Sponsors try to convert rugby appeal at Six Nations

　　

　　

　　By Simon Atkinson

　　Business reporter, BBC News

　　

　　For every penalty kick and conversion at this year's Six Nations tournament, all eyes will be on the goalposts, complete with their protective pads featuring the logo of tournament sponsor, Royal Bank of Scotland.

　　It is among the most high-profile pieces of corporate backing in rugby union.

　　But will crowds inside the likes of Twickenham and Murrayfield, plus the millions watching on terrestrial television, continue to see the bank as simply the long-time sponsor of the northern hemisphere's primary rugby competition?

　　Or will they instead identify that logo with the bailed-out RBS, a struggling firm, 84%-owned by the UK taxpayer and controversially paying bumper bonuses?

　　RBS clearly hopes the Six Nations can help rebuild its battered image and boost its profile, especially given the way its business has become more focused on UK markets in the past year.

　　"Every piece of marketing is done with a view to building favourability towards a brand," says its head of branding Allan Watt.

　　"But our aim is to remind people that in these difficult times for everybody, we are very much open for business."

　　Excitement

　　The latest £20m sponsorship deal was struck in early 2008 before the full extent of the bank's difficulties were known - even though details of the renewal were not released until after its taxpayer bailout. And Mr Watt insists that breaking the contract was never considered.

　　However, there would have been no shortage of firms ready to step in, with sponsors increasingly keen to get involved since the game turned professional in 1995 and its profile rocketed.

　　

　　The Six Nations itself almost always brings excitement. In the past ten tournaments, all of the participants bar Italy and Scotland have won it at least once.

　　In England especially, the national team winning the 2003 World Cup sparked new interest, increasing the appeal of the game and prompting a shift in the demographic make-up of both its fans and the youngsters who began to pick up the oval ball.

　　Meanwhile match attendances in the English top flight, the Guinness Premiership, may be considerably lower than at top-level football (an average of about 11,400 last season compared with 35,600 in the Premier League) - but they are growing. Only in Wales are real concerns being expressed about crowds at domestic league games.

　　'Desirable audience'

　　However while rugby's fanbase might have broadened from what has always been (especially in England and Scotland) a core support of middle class fans, the sport still primarily attracts what in advertiser speak is "ABC1's" - more wealthy people who are attractive targets for sponsors and advertisers.

　　"Rugby union doesn't have the mass appeal of football - but it's an audience that these brands want to get to," says Nigel Currie of the marketing and sports consultancy Brand Rapport.

　　

　　The English domestic competition is seeing increasing crowds

　　He believes RBS was right not to walk away from the Six Nations as it competes for business against its rivals, including HSBC which sponsors the British Lions. Investec is another key rugby backer and insurer Liverpool Victoria supports an Anglo-Welsh trophy.

　　"For financial services, which are basically pretty boring brands and boring products, rugby adds a bit of excitement, glamour and sexiness," Mr Currie says.

　　However, he agrees that the dominance of banks and drink companies (besides Guinness, Heineken, Magners, Brains beer and Famous Grouse Scotch whisky are among the game's big backers in the UK) is not ideal, and that a wider range of sponsors would be welcome.

　　Indeed some in the game are cautioning that this heavy reliance on sponsorship from particular alcohol brands, which see rugby fans as being among their core audience, could prove devastating if a ban on alcohol sponsorship in sport ever materialised.

　　'Family audience'

　　Growing levels of corporate hospitality at rugby has also been a welcome addition to the game's coffers, though there will be less of that at this year's Six Nations after RBS cut its corporate hospitality bill by about 90% - to save money and to save face.

　　

　　'Bloodgate' has had little effect on sponsorship of the game

　　Its guests, who may in previous years have enjoyed pre-match meals and entertainment, will instead be more likely to get just a match ticket. There will be no formal RBS hospitality in Cardiff or Dublin. A branded marquee, once a feature of games at Scotland's Murrayfield, is also no more.

　　Instead more of the bank's ticket allocation will go to charities, and it says it is giving greater focus to a campaign that encourages people to help their local amateur rugby clubs.

　　But far from being just beneficiaries, these strong communities that form around rugby are another element that makes it attractive to sponsors, says Jeremy Summers of the legal and commercial consultancy Pitmans SK Sports and Entertainment.

　　"The game's sporting ethic stands above other sports," he says.

　　"Rugby tends to attract quite a family audience and it's seen as a nice, pleasant event to go to. There is obviously some real aggression on the field but there is still a sense that the referee has the last word and is shown respect."

　　Commercial sense

　　Such an image meant that last year's "Bloodgate" affair, where a Harlequins player faked a blood injury to allow his side to make a tactical substitution, was enough to put the sport on the front of newspapers - at a time when club rugby still struggles to make the back pages.

　　However, while such cheating arguably dented rugby's "family" reputation, it appears to have done it no long-term commercial damage.

　　Indeed Harlequins chief executive Mark Evans told a conference last year that such scandals helped to generate interest among fans, and the club says it has lost no sponsorship as a result of the incident.

　　

　　Its main sponsor, Etihad, perhaps prizes its logo on Harlequins' stadium roof (which is on the London Heathrow flight path) as much as it does having the emblem on the famous quartered shirt.

　　The UAE airline is holding a "full review" over whether to renew its contract which expires this summer. But the decision will be based on whether it is getting good value, an Etihad spokeswoman said.

　　In a sport where team sponsorships have been treated more like patronages or community donations, this is a concept which is relatively new but one which is becoming more prevalent says consultant Mr Summers.

　　"There has been a history of corporate chief executives who happened to like a particular sport or a particular club, and that was enough for them to offer financial backing," he says. "And this probably happened in rugby more than most sports.

　　"But we're not seeing that nowadays. Today a sponsorship has to be justified much more commercially. It has to make business sense."

　　Anyone could win the Six Nations this year (well, apart from Italy....)

　　Those thoughts are echoed by Lee Bailey, sponsorship manager at Guinness which is in discussions about renewing naming rights for next season's top English league.

　　"Rugby sometimes used to be that way, to be run unprofessionally, but that's because it was an amateur game. Things have changed," he says.

　　"Bloodgate was a good example of that. It was impressive how the sport responded. They made immediate rule changes, they didn't just sit back. That's the kind of approach which encourages sponsors.

　　"Rugby fans are really getting involved as the growing attendances show. It's becoming more about passion to support your local team rather than just filling out Twickenham for international games."