NatWest 'Cricket has no boundaries'

In 2017 NatWest launched a new brand positioning ‘We are what we do’ (WAWWD), inviting customers to hold the bank to account for its actions.

The Bank set to look at how sponsorship could act as a proof point to deliver against this brand promise.
Diversity and inclusion matter to us because we want customers to feel valued and welcome when they are being themselves. They are important to for our culture with staff citing they are 19% more likely to stay in an organisation that fosters these attributes. These values also provide a business benefit driving 53% higher returns on investment.

NatWest is the longest standing supporter of the cricket in the world, thirty-six years and counting. Thanks to our heritage in the sport we have a good understanding of the game at all levels. We’ve learnt that cricket is a game for all, offering access and opportunity to people of any age, gender, race, physical ability, religious or non-religious beliefs, marital status, sexual orientation, social or ethnic background.

To strengthen our position within the sport, NatWest became the Principal Partner of the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board). A partnership that incorporated support of all levels of the game - from grassroots to elite, adult to youth, men’s to women’s, girl’s to boy’s and able-bodied to disabled.

Objectives

1.Build our association with cricket and help to foster and promote diversity and inclusion within the sport

(15% general public spontaneous association with cricket / 10% uplift in belief that NatWest supports inclusion)

2.Use the ECB Principal Partnership as a platform to demonstrate our brand position

(‘We are what we do’, inviting customers, staff and the general public to hold NatWest to account for its actions) to improve consideration (10% uplift in consideration amongst those aware))

3.Celebrate cricket with our colleagues, customers and clients

(Engage 50,000 colleagues directly & deliver 5,000 experiences for customers)

Execution and Exploitation

NatWest launched ‘Cricket has no boundaries’, a campaign that promoted and encouraged diversity and inclusion through the lens of modern cricket in England & Wales.

At the heart of the campaign was a partnership with Chance to Shine, a charity that uses cricket to increase aspiration, promote cohesion & create opportunities for young people in communities & schools across the country.

We demonstrated that ‘Cricket has no boundaries’ through a powerful creative featuring a disabled cricketer and a young girl playing street cricket. ABC1 press ads ran around key games, OOH sites close to cricket grounds and major transport hubs and across social media. The creative appeared across our 400-strong branch network.

We launched the campaign to the media in the heart of a Vauxhall estate with a game of Visually Impaired cricket and attended by players from all England formats, not just the Men’s team. https://www.ecb.co.uk/news/387895

NatWest became Chance to Shine’s first official partner, alongside Sport England and the ECB. The partnership included several fundraising initiatives including our bespoke No Boundaries charity wristbands, which were made available across 77 branches nationwide and at England games.

Our charity wristbands were promoted via unique content with England Cricket stars and legends in an Apprentice Style challenge. We seeded wristbands with influencers including Moeen Ali, and the Women’s Team when they visited Downing Street post their WCWC win, Michael Vaughan and Five Live Test Match Special team.

NatWest also created a strategic partnership with The Guardian, which featured stories of inclusivity and diversity in cricket, including a mini documentary series. https://www.theguardian.com/cricket-has-no-boundaries

The campaign inspired the BBC to create a documentary celebrating the Muslim stars of the game, which was seeded across the network (Newsbeat, iPlayer, Five Live and BBC Worldwide), featuring a NatWest spokesperson.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p05l2ymt/newsbeat-documentaries-en...)

At matchday we turned the grounds purple and supported campaign messaging through contractual branding. Every time a six was hit by England we donated to Chance to Shine. Disruptive 4&6 cards featured charity information in place of the ‘6’. Fans could also fundraise off the pitch by hitting a six in our cricket VR experience which toured grounds.

We staged the first game of cricket on Downing Street in partnership with Chance to Shine with children from a London street programme, demonstrating there are no boundaries to where you can play cricket.

We supported the Stonewall weekend by turning the stumps, 4&6 cards and big screens rainbow in partnership with NatWest’s LGBT team.

Finally, in support of the Women’s team throughout the World Cup, we set-up a weekly column with Ebony Rainford Brent in the Metro (UK’s largest circulating newspaper) and released a congratulations print ad to celebrate the team’s Women’s Cricket World Cup win.

In partnership with the ECB, NatWest developed the ‘No Boundaries to play’ documentary series, unearthing stories of diversity and inclusion within the sport with Moeen Ali (Men’s), Alex Hartley (Women’s) and Si Ledworth (Visually impaired):

Moeen Ali: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MadDq0smXNY
Alex Hartley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUAcQcJ7m-w

You can see all we achieved throughout the summer here:
https://vimeo.com/mcsaatchisande/review/246772739/a26fe600ac

In summary, ‘Cricket has no boundaries’ marked a new chapter at the Bank in how we build and activate more efficient and effective sponsorships under the social proof points we value: inclusion and diversity.

The partnership wasn’t about being emblazoned on the men’s shirt, it was about promoting the importance of diversity across the all the Men’s, Women’s, Disability and Visually Impaired teams.

It provided us with a platform to launch ‘Cricket has no boundaries’, supporting all formats of cricket to demonstrate that cricket, like NatWest, is open to everyone, regardless of your age, gender, race, physical ability, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, social or ethnic background.

Together with the ECB, we will work to ensure that cricket continues to bring people together because we believe that a more inclusive society is a better society.

It’s the right thing to do, true to our values and the Bank we want to be.

Outcome and Evaluation

1.Build association with cricket / celebrate diversity and inclusion

-13.4% uplift NatWest is an inclusive brand, those aware of partnership (10% target)
- 20% spontaneous association with cricket (15% target)
- No.5 Inclusive Top 50 UK Employers list
- 22m Wristbands PR / content reach
- 1.5m Women’s World Cup Metro column weekly reach
- 1.2m reach; The Guardian partnership
- 55,000 YouTube views; Moeen Ali documentary
- £60,000+ raised for Chance to Shine
- Stonewall Top 10 Global Employer

2. Use ECB partnership to demonstrate brand position & improve consideration

- 13% uplift in consideration amongst those aware (10% target)
- £7.6m worth of TV exposure
- Advertising reach:
o 9.9m: National OOH
o 7.3m: Press ads
o 4m: Social
- 2.3 million reach / 200 articles from campaign launch

3. Celebrate with staff, customers and clients

- 120 staff & clients attended team events
- 90,000 colleagues reached via internal comms (50,000 target)
- 12,000 staff / client tickets (5,000 target)

i McKinsey, the Center for Talent Innovation and Deloitte
ii McKinsey, the Center for Talent Innovation and Deloitte
iii Hall & Partners Market Research: Q3 2017 NatWest Sponsorship KPI Report
iv Hall & Partners Market Research: Q3 2017 NatWest Sponsorship KPI Report
v Hall & Partners Market Research: Q3 2017 NatWest Sponsorship KPI Report