AIG took its collection of sports sponsorship stars to Grand Canal Square in Dublin yesterday for a ‘Summer Splash’ event as a reminder of a discount deal on insurance for members of the sports with which they are involved.
Dublin GAA was represented by Bernard Brogan, Johnny McCaffrey, Cian Boland, Sinead Goldrick and Ali Twomey. All Black and Munster Rugby legend Doug Howlett was there too alongside Leona and Lisa Maguire representing Golf and Jenny Claffey from Tennis.
Each had to try their hand at hitting targets out in Grand Canal Dock and it was Lisa Maguire that ended up on top after a shoot out with Dublin hurler Cian Boland.
The event took place at lunchtime and attracted a fair crowd of workers from local offices. RTÉ Sunday Game presenter Des Cahill was on the microphone and it was a good example of bringing multiple sporting partnerships to life in an unusual environment.
“AIG in Ireland used to be a broker-led business and few people had any understanding of the size of the organisation on a global scale,” said AIG Ireland General Manager Declan O’Rourke speaking to Sport for Business at the event.
“We wanted to become part of the sporting communities that are so important in Ireland and GAA, Tennis and Golf have been a great fit.”
“Our association with the Golfing Union of Ireland goes back longer than the others but when the opportunity arose to take on Dublin GAA, and to bring together the four different codes and all the juvenile teams for the first time it was something we were excited about.”
“The recognition of AIG as an insurance partner in car, home and travel has soared from almost nothing to well over 70 per cent and much of that can be attributed to our involvement in sport.”
“The 15% discount for members of tennis clubs, golf clubs and Dublin GAA clubs is a way of giving something back into the communities we are involved with and it also makes good business sense as sports club members are a stable and mature cohort within the population at large.”
O’Rourke confirmed that Laya Healthcare had been added to the AIG family and that research was to be undertaken on how the brands would fit together. He would not comment though on the story we carried last month that the Laya brand was to be the new naming rights partner of the RDS Arena.
Sport is obviously working well as a channel for insurance companies with Liberty, Allianz, Aviva, GloHealth and Chill Insurance all active players at a high level within different sports
