The Industry Column – 5th May
Helena Christopher, head of corporate communications at QBE European Operations, explains why rugby ticks all the boxes for the specialist business insurer, in a season in which it became the official insurance partner of the Guinness Premiership and England Rugby.
As the rugby season draws to a close the sport is in great shape. Guinness Premiership attendances are up almost 20% on this time last year, over a million spectators have already passed through the turnstiles, and the battle at the top of the table is the tightest it’s been in years.
This provides the perfect backdrop to the end of QBE’s first season in rugby sponsorship, having signed deals with both Premier Rugby and the RFU in October 2009 and February 2010 respectively.
When we initially decided to get involved in sponsorship last year we worked with Generate Sponsorship to evaluate over 70 different sports properties.
We measured each property against our specific criteria and found that rugby union fit the bill in terms of brand fit, target audience, shared vision and values, and ambitions for growth.
Despite QBE being one of the UK’s largest insurers of business risk, we are not a recognisable brand. The sponsorship is a way for us to bring the QBE name to our end clients – company owners and managers.
It also provides significant advertising and PR, corporate hospitality benefits, and business development opportunities. The Premier Rugby deal sees QBE’s name and logo appear on the back of all team shirts in the Guinness Premiership, which has already had a big impact on raising our brand awareness.
In addition to raising brand awareness it is incredibly important to us to become an active sponsor and to develop a deep relationship with the sport of rugby and its fans.
We have a long-term strategic plan to support the game at a grassroots level and as part of this we are supporting the President’s XV Awards, a valuable RFU initiative that seeks to identify and reward innovative thinking in grassroots rugby. This year’s awards have highlighted some outstanding achievements and real entrepreneurial spirit.
QBE’s rugby sponsorship has been a great success so far; with all our activity being well received within the media and internally amongst QBE employees. Throughout the sponsorship success will be measured by evaluating media coverage, broadcast exposure, internal staff engagement and ultimately impact on the bottom line, because this activity is all about growing and developing our business in the UK.
As far as QBE’s future ambitions are concerned this is very much the start of a long-term commitment. We want to be considered as a long-term strategic partner of the sport and over the next few years we will look to step into a major asset role.
In the meantime we’re looking forward to a great end of season, with the Guinness Premiership Final, England v Barbarians and the London Sevens all taking place at Twickenham throughout May, as well as the launch of a number of exciting QBE rugby initiatives in the months to come.
