Air NZ, ABs in talks as end looms
Air New Zealand’s five-year sponsorship deal with the All Blacks is coming to an end and discussions are under way about what the future holds for the long-time partners.
Air NZ’s relationship with New Zealand Rugby (NZR) dates back to at least the mid-1990s when the national carrier had naming rights to the National Provincial Championship.
Over the years the All Blacks have featured heavily in Air New Zealand’s marketing, from All Black-themed safety videos to aircraft being painted in distinctive ‘‘all black’’ livery.
But with coronavirus wiping out much of Air NZ’s revenue, the airline is having to cut costs across the business, and that includes its marketing budget.
In the year to June, sales and marketing spend was $253 million, down from $350m the previous year. Codeshare partner
Qantas announced on Wednesday that it would be ending its 30-year sponsorship of the Wallabies, reportedly worth about A$5m (NZ$5.4m) a year. The All Blacks have many tiers of sponsors. Adidas is the principal partner and AIG is its major global partner. It has five global partners, one of which is Air New Zealand.
The others are beer brand Steinlager, watch brand Tudor, jeans brand Replay and supplements business Healthspan.
It also has regional partners, competition partners, women’s rugby partners, ‘‘other competition’’ partners and supporters.
FMCG Academy founder and consumer marketing specialist Vikram Khanna said with airlines under financial pressure for the foreseeable future, marketing budgets would be slashed.
Khanna said Air New Zealand’s marketing spend could drop significantly lower in the coming years and, as a result, it may not be able to afford to continue sponsoring the All Blacks.
He said it was possible the two could come to an agreement where the partnership continued but with a much lower profile.
‘‘There’s so many years of relationship sitting in there. It’s not going to be purely ‘you don’t have the money, bye bye’.’’
Whatever the All Blacks sponsorship costs Air NZ, the airline would have been spending a lot more to leverage it, perhaps two or three times the amount, he said.
‘‘There’s a lot of emotion attached to the partnership.’’