MasterCard Worldwide sponsors Rugby World Cup 2011

“Sponsorships represent a critical component of MasterCard's global marketing approach, and we are proud to add Rugby World Cup 2011 to our roster of world-class alliances,” said Andre Sekulic, president, Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa, MasterCard Worldwide.

“We will leverage this unique platform to further deliver shareholder value by creating exclusive business-building opportunities for our customer financial institutions, while building MasterCard brand affinity by offering priceless experiences to MasterCard cardholders.”

Considered crown jewel

The Rugby World Cup is considered the crown jewel of the sport and a prominent global property -television coverage of the Rugby World Cup 2007 reportedly spanned more than 200 territories, reaching a cumulative audience of 4.3 billion viewers.

The cup is being held in New Zealand for the first time since the inaugural event in 1987. Teams representing 20 nations will compete in 48 matches across several host cities during September and October 2011. The final and semi-final matches are slated for Auckland's historic Eden Park, 22 - 23 October 2011.

RWCL chairman Bernard Lapasset said, “In addition to demonstrating a commitment to helping grow the sport of Rugby through its grassroots campaign in New Zealand, MasterCard also delivers a proven track record of global sponsorship activation which combines strategy and creativity to drive business results.”

Beyond its experience in sponsorship marketing, MasterCard also has a rich heritage of supporting the sport of rugby in the host country. Over the past six years, MasterCard has been a sponsor of the New Zealand All Blacks team.

As part of the agreement, MasterCard secures a comprehensive rights and benefits package that allows the company to deliver value to customer financial institutions, merchants and cardholders, including the ability to access “Priceless” experiences linked to Rugby World Cup 2011.

Support strategic priorities

The relationship with Rugby World Cup 2011 also provides opportunities to support a number of the company's strategic priorities, including:

• Reaching affluent cardholders: rugby scores well against an affluent audience, for example, in markets such as the UK, 65% of rugby fans are in the ABC1 demographic and in Australia the figure is 79% for fans with medium to high income levels. (Sources: UK Statistic: UK GB TGI 2007 Australia Statistic: Sweeny Sports 2006-2007)

• A platform to capitalise on cross-border travel: based on Australia's experience of hosting Rugby World Cup 2003, New Zealand can expect to attract as many as 66 000 international supporters, 2500 international media representatives, and up to 2500 corporate and VIP guests. Additionally, Rugby Travel and Hospitality has projected it will sell 120 000 official travel packages to Rugby World Cup 2011 with MasterCard being featured as the preferred card.

• Driving brand affinity as the exclusive payment provider: as worldwide partner and official payment system of Rugby World Cup 2011, MasterCard will be the preferred payment brand accepted on-site at host venues.

• Global presence: with teams from Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania, Rugby World Cup is truly a global property, one which is well-aligned with MasterCard's global footprint. In 2007, Rugby World Cup was broadcast in 202 territories with a cumulative viewing audience of 4.27 billion. Importantly, the tournament has seen broadcast coverage increase exponentially every quadrennial, providing MasterCard with increased opportunity for brand visibility. For example, the most recent Rugby World Cup witnessed a 57% increase in broadcast coverage from 5414 hours in 2003 to 8499 in 2007.