Ahead of the latest edition of the annual rugby tournament, a look at why the Six Nations sponsors did the deals and the lessons for other rights holders

The five main partners of the Six Nations are all likely to benefit in a similar way around the usual brand metrics of awareness, perception, consideration, purchasing and loyalty.

However, the element or motivation that maybe got them over the line as Six Nations sponsors are different. This analysis provides a useful reminder to rights holders selling sponsorship that the angle in your initial approach does need to be different – even if the overall theme of the rest of the pitch is similar.

Firstly, some thoughts on size and profile

Six Nations sponsorship is for the big players: the average annual revenue of the five main partners is circa $2.5 billion.

A general rule of thumb when looking for companies that can afford a sponsorship is that it represents about 1% of revenue i.e. if sponsorship costs $1m, look at companies with $100m+ annual revenue.

However, among the Six Nations sponsors, it’s nearer 0.25%. This is based on the five partners paying an estimated total of at least $30 million a year, with Guinness leading the way at $18.7 million.

This suggests if your sponsorship costs $1m, look at companies with $400m+ annual revenue.

Six Nations sponsorship is also very traditional. The partner portfolio is dominated by established blue-chip brands in familiar categories – alcohol, tires, watches, hotels and software.

Also, unlike many other international sports (e.g. soccer, cricket and golf), there’s no Middle Eastern or Chinese brands or more ‘modern’ sectors such as crypto, fintech and pure-play online retailers that are increasingly pervasive in other sports.

So, why did the Six Nations sponsors do the deals?

Sponsor: Guinness
Revenue: $3.1 billion
Designation: Title Partner
Deal spend: $18.7 million
Motivation: Social Impact

Guinness is the title partner – at a reported £15 million ($18.7 million) a year – but more importantly from a positioning perspective, the brand was originally the Official Responsible Drinking Partner through Guinness 0.0. This encourages fans to enjoy Guinness’ zero alcohol version which is part of their broader ‘Never Settle’ campaign.

The latter is a Guinness-led inclusivity initiative which aims to make rugby a place where everyone can belong. This includes gender equality and, consequently, the brand’s sponsorship grew to incorporate the Women’s Six Nations, reinforcing Diageo’s progressive marketing and inclusion activities across all of its brands.

This idea of doing deals to demonstrate social impact has been on the rise over the last two years. It is now the second most common reason publicly-cited for doing deals – at 18%, behind Brand Awareness at 29%.

So showcasing that Guinness is a responsible brand is the clear motivation here. However, other major benefits include the below and highlight various key elements rights holders can use in their initial pitching:

• Drive brand awareness and consideration for a relatively new offering (0.0 compared to the original)
• Reach a relevant demographic with little wastage (rugby fans ‘over-index’ on Guinness drinkers compared to other major sports)
• Sell product (and lock out competitors) through in-ground sales at Six Nations venues

Sponsor: BKT
Revenue: $1.2 billion
Designation: Tire Partner
Deal spend: $3.1 million (est.)
Motivation: Values Alignment

The Indian tyre/tire giant has recently become one of the Six Nations sponsors and its motivation is to showcase its brand values in two parallel ways: what the brand stands for and what the company’s mission is.

For the first one, BKT states: “Rugby embodies BKT’s values as no other sport: it’s about teamwork, physicality, fair play, community and loyalty.”

For the second, the partners have collaborated on the BKT Award which celebrates emerging talent in both the Men’s and Women’s Six Nations. This idea of spotlighting rising stars underscores BKT’s mission to “empower growth and nurture potential.”

Again, as with Guinness, there is also a clear audience targeting motive here. The brand can reach a relevant demographic with relatively little ‘wastage’ compared to any major sporting events. Agricultural tires are a big segment of BKT’s sales and, crucially, the sport has a relatively high penetration among the farming community.

Sponsor: Breitling
Revenue: $1.0 billion
Designation: Timing Partner
Deal spend: $1.5 million (est.)
Motivation: Values Alignment

Watchmaker Breitling is the official timing partner of the tournament and, in a similar way to BKT, the public rationale focuses around their ‘DNA’ match. 

