German-owned insurer Allianz Ireland has renewed its sponsorship with the Olympic Federation of Ireland (OFI), supporting Team Ireland en route to Paris 2024 and beyond. As an official OFI partner, the new deal sees Allianz extend its support through to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. Allianz has been the official worldwide insurance sponsor of both the Olympics and Paralympics since 2021 buildings on its Paralympic ties since 2006.
To reinforce its Olympic ties, Allianz has signed up as RTÉ’s official broadcast sponsor of both the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The multi-idents deal brokered by Starcom will run from the opening ceremony this Friday until the games close on August 11, with the Paralympic Games to follow from August 28 until September 9. RTÉ will broadcast over 300 hours of coverage across RTÉ2, RTÉ Player and RTÉ News Channel.
In 2021, Allianz launched its eight-year worldwide partnership with the Olympics and Paralympics, furthering their ties with the programme which began in 2006 globally and 2010 locally through their partnership with Paralympics Ireland. In 2021, Allianz also became an official sponsor of the Olympic Federation of Ireland. Allianz has brand ambassadors in athletes Rhasidat Adeleke, Ellen Keane, Jordan Conroy and Jack Woolley.
Matched
Allianz has strong ties with Irish sport through its sponsorship of the GAA Football Leagues and Championships. Mark Brennan, head of marketing, Allianz Ireland, said its Kantar brand tracking device across 70 international markets compares its various sponsorships. Support for GAA football was shown to have matched its support of Bayern Munich, whose assets include the Allianz stadium, shirt deals and brand ambassador Harry Kane.
Brennan said that the company’s marketing spend is distributed evenly between its sports sponsorship and media advertising budgets in Ireland. Allianz has used cause-related issues across its ad campaigns in recent years, with In the Company of Huskies (now Forsman & Bodenfors) rolling out its Effie award-winning ‘World’s Strongest Women’ for Women’s Aid, a three-year effort aimed at ending the silence on domestic abuse.
The campaign provided €1 million in funds and on-financial supports such as the training of senior managers at Allianz, a domestic abuse policy and workforce help. A specific focus was put on social impact, as abuse is both a cause and consequence of gender inequality. It can take violent and non-violent forms, like coercive control and financial abuse. The problem worsened during Covid with over 29,700 contacts with Women’s Aid in 2020.
It resulted in 30,841 disclosures – an increase of 43 per cent on 2019.
The campaign also targets bystanders, such as family, friends, neighbours and colleagues, to learn more about domestic abuse and how they can help victims. The work starts with an education and awareness campaign called ‘The World’s Strongest Women’, highlighting the daily resilience, strength and courage of women living through domestic abuse. Ads have run across radio, digital and TV. The campaign ambassador was Norah Casey.
Allianz recently launched their ‘Stop The Drop’ research with Olympic silver medallist Sonia O’Sullivan. The report and ad campaign (above) sheds critical light on the decline in sports participation among Irish children, particularly during the transition from primary to secondary school. Allianz is a major underwriter in Irish schools and sports clubs. Marketing manager Valerie Hedin oversees the CSR research used in selecting its charities.
Brennan confirmed that Allianz’s creative advertising account was out to pitch. A former account director at DDB’s Adam & Eve agency in London, he knows only too well how adland works. Before joining the insurer, he held a senior marketing role at AIB. He says there are about 14 insurance brands out there and, as with the banks, agency selection can be fraught. Whatever way the review pans out, he’s hopeful the account can remain on in Dublin.
Pictured at the RTÉ announcement were Paralympic archer Kerrie Leonard, Olympic boxer Aidan Walsh, RTÉ presenters Evanne Ní Chuilinn and Peter Collins, RTÉ commercial director Gavin Deans and Allianz’s head of marketing Mark Brennan (far left).
Photo: James Crombie
