Picture credit: Stephen McCarthy / SPORTSFILE
Liberty Insurance launched the second year of its partnership with the GAA and Camogie Associations by announcing that they will insure the All-Ireland winners’ medals across Hurling, Gaelic Football and Camogie against loss or theft during the lifetime of their sponsorship, up to and including the 2017 Championships.
“Liberty Insurance is in the business of providing reassurance, security and support to our customers by protecting what is important,” said Annette Ni Dhathlaoi, Liberty Head of Marketing.
“For Hurling and Camogie players who have dedicated their lives to Gaelic games, an All Ireland medal is the ultimate reward for their hard work and dedication. We are proud to support them by insuring medals won during the lifetime of our sponsorship.”
It is a neat way of connecting the business of the sponsor to an important element of the sport. It fits with Liberty Mutual’s approach where as sponsors of Team USA they are insuring any Olympic Medals won by US athletes at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympocs and the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Sidelines
It is also the first time that Liberty has been able to reach onto the sidelines of the All Ireland Football Championship where Cork and Dublin are the two most hotly fancied teams to win in 2014. Both of those teams are sponsored by rival insurance companies in Chill and AIG.
As first time sponsors of the All Ireland Hurling Championship last year, Liberty scored highly in terms of activation and awareness. Fellow sponsors Centra is focused again this year on community while Etihad Airways is in a different space for a core audience and Liberty are expected once more to be prominent in terms of reach out to clubs and individuals.
It was encouraging to see Camogie and Hurling given equal billing at the launch yesterday and stars of both will once again be used on an equal basis over the course of the summer. It is an important element in an ongoing demand for parity of esteem between men’s and women’s sport.
One area that may be of interest is a version of their involvement with cricket in England whereby they insure each of the county grounds as part of their support for the sport. There are probably long term arrangements in place at the GAA but it is an organisation that works well at securing ‘friends and family’ benefits for sponsors that adds to the ties that bind them together in the longer term.
Sport for Business will host The Business of Youth Sport, a half day conference on June 12th looking at youth participation for early years to third level and with speakers from Sky Sports, Active Flag, Athletics Ireland and many more. To find out more and secure your place, click here.