This idea of Values Alignment is the joint-third most common deal motivation globally – at 13%, alongside a Local Connection between the sponsor and rights holder.

The brand waxes lyrically about how the two parties are “joined by spirit and attitude – both striving for excellence through action, and delivering an ethos of teamwork, inclusivity and integrity.”

Another statement says: “Our high-performance timepieces inspire the greatest feats by allowing people to live their passion with complete peace of mind. The essence of rugby is to overcome your fears and limits. This coincides perfectly with the values conveyed by Breitling watches.”

This suggests they were almost separated at birth and in an interesting angle, they were in fact both founded within a year of each other: 1883 for the tournament and 1884 for Breitling.

It’s a reminder for rights holders to research these type of ‘quirky’ matches with any potential prospects as they can have an over-sized impact on marketer’s decisions to consider an opportunity.

The deal also involves what we call a ‘bonus’ activation that appeals to marketers. Breitling has launched a related limited edition product line of watches designed with the colours of each of the Six Nations teams. These retail at around £8,000 ($10,000).

Of course, co-branded gear is nothing new but when it can be activated in a different or more bespoke manner than the usual fare, that is a compelling angle to include in pitching.

It’s also worth noting that being a luxury brand, the tournament also gives Breitling the vehicle to reach a relatively affluent demographic – rugby fans – compared to other major sports.

Sponsor: IHG Hotels & Resorts
Revenue: $4.6 billion
Designation: Hotel Partner
Deal spend: $2.7 million (est.)
Motivation: Customer Engagement

When IHG became the first Official Hotel Partner of the Six Nations the announcement led with the deal putting “fans at the heart of the action by offering once-in-a-lifetime fan experiences.”

The thrust of this deal is clearly to reward the brand’s loyalty members through unique Six Nations experiences. Specifically, IHG’s One Rewards members could bid their loyalty points for experiences including behind-the-scenes stadium tours and pitch-side experiences; match tickets and hotel packages; and a chance to watch teams train.

Additionally, this type of event sponsorship means IHG is also able to undertake significant campaigns at a more local and targeted level by encouraging bookings from fans in hotel locations close to host stadiums and key travel hubs.

The idea of customer/prospect engagement being the main publicly-cited reason for doing a deal is rare – accounting for just 4% of deals signed around the world in the last two years.

However, as the competition among brands to attract and maintain customers becomes increasingly fierce, the idea of using sponsorship to help is likely to become more prevalent. It is certainly an angle rights holders should always be thinking about in packaging up their rights/assets to appeal to brands.

Sponsor: Sage
Revenue: $2.8 billion
Designation: Insights Partner
Deal spend: $5.0 million (est.)
Motivation: Showcase Capability

When accounting software brand Sage become one of Six Nations sponsors, it was as the tournament’s Official Insights Partner. This primarily enables them to showcase their capability.

This form of motivation has accounted for only around 8% of all sponsorship deals around the world in the last two years.

In Sage’s case, the sponsorship provides a platform to show how the brand is driving innovation in rugby through the power of data. Most notably, the ‘smart ball powered by Sage’, which measures information on speed, distance, and time.

This activation provides real-time insights to players, coaches, fans and even viewers and “brings our insight and decision-making capabilities to life, in a human and accessible way.”

This is a highly technical and ingenious activation which is, admittedly, difficult for most rights holders to consider. However, it’s a lesson in spending more time ideating how you can potentially showcase a sponsor’s product or capability in a more creative way.

If this is done well enough, it could actually be strong enough to be the single, or lead, element of your pitch.

Reinforcing the idea of IHG’s customer engagement: an element of Sage’s motivation is being able to engage “customers, partners, employees and communities internationally who will also benefit with access to tickets, experiences, and content.”

So, although they’re all Six Nations sponsors, the are a variety of motivations for doing so (albeit similar for Breitling and BKT) and the main thrust of a pitch would be very different.

It shows the importance of identifying different buying signals and/or business objectives to unearth that compelling angle or hook to generate a conversation.