Financial products score with sports fans

For years, the business world has tapped into the enthusiasm of the sports fan to sell everything from cola to clothing. But of late, the financial community in Britain has extended its sights even further, exploiting sporting loyalties to sell financial products and the evidence suggests it is meeting with success.

A recent report found more than 250 sports clubs and associations in Britain offer credit cards to their 9.4 million fans and members while it is now possible to buy a house, get a motor loan, insure your car or take out a pension through your favourite football team. The report, by Datamonitor, found there were some 430 different sports affinity products currently available in Britain, ranging from credit cards to household insurance to mortgages. At present, for instance, more than 400,000 people hold a credit card from their favourite team. Datamonitor sees significant potential for further growth in this area and predicts the number of sports affinity household insurance policies will increase from around 4,200 this year to 23,600 in five years' time.

The report expects clubs to be most successful at selling simple low-value products such as motor and travel insurance but suggests there is some scepticism about how many football fans will be influenced by club affinity when taking out high-value products such as mortgages and pensions.

"Clubs will be most successful in selling the higher-value products if they use their brand and the strength of their bond with fans to offer a selection of financial products from different providers," Datamonitor says, pointing out that the London football club, Queen's Park Rangers, has already adopted such a strategy successfully.

In the Republic, the financial services industry is somewhat behind developments in Britain with co-branded credit cards still the main financial product on offer with sporting links.

The first of these were tied to British football clubs such as Manchester United, Liverpool and Celtic but the Irish sporting fraternity is increasingly getting in on the act.

Credit card group MBNA has been one of the most active players in this area and now has a number of link-ups with Irish sporting organisations.

A number of the GAA county boards, including Dublin, Kildare, Mayo and Wicklow have signed affinity deals with the credit card company which entered the Irish market three years ago. It is planning to launch an affinity card with the Clare county board next week while it also has affinity deals with the Irish Sailing Association and the Irish Basketball Association.

Meanwhile, Irish Permanent offers an MBNA-underwritten card in association with the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) while Hibernian recently announced a joint credit card offering with Terenure Rugby Club in Dublin.

Its card is underwritten by Bank of Ireland which is also exploring the area's potential.

In essence, the affinity card system works by allowing the financial institution to tap into a club or county's loyal following to sell its product. In return, the member gets a card displaying his club logo or county colours and the satisfaction of knowing that every time he uses the cards, he is contributing to his favourite team.

Usually, the sporting organisation gets a finders' fee for every member that signs up for the card plus a commission based on overall turnover.

To date, the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) has no such deals in place although the Eircom League is currently considering such an arrangement and hopes to have something organised by the start of the new season in August, according to marketing executive Ms Rita O'Reilly.

Meanwhile, the FAI is also working on a loyalty card scheme with TSB, official financial sponsors of its planned new stadium, Eircom Park.

The association hopes to be able to offer a single card with TSB which will serve as an admission ticket to the grounds, an electronic purse for all purchases made in the stadium as well as being a credit card, cheque guarantee card and cash card.

While the association admits that there is still some work to be done on the technology which would allow this, it believes it is only a short time away before it is possible to deliver a product that could eventually turn the new grounds into a cashless stadium.

While none of the Irish sporting institutions have as yet followed their British counterparts into other areas, such as insurance or mortgages, such developments may be only down the line as the large sporting and financial institutions become increasingly aware of the possibilities open to them.

Mr Frank Tierney, financial controller with the GAA, believes there is definitely further commercial potential in taking advantage of the association's large membership.

"We have a big constituency. GAA membership is around three-quarters of a million," he says, referring to what can only be a marketing manager's dream.