Rugby League told to play to its strengths ... but World Cup still waiting for sponsors

[sweaty craiq]

International sports.

We may get higher figures for certain comps - but overall, their exposure is far far far in excess of anything we have.

So introduce caveats after the answer?

[Dave T]

So introduce caveats after the answer?

No - clumsy post from me - I was saying they are international sports so they get far better coverage than us.

 

edit: As sports they are both far bigger than RL so whilst we may get some higher figures for some events, those sports overall get massively higher vieiwing figures here and worldwide.

Edited June 25, 2013 by Dave T

[Dave T]

Not every business is global though. There must be plenty of medium sized firms that would be a good fit for SL or RL in general.

Otherwise we are never going to meet all those criteria.

yep - engage for example. Unfortunately it appears to me that in the current climate the companies still investing in sports sponsorship are generally the major companies, an area where rl has never been that great in.

[Dave T]

I can well believe that. I just wish people would appreciate this a bit more when claiming the RFL are incompetent. (Which they could be for all I know but it clearly isn't easy)

yup and this is the point of my posts in the thread tbh.

[Mister C]

Absolutely agree. Even if this year's rugby World Cup is a success, I'm half expecting something along the lines of Martin Samuel's hatchet job from the last World Cup here - "and now for a sport no-one cares about - rugby league".

 

Howsabout this for timing!

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-2348491/MARTIN-SAMUEL-column-Let-footballs-State-Origin-game-begin-North-versus-South-battle.html

[boxhead]

Howsabout this for timing!

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-2348491/MARTIN-SAMUEL-column-Let-footballs-State-Origin-game-begin-North-versus-South-battle.html

I did not realise Izzy Folau got a release from Union to play in game one. 

 

Great Journalism there.

[Futtocks]

Howsabout this for timing!

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-2348491/MARTIN-SAMUEL-column-Let-footballs-State-Origin-game-begin-North-versus-South-battle.html

What a useless fat knacker that man is.

[Viking Warrior]

oops wrong thread.

Edited June 26, 2013 by Viking Warrior

[EastLondonMike]

I saw AIG linked the other day on a sponsorship website - have no idea how credible it is though. Was listed alongside Hertz and Marriott.

 

AIG are I think a partner of the RU Sevens circuit, as are Hertz and Marriott so maybe they are being targeted.

 

 

@Dave T

 

this one?

 

http://sponsorpitch.com/properties/3754

[Dave T]

@Dave T

 

this one?

 

http://sponsorpitch.com/properties/3754

Yes - suspect it is due to the Rugby World Cup 7's or something, but who knows?

[EastLondonMike]

Would seem a bit strange as they appear to be getting involved in union more and more, and after reading an article on their head of sponsorship, it seems unlikely they'd be interested in getting involved with RL

[JohnM]

A mind game:

 

What do people think a corporate sponsor would be looking for from such sponsorship?

 

What business case do people think that a marketing manager would have to put forward to get agreement to spend £50K, £500K £5 million a year for say three years?

 

Waat companies would you approach and why?

[EastLondonMike]

Brands i would approach would be the likes of: Red Bull, Subway, Nando's (without doubt!), Coco Vita, Virgin, Duracell, Samsung, Siemens, Nissan, Toyota .. there are loads from all different industries. Brands that could have fun with an involvement with RL.

[JohnM]

OK. Pick one or two of those possibles. Why  would they want to sponsor our sport in some way?

[flyingking]

Red Bull- they love high speed high skill sport with a varied portfolio of sponsorships, two F1 teams, air racing, ice hockey, soccer, motorbike trickjumping, cliffdiving, ice racing all spring to mind.

Their product being a high energy drink would be a natural fit, and for what they might regard as a small investment they would get increased brand exposure in both the English and French speaking worlds. Unfortunately when I visited Salzburg and went past their HQ I cannot recall seeing a set of rugby posts anywhere nearby, so they probably have close to zero knowledge of the sport, but potentially a very good match if they ever did discover the game.

[JohnM]

I was thinking more of how much more red bull would they expect to sell. That is why they are involved in sport...not because they like it but because through that exposure they sell more stuff.   Red Bill Racing have an income of £400 million a year and employ over 600 people. They don't move an inch without justifying every penny spent. 

[EastLondonMike]

Red Bull - increase brand exposure for a relatively low amount of money among a group of consumers who are traditionally very loyal to the brands that associate with they're sport. They're a brand that like to align themselves with high intensity, high adrenaline, fun sports. RL would be a good fit. Red Bull are currently showing an interest in RU.

 

Subway - Association with a sport and players that from the outside looking in are reasonably wholeseome (not all obviously), rooted in their communities, and good role models. Healthy and fit.

 

Nando's - Same as above, plus they get shed loads of free advertising as every player seems to eat there! so makes sense to build on that.

 

Coco Vita - A new health orientated drink whose target market would no doubt be your typical RL consumer. Young, active and loyal. Increased exposure to a new consumer base would lead to increase in sales and awareness.

 

There's a few to be going on with..

