With the flagship and world-famous Allianz Arena in Allianz’s home town of Munich, the addition of two new partnerships brings the Allianz Family of Stadiums to four members: in addition to the French and UK partnerships, one of the main sports venues in Sydney, Australia was named Allianz Stadium earlier this year.
Christian Deuringer, Global Head of Brand Management at Allianz SE, looks behind-the-scenes of these new partnerships.
Sport is an international language that brings together people from all walks of life, creating local and global communities based around shared passions and interests. Communities play an integral role in our business of helping people to progress in life. This is why Allianz is heavily involved in sport sponsorship around the world. We are involved in a number of sport sponsorships, all of which have their own purpose and place in our brand portfolio.
Our partnership with Formula One™ for example relates to our world leadership as a car insurer: Formula One™ is an excellent global platform to reach millions of fans with our road safety messages. The partnership with the Paralympic Movement on the other hand has a lot to do with motivation: we support the athletes on their way to reach their best achievements and we bring them into our company to inspire and motivate our employees and partners.
There is a strong emotional aspect to being the naming rights partner of a sports stadium – for a non-tangible brand like Allianz, it quickly becomes the “home of the brand” and a place of corporate pride for our employees and partners. Currently, Allianz, the global financial services provider, serves clients in over 70 countries via some 600,000 brand ambassadors: employees, agents, brokers and other partners. As well as boosting brand recognition for Allianz, the stadium partnerships and related activities also link very well to Allianz’s corporate social responsibility commitments globally.
Allianz sponsorships are carefully chosen to increase the brand recognition of Allianz. The partnership with the Allianz Arena and FC Bayern München has been running since 2005. When discussions about a new stadium first started, the company was delighted to become involved and play such an important role in the development of one of Munich’s most iconic and famous buildings. Allianz was involved in creating the safety elements of the stadium during construction and is very proud of this modern and innovative building, which also has all the best features for a diverse group of fans including special wheelchair seats and broadcasts for blind fans.
The sponsorship of the Allianz Arena creates brand recognition around the world due to the fame of the stadium. The positive results accomplished with this relationship provided the impetus to seek similar partnerships in other Allianz markets – not just stadium naming rights - but opportunities to develop and shape a home for sport and our brand in the local community. After detailed assessments of both the markets and the opportunities available, we decided together with our entities in Australia, France and the UK, that the moment is right for locals partnership.
The new “Allianz Riviera” stadium in Nice
Allianz France rebranded to Allianz in 2009 and the brand has been building and gaining momentum in France ever since, but we were looking for a strong local landmark to familiarize the French public with our brand. Hence, we are very excited about such a significant brand-exposure opportunity as provided by the Allianz Riviera. In the run up to the 2016 European Football Championship, Nice has been building this new world-class football stadium. Set to open in 2013, Allianz Riviera will have a 45,000 seating capacity and will host football matches as well as other sport and cultural events including concerts and shows. It will also be home to a French National Sport Museum.
As we know from our experience with the Allianz Arena in Munich, it is great to be involved with a stadium from the very beginning: our French colleagues can even influence the building phase – and they are making sure that Allianz Riviera will be a truly “green” environmentally friendly stadium.
This partnership provides the opportunity to not only increase the brand recognition across France but also gives the employees, agents and partners a physical place to feel proud of their organization.
From left: Clement Booth, Allianz SE Board Member and Nigel Wray, Chairman of Saracens
The home of Saracens, previously known as the Copthall stadium, will become Allianz Park in 2013, a unique venue for Premiership rugby, athletics and community sport. Planned renovations to the existing stadium include incorporating an artificial turf pitch and an indoor training area. The new stadium will become a genuine community sports hub, used every day of the year and made available free of charge to schools in the Barnet area of London. On Saracens match days, Allianz Park will combine the very latest technology in giant screens, sound systems and wireless technology with a traditional warm rugby welcome to create one of the most comfortable and spectator-friendly stadiums in European rugby.
The partnership with Saracens will boost brand recognition for Allianz in the UK. The country is an important market for Allianz, with nearly 7,000 employees, who offer clients services in personal insurance, credit insurance, corporate insurance, assistance and asset management.
As with all content published on this site, these statements are subject to our Forward Looking Statement disclaimer:
Questions on France are being taken by
Sandrine Cimatti-Fries
Allianz France
Phone +33.1.4486-6745
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Agnes Miclo
Allianz France
Phone +33.1.4486-3162
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Questions on UK are being handled by
Mark Bishop
Allianz UK
Phone: +44.1483-552731
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Questions on Germany are being handled by
Silke Bonarius
Allianz SE
Phone: +49.89.3800-17790
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