Allianz has extended its international partnership with Paralympic sport through to at least the Rio Paralympic Games in 2016. The company was also a major sponsors of Paralympics Ireland in the run up to London 2012 and has said it expects to sign a minimum of 13 local partnerships similar to that before the end of this year.
Allianz has been a partner of the International Paralympic Committee since 2006, and became the first International Partner of the IPC in 2011 2011, a role that incorporates global and local co-operation. The company has placed great emphasis on helping to foster public awareness and generate a greater interest in Paralympic sport in general.
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{ismember]“I am delighted that Allianz and the IPC are continuing their successful partnership,” said Sir Philip Craven, Chairman of the IPC. “It is really a passionate relationship and Allianz gets the spirit of the Paralympic Movement and its athletes.”
“That is what makes me most happy. Over the past seven years, Allianz has been a dedicated, reliable and professional supporter of the Paralympic Movement and I am looking forward to the next four years of our co-operation. Allianz will be an important partner for the IPC to further increase the awareness for the Paralympic Movement and the Paralympic athletes.”
The current four-year agreement spans a full Paralympic Games cycle, and includes Allianz’s support of National Paralympic Committees on their way to the Games.
In addition to the global and local partnerships, Allianz will also be involved with IPC Athletics in order to create even more excitement about the Paralympic Movement. The IPC Athletics Federation organises all athletic sport disciplines and events throughout the season, including wheelchair racing, shot put, running, long jump and so forth.
Several local partnerships between Allianz subsidiaries and local NPCs are about to be signed Croatia, Czech Republic and Germany are the first to be publicly identified but it is hoped that Ireland will be included on this list given the strong relationship that grew between the company and the sport last year.
Allianz sponsored the free to air broadcast coverage of London 2012 on Setanta Sport.
It also broke new ground by using Hand Wheelchair Gold Medallist and World Champion Mark Rohan as the centre point of mainstream advertising campaigns.
Speaking to Sport for Business last year Damien O’Neill, Marketing Director of Allianz in Ireland said that ‘Insurance is all about helping people put their lives back together after sometimes terrible things go wrong. You could search for a long time and never find a role model that people can use to gain perspective on what has happened and how they can move on. Paralympians do just that.”
Back on a global scale, Allianz is creating awareness campaigns for Paralympic sports with information distributed widely through schools, business and community networks, encouraging the public to identify with the inspiring achievements of Paralympic athletes.
The company holds motivational sessions with Paralympic athletes speaking to employees, managers, agents and clients, thereby increasing the pool of Paralympic ambassadors around the world.
It is currently displaying the official Paralympic photo exhibition at its head office in Munich, Germany. The “Spirit in Motion” photo exhibition shows photos from the Paralympic Games in Atlanta 1996 to London 2012.[/ismember]
This interview with Sir Philip Craven was released to mark the sponsorship extension and is a great example of how sport and business can illustrate their importance to each other.
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