Bord Gais Energy have just finished their first year as sponsors of the All Ireland Hurling Championship but theirs was a journey in the sport that began nine years previously with the U21 Championship.
“Sponsorship has become very competitive with brands looking to get involved generally being one ion a long line of potential suitors for the biggest properties,” Bord Gais Energy Communications Manager Irene Gowing told a room full of marketing professionals at the Onside Sponsorship and Irish Marketing Institute Sponsorship breakfast at the Aviva Stadium this morning.
“We launched as an electricity provider through sport and in 2016 we were number two in Ireland and looking to address retention of customers rather than brand awareness.”
“That’s what sponsorship boiled down to for us, customer retention and how we could use elements of a partnership to deliver something a little different.”
“We spoke to the GAA, we negotiated the deal and the core elements in there that mattered to us, and we got internal sign-off.”
“Branding was secondary to creating rewards that would enhance our loyalty programme and we knew what we had to do to repay the faith the company had shown in backing our judgment.”
“Looking in from the outside it looked like a perfect plan but behind closed doors, we were terrified.”
Thankfully for the small team backing themselves to deliver what they had in mind worked.
“We wanted to leverage the goodwill we had from nine years of GAA involvement through the U21’s and we were able to call back players who we, as a brand, had supported along the way, players like Joe Canning who became an ambassador and helped us gain immediate credibility,” said Sorcha Fennell Sheehan, Sponsorship Programme Manager.
They devised the campaign around the idea of #HurlingtotheCore and immediately they were accepted as sponsors with a purpose and almost a permission to be there.
“The media value from the launch was €650,000 but is was the sentiment scores that impressed most, particularly within the rural audience we saw as really important to talk to and engage with.”
“Of our 300,000 customers, the split was 2/1 in favour of urban households. We wanted though to speak to the minority and really connect.”
“We needed to create something that would make Bord Gais Energy something special to them.”
“That came about through our ability to sell tickets and upgrade experiences through our rewards programme. We came up with the Cupán Tae, tapping into the real heartfelt tug of the GAA in being as much about the community of people at a game as about those winning or losing on the field.”
“We gave away 1,300 tickets through competitions and sold hundreds more to customers, all of whom were then greeted on arrival at the ground and brought in for tea and a sandwich during the game.”
“In terms of a response, 95 percent of customers said they would buy through us to get that experience and without giving away too much of a secret we halved our churn rate.”
“Hurling wasn’t the only reason in that but it was a really important factor.”
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