[Chariots]

While its great to have partners such as hertz and Merritt please don't think they are pumping thousands into the sport, it's likely to be a free hotel rooms and free cars for duration of World Cup rather than any monetary value

Again we need this and not knocking this but we also need a naming rights sponsor

[Chariots]

While its great to have partners such as hertz and Merritt please don't think they are pumping thousands into the sport, it's likely to be a free hotel rooms and free cars for duration of World Cup rather than any monetary value

Again we need this and not knocking this but we also need a naming rights sponsor

[Chariots]

Understand what you are saying but what a major sponsor brings is money

This World Cup will hopefully not make a loss, it might even make a small profit

If we had someone putting money in we could make it more successfull, we could promote more outside existing RL , we would also have to make less for the comp to end in profit

[brooza]

Understand what you are saying but what a major sponsor brings is money

This World Cup will hopefully not make a loss, it might even make a small profit

If we had someone putting money in we could make it more successfull, we could promote more outside existing RL , we would also have to make less for the comp to end in profit

Haven't they already said that with the number of tickets sold we're already in profit?

 

Not paying for transport and hotels also saves a huge chunk of costs

[JohnM]

 JUst playing with figure to see how it might work. How much does Red Bull get for a can of Red Bull sold through distribution and shops. 50 p? 35p after everyone has taken a cut? Allowing for promo give away at games, say an average of 30 p

 

Say Red Bull were to sponsor the RLWC by say £1, 000,000 and Red Bull were looking for  just guessing here, a 50% return, i.e spend a million, get a million and a half back through increase sales. over a year. If it were my money I'd want a better return than that.

 

Even so, on that basis, they'e be looking to sell approx 3 million extra cans just because of the Rugby World Cup. Possible? If 10% of attendees and 10% of viewers each bought an extra ten cans a year, that would amount to maybe a half a million extra cans and on that basis  it wouldn't stack up.

 

This is all guess work of course but someone somewhere must be doing these sums accurately. 

Edited June 28, 2013 by JohnM

[EastLondonMike]

The days of making money from sponsoring an event/sport are long gone.. sponsorships are all about partnering with another brand/sport/event for an increase in exposure of your own brand, pushing its own ethos to consumers or trying to gain kudos from the association.

[JohnM]

but why? As part of the marketing mix.  maybe, but I don't think that say Aviva or RBS do it for such an ephemeral thing as "awareness".   I'd love to see the business case that the marketing folks at Jaguar Land Rover used to get approval for their sponsorship spend. No metrics at all? No measurable objective? 

Edited June 28, 2013 by JohnM

[Yakstorm]

What can the RLWC offer a sponsor that might make them want to be involved with the competition?

• Awareness: Obvious one, every event offers this, just depends on whether the awareness mix offered fits with the type of market a company is chasing.
• Direct Fiscal Return/Inventory Swap: This is how we would have secured most of our current sponsors. we need transport (Hertz), accommodation (Marriot) , ticket sale (Ticketmaster),  so it would have been given to us either at a reduced rate but would still make the associated companies a decent enough return to be worth it, or it is a case of they have given us some of their inventory in exchange for some of ours.
• Content: Premier Sports & BBC have already signed on for this, but have we sold everything? ie. Digital rights, mobile rights? 
• Association: What type of brand alignment does the RLWC offer? There are definitely values associated with our sport which some companies would be desperate to be associated with (ie. Courage, teamwork, inclusiveness)
• Inventory: Not sure if this happens in the UK, but in Australia many in the food & drink sectors here will align with events as sponsors to then get the right to give away prizes, whether it be tickets, to other money can't buy experiences (coin toss, access to the change room/coaches box, etc) to help sell their products. 

 

So in short there is plenty to offer...  

 

Comparing with the 08 World Cup, the sponsors they had for that tournament were AAMI (Insurance), Fosters (Alcohol), Diaego (Alcohol), Coca-Cola (Soft Drink), Gilette, Harvey Norman, Telstra (Telecommunications + Content - Digital + Mobile Broadcaster / Website Partner), IHG (Hotel), JetStar (Flights), Channel 9 (Content - Broadcaster), Fox Sports (Content - Broadcaster), Ticketek (Ticketing), Reebok (Apparel), Government.

 

So far for 2013, they already have Government, Broadcaster, Hotel, Car Travel and Ticketing... obvious partner groups they should (and possibly already are targeting) are Alcohol (Tetley's? or Fosters? have invested in RL recently in UK), Soft Drink (Irn-Bru? Coke?), Airline (Emirates?), Apparel (ISC?).

 

The RFL should also be chasing previous International partners who have been involved in the game in the past but have dropped off due to the lack of regular big tournaments in the UK.  Ie. Cadbury, Valvoline, Lion, Guinness, Nissan, and as well those partners involved with some of the participating teams (General Motors, Coke, KFC & Fosters - Kangaroos; Malaysian Airlines - Kiwis; Vodafone - Fiji; Cable and Wireless & Coke - PNG; AXA & Puma - France; The Co-Operative - Wales)

 

Finally it would be in the tournament's interest to try and get some of their other established partners to step up for the tournament as well.  Gillette, Kingstone Press, Foxy Bingo, Brut, any of them that could fork out a bit more to come on would help. 

 

By getting a couple of the above to sign on (well of the bigger names), even if it is less than they originally want, would help encourage other partners to come on board.