In this series running throughout the Euro 2016 tournament we catch up with the main partners of the FAI to discover what they have been doing to activate their relationship with Irish soccer fans and how that might continue through the coming weeks.
Today we caught up with Sharon Woods on the Sponsorship team at Bank of Ireland on how they have focused on schools but with a nod towards events in France.
Sport for Business: Bank of Ireland has a very specific area of interest with the FAI Sponsorship but that is not with the senior team, how are you timing that together with events in France?
Sharon Woods: Our involvement with the FAI is focused around schools and grassroots football and we are delighted to support so many communities nationwide.
Whilst we are not directly sponsoring the Irish national team we are excited to be a partner with the FAI brand and during Euro 2016, our branch at College Green in Dublin will be bathed in green light.
In addition we ran a small creative activation over the weekend before the Sweden Game where we renamed College Green, White and Orange.
This was less a campaign rather than a social activation to drive awareness of our proud partner status.
SfB: Kids at school level are obviously very interested in what’s happening with the team, emulating their exploits in playgrounds and on their own pitches. How did you tie the team into your own programmes
JK: At a campaign level we worked a ‘Bagsy Backpack’ incentive into our young savers and second-level students programme in the run up to the Euro’s.
Students engaging with the programme received a limited edition FAI backpack in the run up to the tournament. We’ve also made a promotional video which is available through social media channels.
SfB: How else have you worked the success of the team into your own partnership this year?
JK: We ran a number of schemes with schools including our Match Day rewards where over 1,200 young fans from 40 schools around the country got to go to an Ireland international and experience what it was like to see the team play live.
Even deeper we had eight schools that came along to an exclusive international training session at Abbotstown, getting to meet the players afterwards and getting photos taken.
That’s the kind of once in a lifetime experience which will stay with the kids, their parents and their teachers for a long time to come.
We run eleven National Cup Finals at schools level with each participating team receiving branded Bank of Ireland kit as well as the chance to play at a good level and improve their skills.
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