Introduction

ABN AMRO is one of the world’s leading banks with interests in multiple territories offering a wide portfolio of services to an extensive range of clients and customers. In the Netherlands, the Mid West, USA and Brazil, ABN AMRO is a recognised high street bank while in the rest of the world ABN AMRO operates as a leading investment bank.

In 2005, the bank undertook a global re-branding exercise to unite its business units and nationalities under their new corporate logo – The ABN AMRO shield and a global strapline – Making More Possible. Adopting a global positioning enabled the bank to promote a consistent corporate message to both employees and clients.

Despite establishing this umbrella brand, it was important for the bank to retain a number of local names under which specific business units operate; Banco Real ABN AMRO (Brazil) La Salle ABN AMRO (Mid West, USA), ABN AMRO (UK, Netherlands, Asia) this ensured that heritage and local focus was not lost, but meant that the new brand had to engage, motivate and interest at both an international and regional level.

Why the sponsorship was chosen

The bank was faced with the challenge of finding a global initiative that could offer employee participation, as well as deliver high impact brand communication, corporate involvement and hospitality opportunities, and when one is dealing with a multinational organisation with a workforce of 105,000 people working in 53 countries in multiple languages, it was clear, that only a truly global sponsorship platform would suffice.

The Volvo Ocean Race, one of the world’s most demanding ocean races, provided the bank with exactly the platform it required.

ABN AMRO’s Australian Chief Executive Angus James explains; “When we embarked on the sponsorship we were very clear about our goals, increase brand awareness and involve, inspire and motivate our employees. Participation in the race offered a tremendous fit with the principles upon which we behave and work with our clients – teamwork and professionalism.”

ABN AMRO’s involvement in the VOR, marked the first occasion that the bank had undertaken a major international sports marketing campaign. Rather than just badging an event or securing naming rights, the bank looked to create a more powerful sponsorship opportunity - one that they could own.

To that end the bank created a new business unit ‘TEAM ABN AMRO’ whose sole responsibility was to create an ocean racing yacht team that could win the world’s premier event in offshore racing. Winning the Volvo Ocean Race was critical to the success both on and off the water.

TEAM ABN AMRO Managing Director Jan Berent Heukensfeldt Jansen commented: “The team used the highest level of innovation and technology to try and win the race; we weren’t there to make up the numbers. The race was run in often very difficult circumstances that were very hard to predict and where you have to be flexible and adapt as a team. If we succeeded in doing this we knew we would have a 100% match in what we are doing as a bank worldwide.”

The sponsorship of two boats in the race provided ABN AMRO with the breadth and depth of involvement that would ensure they would stand out from other brands participating, the two boat strategy also allowed ABN AMRO to recruit two crews who would embody the banks core principles of teamwork, professionalism, integrity and respect - summed up in the team’s mantra – “two boats, one bank, one goal!”

Sponsorship Objectives

From the outset, TEAM ABN AMRO had to ensure that the activity would reach out to key target audiences, both internal and external raising awareness of the banks brand and services - a unique challenge when one considers the varied nature of the banks activities & provision of services.

The sponsorship had to engage and influence ABN AMRO employees getting behind it and feeling involved. Activity was chosen that would deliver this key objective and strengthen the global strapline – ‘Making More Possible’ – with communication of this message shaping the overall look and feel of the campaign.

Underpinning the engagement of employees and raising brand awareness, was the need to generate substantial return on investment to be measured through the delivery of media coverage, via an integrated global press and publicity campaign.

Generation of coverage in financial press around the world was a fundamental objective, as was achieving maximum attention in sailing and sports media. Equally important, was to take the banks outside of its comfort zone with the delivery of media coverage in lifestyle and consumer media such as Hello!, Men’s Journal, Novel Observeteur and Lance Magazine.

Implementation

With a budget of €20m of to invest (the largest by any team in the race), and minimum in-house expertise, TEAM ABN AMRO sought support from experienced specialist consultants to help implement, activate and amplify the opportunity so the sponsorship delivered to the banks business strategy.

With the onus on achieving media value (a target of €60m media value was set at race start) and increasing brand awareness, the spotlight fell very much on the communications team to deliver return on investment. By turning to Pitch PR, TEAM ABN AMRO was able to hand over the task of delivering global coverage across multiple media, to a team of proven experts.

A safe pair of hands was imperative. Heukensfeldt Jansen explains; “Pitch PR clearly understood our vision behind TEAM ABN AMRO - to create our own unique content and our own story - we needed clear communication of the bank’s core values to a global audience. Pitch’s understanding and ability to, maximise the value of sponsorship was central to team’s success.”

