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Blogvent Calendar Day 6 and 7: Rugby at sixes and sevens

Sponsorship | Sport | Technology

We used the opportunity for a lie-in yesterday so we start this new week with two virtual doors to open on our Blogvent calendar. For both doors, we have opted to cover rugby, focussing on the forthcoming Six Nations championship and the growth of popularity being enjoyed by Rugby Sevens.

The RBS sponsored Six Nations is Europe’s leading annual rugby tournament and will attract a barrage of media attention when the 2010 championship gets underway in February. It has also started to appeal more broadly to technology companies who are using the sport to position their brand on a pan-European platform, but also as a means to showcase their product.

Up until last year’s event software firm SAS was ‘Official data and competitive intelligence partner’ for the Six Nations. The company provided graphics and on-screen analysis to the championship, partnering with broadcasters BBC to allow fans to view real time data through the interactive red button option. Such fan-oriented services are becoming an essential part, or the Sine Qua Non, of any sport’s offering and technology companies are playing an increasingly vital role in their execution.

When Rugby Sevens was confirmed as an Olympic sport for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro summer games, it confirmed the arrival of one of the world’s fastest growing sports. It was also announced last week that Rugby Sevens will be launched as a national series in the UK in 2010. With technology firms such as EMC already including rugby in its marketing mix, through their sponsorship of the London Wasps squad, the rise and rise of rugby sevens could well offer another attractive proposition for technology companies looking to break into sports sponsorship at the ground level.

The now infamous Thierry Henry incident has once again raised the question over how technology can be used in football to ensure fairer refereeing, but touchline video technology has already been successfully implemented in rugby in recent years. Another example of the genuine appeal that rugby can hold for tech firms looking to get involved in sport beyond the standard ‘logo on a shirt’ opportunity. Companies can fully immerse themselves into the sport, showcasing technology in a practical and useful way for the sport’s legions of fans internationally. Rugby fans are generally of a different composition to football fanatics, attracting more businessmen and women, an audience of consumers and business buyers in waiting – it’s a natural fit and an opportunity to ‘convert’ the marketing budget into a tangible business asset.

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