SPORT Can you outline some of the merchandise and licensing partnerships that have been signed for RLWC2021? Within the retail, merchandise and licensing space of the RLWC2021 commercial programme we have a number of partnerships to help us achieve our objectives. We see this area as driving revenue for the tournament, creating engagement to both core and non-core fans, and also the opportunity for future tournaments and the wider sport to benefit from the ‘legacy’ of such activity, whether that be new partners, new infrastructure, new ways of working etc. Cube Partnerships is our official retail partner. They work with us on our online store which was launched last year and the range of products within this which will continue to expand over the next 10 months. During tournament time in October and November they will also run our retail operation across the 61 matches at 21 venues that will take place. Kappa is the official apparel partner of RLWC2021. They create retail products for consumers working alongside Cube, and will also provide kit to the referees, volunteers and staff members at the tournament. They have a superb heritage and experience in both sport and consumer lifestyle, which was very attractive to us. We want to expand the reach of Rugby League to new audiences, and feel that fashion and lifestyle via Kappa can play an important role in this. Supplementing this is Riverside Brands who is our official licensing agency. Ashley Holman, Riverside MD, has great contacts and experience in this space, and we want to show how licensing can drive revenue but also expand our reach via collaboration. We’re excited about the opportunities here and have a few announcements coming up shortly. We’ve also been working with Skew who have done a tremendous job on producing our consumer style guide to support the work of Riverside. This has really shown how we and licensees can extend our brand. The tournament will be the largest standalone sporting event in this country in 2021, and with every minute of every match being shown live on the BBC, it will have an unprecedented profile for the sport and our partners. Alongside our positioning and USPs such TOTAL BRAND LICENSING
as inclusivity - with the men’s, women’s and wheelchair tournaments running concurrently for the first time ever at a major event - and creating positive social impacts within communities, we’re excited about the opportunities and role that licensing can play. How has the pandemic affected your work – have there been particular challenges and conversely what positives have you noticed? The last 12 months have been a huge challenge for everyone, and we are very aware that there are clearly more important things going on in the world than RLWC2021. As a business we moved quickly to remote working, and have been able to be productive in this environment throughout the pandemic. As you would expect we’ve done many reviews and scenario plans during this time but are confident and optimistic moving forward. Some of the challenges are the wider commercial impacts such as the ability for brands to plan and commit due to the huge degree of uncertainty, although at the same time we’ve had good conversations on the role that collaborating with the tournament can have in supporting businesses post pandemic. There is a huge desire for people to attend live sport again and have something to look forward to, so hopefully we can play a small role in that for both people and the business community. Alongside this I think we’ve seen the whole industry be hugely resilient and you could argue that the industry has progressed at a quicker rate than it would have done in some areas, notably digital, innovation and fan engagement. Tell us about the partnership with Cazoo and why it is such a good fit? We were absolutely delighted to welcome Cazoo as our Principal Sponsor in November last year. They are the UK’s leading online car retailer, a hugely innovative brand that is growing rapidly and we’re really excited about working with them. They’re a new brand to the sport which has been a focus of our sponsorship strategy, and it’s also the largest sponsorship deal in Rugby League World Cup history so supports our ambition to be bold, brave and set firsts for the tournament. We want to be trailblazing and positively dis-
Talking Rugby with Jonathan Neill, Commercial Director RLWC2021
ruptive in the sector, and I think we share these attributes with Cazoo, whilst at the same time we want to help support their ambition to become a household name. What kind of licensing partnerships are you looking to forge? We’re very open to the licensing partnerships that we can create across a range of categories. Some are more obvious such as apparel, accessories and commemorative, but we also want to speak to wider categories where we can be a good fit and help meet the objectives of that business. Publishing is an area we will shortly release a tender for which will cover match day programmes and also further opportunities such as photography, history, children’s books and ideas others may have. We have a broad audience including circa 20m viewers on the BBC for our matches, 750,000 fans in attendance across 18 host towns and cities, and 14 million people in the UK following Rugby League, which provides superb outreach and awareness for products. How many sponsors do you work with commercially? In terms of official sponsors we have seven at the moment. Cazoo as our Principal Sponsor as mentioned previously, and also Eversheds Sutherland, Deloitte, Manchester Metropolitan University, Kappa, Kuehne+Nagel and Assura. PAGE 11
