Corporate responsibility and how sports partnerships can help bring cause initiatives to life

elysahubbard
Jun 11, 2018
4 min read

Updated: Jun 12, 2020

Corporate responsibility has been moving up the marketing agenda with brands desperate to show that they care about their economic and social responsibilities to create more meaningful consumer connections via purpose-led marketing. 62% of people say they will not buy a brand if it fails to meet its social obligations and meaningful brands have outperformed the stock market by 206% since 2006.

“Corporate responsibility is about how companies manage their business processes to produce an overall positive impact on society”

This has resulted in an extension of the 4 P’s of marketing to include a 5th - ‘Purpose’. Modern marketing is now not just an awareness tool, but a platform to build new ‘social’ values through purpose and story-telling, creating emotional connections between brand and audience. Examples are Toms’ ‘One for One’, where cause/ purpose sit at the centre of the business strategy and AMEX, who are phasing out single-use plastic by creating cards using plastic from the ocean.

In sponsorship, ccorporate responsibility reflects a responsible attitude to monetary spend – something that has increased in importance for brands (especially those in financial services) since the credit crunch in 2008. An example is Nat West’s English cricket sponsorship. NatWest have a strong cricketing history, having supported the sport since 1981. Last year, Nat West became the principle partner of the ECB with a campaign focussed on diversity called ‘Cricket Has No Boundaries’.

The campaign’s aim is to help restore ‘pride’ to the brand (lost in the financial crash) by linking cricket’s traditional, fair values to Nat West and showcasing diversity/inclusion in cricket – promoting Nat West as a bank for all. Cricket is the second most popular sport in the UK and is played and enjoyed by people from all walks of life. 30% of UK cricketers are of South Asian heritage, 5% are disabled and women’s/girls participation has increased 800% since 2003.

The sponsorship supports all levels, from grassroots to each national team (including England Women, Physically/ Learning Disability and Visually/ Hearing Impaired teams). For Nat West, this is a perfect opportunity to publicise its mission statement of ensuring their ‘customers and colleagues feel valued and welcome, no matter their age, gender, race, physical ability, religious beliefs, sexual orientation or social of ethnic background’.

The campaign celebrates cricket, promoting the sport’s diverse range of participants through story-telling and powerful imagery. It is primarily led by an outdoor billboard campaign that celebrates cricketing inclusion, featuring images from a street-cricket content day and inspirational messages from the England men’s captain, the first English female black cricketer and disabled players.

The sponsorship has also been harnessed across both NatWest’s and the ECB’s digital/social platforms, all linked to #NoBoundaries – a clever hash-tag referring both to social barriers and cricket.

Last year, Nat West worked with the ECB to film a documentary about Moeen Ali’s rise from playing street-cricket in Birmingham.

The edit provided insight into the determination that Moeen had and how cricket offered him a purpose, helping him to avoid falling into trouble (gang crime).

It is important for corporate responsibility partnerships to be genuine, otherwise they are viewed as fake/derived just to sell products and will have minimal impact e.g. MasterCard’s recent World Cup campaign.

Inclusivity and positive change is an objective that sits at NatWest’s core – not just a marketing ploy. Nat West have improved their workplace equality, recently reporting that they have a 50:50 male:female split. The business also has a LGBT community tying into the brand’s messaging ‘We Are What We Do’. This transparency is crucial in proving the campaign’s credibility, as well as installing pride in the workforce.

The campaign raises a significant amount for Chance to Shine. In 2017, for every 6 in the T20 Blast and IT20s, NatWest donated £6. This year, every 4 in the Pakistan Series prompted a £4 donation – a clever marketing ploy to tie into #NoBoundaries and also encourage boundary hitting, making the sport more interesting for fans and those who are watching for the first time.

‘When a marketing campaign becomes a fascinating part of the event itself then you know your campaign’s a winner.. the real secret of success is to achieve this without changing the game or coming between the fans and what they are passionate about’

Wristbands were also sold and fans were encouraged to try the VR cricket challenge, where every virtual 6 also prompted a £6 donation8. In 2017, NatWest donated £30,000 through wristbands and boundaries hit/ virtually hit.

Nat West also sponsor ‘Nat West Cricket Force’, a yearly grassroots initiative to promote inter-club spring-cleaning collaboration, with a real emphasis on increasing disabled access and improving facilities for women/ girls/ families. In 2018, 2,400 clubs took part.

This well integrated campaign targeting all cricketing levels further reflects how this sponsorship (and fairness/ inclusion) is central to Nat West’s values and not just a marketing tool.

Due to cricket’s popularity, this sponsorship should reach a significant amount of the population. Furthermore, with inequality being viewed as one of the top three global issues worldwide by those under 30 (half the world’s population), focusing on the promotion of inclusivity/equality in cricket - and life, should result in enhanced brand warmth and a positive consumer response. This partnership also benefited the ECB through encouraging cricket participation.

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Corporate responsibility and how sports partnerships can help bring cause initiatives to life

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