Royal Bank’s decision to invest millions of pounds annually in supporting the sport has been identified by critics of former chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin as a symbol of an ill-judged and grandiose plan to achieve global domination under his leadership.
However, asked if he thought that a sponsorship policy that cost Royal Bank millions annually was excessive, Sir Jackie told The Herald: “No I don’t think so at all. I think it was one of the best investments they ever made for corporate identity.
“RBS was a Scottish bank that was very well known in Scotland but in global terms very few people knew it. If you said RBS they would not know who you meant.”
A three-time world F1 champion, Sir Jackie made it clear that he thought the multimillion pound sponsorship of the Williams racing team that Royal Bank recently decided not to renew made commercial sense.
“RBS now with the logo on the cars is known as a global product wherever you go – North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific. If nobody knows your name you will never be able to get into the market in a profound way,” said Sir Jackie. He is employed as a global brand ambassador by Royal Bank on a contract that runs until 2011, believed to be worth £4m annually.
“If at the same time you can invite people to Australia, to Singapore or Abu Dhabi, if you can invite some of your customers there and some of your prospective customers there and they will be able to come and see Jackie Stewart and be taken around the garage and the pits and have a face to face it’s big. They’ve done well with that.”
Sir Jackie insisted that entertaining at grand prix races provided immediate benefits as well as promoting the bank’s corporate identity.
“They added value in delivering incremental business. I’ve been involved in quite a few things where business has been created and the extent you can get more information over in time that you would not normally get with a CEO who will be with you. Sometimes you spend six hours with these people.
“I could give you some really heavy names of people you would normally get just 45 minutes with.”
Sir Jackie appeared to question the bank’s decision to focus on rugby sponsorship. In January Royal Bank extended its sponsorship of the Six Nations rugby competition for four years until 2013.
“The demographics has to be right. F1 is classless and socially accepted and totally global. Rugby is not totally global, football is but it’s not got the same social acceptance at a high corporate level.”
Sir Jackie will urge companies to use the qualities offered by sportsmen at an event at Stirling University, organised by BusinessClub Scotland, to highlight the business opportunities that will be generated by the forthcoming Rally of Scotland.
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