167 routes between 12 countries including 24 UK airports of which Southampton airport is one of their major UK bases.

Flybe also sponsor fellow League One side Exeter City and Scottish First division outfit Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

Objectives: Flybe's foray into football sponsorship is relatively unique in that their aim was not merely to give national exposure but to build a relationship with the fan base and local community of which the airport hubs are based.

For many years Southampton Airport played second fiddle in the South to larger airports such as Bournemouth, Gatwick and Heathrow. Flybe see their sponsorship at Southampton FC as a perfect mechanism to help draw the internal and European air traffic to Southampton Airport.

Strategy: As well as extensive branding received as main Club sponsor Flybe focus a large amount of their activation on community involvement and interaction with supporters.

This interaction serves to increase the familiarity of Flybe with supporters, building a relationship that Flybe hope will encourage people to fly with Flybe instead of a competing airline.

Activation: During their three seasons as the Club's main sponsor Flybe's work with Southampton fans and the wider community has manifested itself in different forms, most notably the Flybe Community Cup, the school team's tournament, the Flybe Santa flight for sick children, and the Be a Pro competition for Sunday league teams.

The Flybe Santa Flight and Be a Pro campaign were new concepts to Southampton FC and the originality of them caught the imagination of supporters and the general public alike.

The Santa Flight gave children from the cancer ward of Southampton General Hospital the chance to take a flight around Southampton with the players and receive presents from 'Santa'.

The Be a Pro campaign looked for an amateur football team in most dire need of help from professionals. The winning team visited Southampton's training ground to spend a typical day as a Saints player including a training day with the first team coaches. This was then followed up a week later with a match where they played against a team made up of the local and national media.