Chris Rose, Leicester Tigers
As the Six Nations makes its return after a one-week break, we’ve put Rugby sponsorship into the spotlight on SBC News.
A month on from Leicester Tigers signing LeoVegas as its ‘Official Betting and Gaming Partner’, we caught up with Chris Rose, Head of Brand for the 10-time English Champions, to discuss the lack of visibility for betting partners in Rugby and how they will assess the effectiveness of a three-year deal with the Swedish operator.
SBC: Visible betting partners are still quite uncommon in Rugby; why do you think this is? Is it because Rugby doesn’t have the same connection to betting as Football?
CR: I think there are three main reasons. Rugby is not as big or mature a market as football, and until recently, there was not a huge amount of markets to bet on around Rugby. Rugby is not as easy to run markets on, and there were less people to bet on it. But TV coverage of Rugby has just got bigger and bigger; the Broadband battle feeding TV revenues means the likes of BT and Sky need high quality sports content.
Over the last few years, the gambling sector has also focused on changing how the industry is perceived, taking on more responsibility to police itself, and transforming a facelift from the traditional old men in a betting shop view to high quality digital businesses which offer another level of interaction to enjoying sport. Second and third screens are a huge part of sports consumption now, and this was an important factor for us to announce a new betting partner.
SBC: LeoVegas has a reputation for being an innovative brand within an increasingly consolidated betting market; are there any special LeoVegas promotions planned around upcoming matches?
CR: With the help of LeoVegas, we are developing a new Leicester Tigers app so that we’re able to offer the same quality in our digital delivery as LeoVegas already do. Alongside the app, we will be offering in-play odds around our new match day live functions, and on the stadium big screens. We’re looking for a long-term partnership with LeoVegas, and we’re sure that this will lead to even more innovative solutions over the seasons and years to come.
SBC: With the recent confirmation of ‘sleeve sponsors’ in the Premier League, we looked at the cost effectiveness for sponsors, with visibility on the kit supplemented by follow through marketing rights, LED and Interview Backdrop branding and player access. Is this the same for LeoVegas at Leicester Tigers?
CR: In November 2015, our main partner of eight years had to pull back on their sponsorship due to global conditions, and it gave us a great opportunity to bring in more partners looking for that headline association on the kit or around the stadium. We have upgraded five partners, brought in nine new partners, and the common denominator is that these businesses need to show a return on investment.
Whether that be through media values from branding and advertising, or innovative activations that will drive users to our partners’ products, we show that we’re the best club for brands to partner with to achieve their goals. LeoVegas could have chosen any Rugby club to work with, but they had real distinct goals that they needed from the partnership, and we’re looking forward to delivering those for them.
Ultimately, if partnerships aren’t a cost-effective way of promoting, then we wouldn’t be able to boast such a wide range of top business from many diverse sectors as part of the Tigers’ Family… all with different ROI’s.
SBC: LeoVegas will be measuring the effectiveness of the partnership on the engagement and uptake from all activities. As a club, what are you hoping to get out of the partnership?
CR: The simple answer is that sponsorship revenues allow Tigers to function; we need the revenue that partnerships bring to make sure that we remain the biggest club in the land, but we could have partnered with any betting partner. We wanted to work with the best and most forward thinking, and so we are looking to build our relationship with LeoVegas.
We think we can learn a lot from their delivery on digital and apps where they are clearly a market leader, and the Tigers team did a lot of due diligence. We were massively impressed with the people, processes and solutions at LeoVegas, and for us it has always been about people. We know that this partnership with the UK team and the wider LeoVegas company will be a fantastic opportunity for many years to come.
