MARKETING PEOPLE

GEMMA BELL SPONSORSHIP MANAGER. BANK OF IRELAND

With no fewer than six home derby matches in the Guinness PRO14 coming up over the next three weeks — including the Thomond Park showdown between Munster and Leinster — it’s one of the busiest times of the year for Gemma Bell, Bank of Ireland’s sponsorship manager. She talks to John McGee about the bank’s sponsorship of the Leinster, Munster and Ulster rugby teams and how it leverages each of these partnerships.

Describe what your role entails.

Since joining the business earlier this year, my role has revolved around remapping an overall partnership strategy that fits the future direction of the wider organisation and communities that we serve. To do this I’ve spent a lot of time engaging with our partner brands and also the many different parts of the bank.

What are the challenges when it comes to sponsoring big-ticket sports like rugby?

There’s a lot of investment when it comes to sponsoring big names like Leinster, Munster and Ulster Rugby — so there needs to be a balance in terms of the approach taken to activation to ensure we make the most of our partnerships at every level. Getting this right is a huge priority for us. Additionally, we want to ensure that we’re leveraging what we’re already doing in communities through initiatives like the enterprise programme, CSR activity and youth banking.

How do you deal with these challenges?

Moving away from more traditional sponsorship and taking a partnership approach is key to driving proper activation and ensuring priorities are aligned. Regular engagement and understanding on both sides ensures we optimise opportunities for engagement with important stakeholders in an authentic way and that we are properly prepared to do so. Having more conversations internally ensures we are leveraging opportunities across the business. We are also closely aligning with our internal CSR team to create synergies that strengthen our more purpose-driven ambition.

How do you judge the success of the bank’s rugby sponsorship?

In addition to driving increased awareness of Bank of Ireland, the sponsorship creates an effective environment for building business opportunities. But it’s also more than that. Through our partnerships we have been able to facilitate important initiatives such as CPR for Schools where we linked up our charity partner, the Irish Heart Foundation, with well-known rugby players to roll out a programme to schools teaching an important life-saving skill. We also run the award-winning Sponsor for A Day competition where businesses gain massive exposure by being branded on the Leinster Rugby jerseys for an important European Rugby Cup game.

Ultimately, we aim to be seen by the public as a sponsor they admire and we are encouraged by the fact that we have consistently scored in the Top 10 most admired sports sponsors in research by sponsorship experts Onside across the past two quarters of 2017.