The first step in implementation was to secure global buy in from within ABN AMRO. By engaging territory managers from the outset activation planning, the team (TEAM ABN AMRO, and agencies) were able to secure vital company-wide support for activity that would form the foundation of the year-long sponsorship campaign.

Global initiatives such as ‘TEAM ABN AMRO day’ which saw all of ABN AMRO’s 105,000 employees – including board members – wearing TEAM ABN AMRO t-shirts and participating in a day of associated race activities, ensured the sponsorship enjoyed universal support from within the bank and demonstrated its wide and unifying appeal.

To reach clients, customers and media, a range of creative PR activities were undertaken. Gordon Ramsay, Michelin star chef, was signed as the team’s chef and food consultant, and attended a number of events around the world including the race start where he raced the first event on board ABN AMRO ONE. Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting was taken sailing during the Australian leg and undertook a range of media interviews to raise the brands profile.

A vital part of the team’s armoury in communicating the TEAM ABN AMRO story were media partnerships with both print media - the Sunday Times in the UK, Baltimore Sun in America, O Globo in Brazil, De Telegraf in Holland and The Australian in Australia, and broadcast media - BBC, Sky, Globo (Brazil) and NOS Sport (Holland).

Running alongside this activity, was a comprehensive media relations campaign including regular team updates and journalist invitations for them to join the team around the world, to find out what it was like to race onboard and experience the rigours of ocean racing. All of which resulted in an enviable series of landmark features about the teams success appearing in influential media around the world.

The team also undertook a number of charity events integrated into the banks wider CSR campaign with crew members from both boats visiting townships in South Africa and the favelas of Rio.

Key tactics such as branded merchandise and clothing ensured that the ABN AMRO brand was visible at all race destinations and large scale branded hospitality at race ports complete with state-of-the-art pavilions made a bold statement about the stature of the brand, and was an important tool to engage customers.

In addition, professionally produced media guides and online activity supporting the team such as the dedicated website www.teamabnamro.com were invaluable marketing tools.

Results

In crude terms, the team set out to win the race, and did so by a record margin and setting two world records. The target of €60m media value was achieved, with 20,000+ items of media coverage from 26 different countries.

Post evaluation revealed the bank achieved over 190 hours of branded television exposure reaching a global audience of over 1.7 billion viewers equating to an EAV of over $45m. This was mirrored in written press, with branded coverage achieving total circulation figures in excess of 1.2 billion.

Success wasn’t just based on media coverage achieved. The bank wanted their entry in the race to assist the bank to achieve unity across its business units, employee and customer engagement and client education.

Team ABN AMRO day, was ambitious, involving and inspiring, with full involvement from around the world, the initiative demonstrated that the bank had taken a significant step in forming a ‘one bank’ culture. Activity such as visits to race venues, boat-crew meet and greets, hospitality and merchandise brought different parts of the bank together, and acted as a catalyst for cross business work that will be taken forward by the bank in work practices around the world.

Group wide awareness of the sponsorship stood by the end of the race, at 94%, 13 percentage points above target. 74% of employees actively sort out news and information on the race through internal channels, with 63% of bank employees believing the bank’s involvement in the race reflected the banks values.

Externally, similar levels of exposure were also achieved. Brand tracking in key markets revealed higher than expected awareness. In Holland, over 75% of the population had heard of the Volvo Ocean race and of these, 81% were aware that ABN AMRO were involved, and 12% of the Dutch population think more positively about ABN AMRO as a result. In the important Brazilian market, over 58% of the population were aware that Banco Real ABN AMRO were involved in the race, 67% of those surveyed looked upon the sponsorship and the bank more positively as a result.

Hospitality activity success cannot be overlooked. Over 5000 guests were entertained throughout the race, allowing the bank to build new relationships; research has shown that 87% of private clients entertained by ABN AMRO employees discussed business at events and 71% of them felt that the hospitality developed, or significantly developed their relationship with ABN AMRO.

Lessons Learned

The impact of the race will continue long into the future. ABN AMRO is now known and respected within the sailing community, with the bank and the crew Volvo Ocean Race Champions.

The bank through its involvement in the race has gained invaluable experience in global sports sponsorship and global marketing. These lessons captured and applied will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the bank’s marketing spend long into the future.

The bank also captured the lessons and experiences of the crews that took part in the race, which will be used to inspire, educate and improve the performance of the bank’s managers to promote future growth of the ABN AMRO business.

The success of the activity undertaken from an agency viewpoint is that Pitch’s reputation in sailing has risen dramatically, leading directly to new business wins not only in the sailing world, but also in the wider corporate sports sponsorship market