Earlier this week we carried the news and the strong visual that Guinness had painted their iconic St James’s Brewery gates in support of a sponsorship for the first time in a 200 plus year history.
That it should be for a tournament that will not be televised, and which will take place on the sports grounds of Dublin City University is not what you would expect from the brand behind Six Nations Rugby, the GAA, PRO14 Rugby, the IRFU and many more iconic properties.
So we sat down with Diageo Head of Partnerships for Europe to ask why?
Sport for Business: So how did the partnership with next weekend’s Union Cup come about?
RS: “We had an approach through rugby circles and we met with Richie Fagan who was bringing the tournament to Dublin back in November.”
“He presented a very simple story of what they were doing and why it was important in terms of inclusivity and it just felt like the right thing to do.”
“They were taking on a lot of risk in bringing the tournament to Dublin and they were hosting a Women’s tournament for the first time as well.”
“I was privy at the time to the detailed negotiations that were going on around our partnership with Six Nations Rugby which was not in the public domain at the time and a key part of that was going to be support for the Women’s Six Nations.”
“That was perhaps a clincher then. We have the most diverse board of any company in the FTSE-100 and we live the reality of an inclusive approach across all our operations every day.”
“We have an incredibly diverse workforce and have always been to the fore in terms of equality of opportunity, equality of pay and all the different elements that go into an inclusive approach.”
“Last week we announced that we would make parental leave an option for all our staff, men and women, for a period of 26 weeks.”
“In 2015 we produced a groundbreaking advertisement allowing Gareth Thomas to tell his story of coming out as a gay man in a sport traditionally perceived as being very macho.”
“He afforded us the privilege of allowing us to help him and so there was a natural and very credible connection to the Union Cup in place already.”
It’s a pretty impressive line up of supporters that are getting behind the tournament
“It’s great to see that other partners who we work closely with across rugby and who we would hold in the highest regard are also involved, from Bank of Ireland to Vodafone and the IRFU.”
We were able to give the team a profile at the Guinness PRO14 Final last weekend, with Andy Nichol interviewing Richie on the fan stage at Celtic Park.
“The other partners are doing their thing as well and it is all coming together very well.”
How did the idea of the Gates come about?
“We were having a Six Nations debrief in London and were relaxing afterwards when the conversation turned to what we could do next around the Union cup given the focus of attention was going to be on the Guinness PRO14 Final.”
“One of the team, not me I’ll be honest, came up with the lightbulb idea of painting the gates in the rainbow colours.”
“We all smiled and just knew that it would be a real statement.”
“Was it easy to get over the line internally given the weight of history?”
“We are a very organised team and so we quickly pulled together a simple plan as to why it was the right thing to do and how it could be brought to life.”
“That was presented to our senior team and we got the go ahead straight away.”
“The logistics were more complex than an average paint job as we wanted to keep it very much under wraps until the reveal.”
“It’s a gate that two million tourists walk past each year so it has an impact. The sheets went up around it nine days before the reveal and it took that long to get right. there was a lot of curiosity but we were determined to keep it a secret.”
“There were a few shots shared amongst us on what’s app showing how it was progressing but not to be shared with anyone, at all.”
“The splash of colour looks incredible against the stone walls and it succeeded in putting the tournament and our involvement very much to the fore.”
Now that you’ve broken history is it likely to be something you will do again?
“What’s rare is precious and there would not be any plan to do this again. It will be restored to its traditional black and gold lettering on the day after the tournament.
“The images will last forever and there is a constant stream of imagery appearing on social media but that will be it so if you want to capture the moment you will have to be quick.”
Image credit: Dan Sheridan, Inpho.ie
