Banks are looking for real partnerships
Sponsorship V The days of experimentation and event inflation are over. As sponsors, Swiss banks are focusing on quality—and, above all, on experience.
Sponsoring V The years of experimentation and event inflation are over. Swiss banks are focusing on quality as sponsors - and above all on experience. Due to the different business models and networks, it is difficult to draw comparisons between the sponsorships of Swiss banks. However, a small survey shows that some similarities cannot be overlooked. The biggest of all: The banks have a preference for popular sports. And: practically all institutions had to "adapt sponsorship to current needs", "take a closer look at the portfolio" or "adjust the sponsorship budget to the current economic environment", according to the basic tenor.Although, according to Urs Wyss, Director and Head of CS Sponsorship & Event Services, "sponsorship has a long tradition at Credit Suisse and has become an integral part of corporate communications", most sponsorship managers are probably currently fighting the most grueling battle on the internal fronts, where it's all about the distribution of the budget pie from the Marketing Directorate. The pressure of legitimacy has led to an increasing focus on commitments and is raising the demands on event organizers. "The audience has also become more selective," says Wyss.
No budget reallocations
But it is not only at a national level that a healthy shrinkage in the range of products on offer can be observed, says Wolfgang Goldberg. The Head of Marketing at Neue Aargauer Bank (NAB) reports on the trend towards projects that have a media impact, at least at a regional level, such as the major event "200 years of Aargau", which is being supported despite a heavily slashed marketing budget. Even the Swiss Association of Raiffeisen Banks, according to Franz Würth, Chairman of the NAB.
The Bank's public relations department "continues to be involved in national or markedly supra-regional projects", while the almost 500 independent member banks concentrate primarily on local sponsoring.
The budget cuts for sponsoring, which run parallel to marketing spending, have reached up to 30 percent for financial institutions in the current planning period. As drastic as these cuts may seem at first glance, consumers will not notice the cost-cutting exercise of most banks to such an extent due to the time lag and the absence of one-off major projects such as Expo.02. And that's a good thing, because everyone in charge is aware of the potential loss of image that could result from short-term withdrawals.
And since most companies in Switzerland, a traditional banking country, are less concerned with brand awareness and familiarity than with improving certain image dimensions and attractive contact opportunities with the target groups, the commitments are usually based on long-term hospitality programs.
Unlike most other banks, which have very similar distribution keys for their sponsorship funds - 60 percent for sport, over 30 percent for culture and the rest for social and educational projects - the weighting at Zürcher Kantonalbank is different. Here, social commitments predominate with 60 percent. 20 percent of the funds flow into cultural and ecological sponsoring. Just as much is invested in sport. Fritz Lienhard, Head of PR, Sponsoring & Events at ZKB, counts those with Zurich Zoo and the Züri-Lauf-Cup among the successful partnerships, which have achieved their goals primarily because they appear authentic and credible. "Genuine partnerships are now in demand," says Wolfgang Goldberg from NAB. "Sponsorships are increasingly moving away from exclusively financial support because sponsors increasingly expect experiences for their customers that money alone cannot buy," says Urs Wyss, explaining the increasing involvement of sponsors. He should know: After 13 years in sponsorship at CS and working with the internationally successful Formula 1 property, he is changing fronts at the beginning of October and will become Managing Director of Grasshopper Fussball AG. If the GfS Sponsorship Study 2002 is anything to go by, he is likely to be one of the winners there too, as the banks in particular still see great sponsorship potential in football.
Set the pace in sports sponsorship: CS for the Sauber team.
Luca Aloisi
No budget reallocations
But it is not only at a national level that a healthy shrinkage in the range of products on offer can be observed, says Wolfgang Goldberg. The Head of Marketing at Neue Aargauer Bank (NAB) reports on the trend towards projects that have a media impact, at least at a regional level, such as the major event "200 years of Aargau", which is being supported despite a heavily slashed marketing budget. Even the Swiss Association of Raiffeisen Banks, according to Franz Würth, Chairman of the NAB.
The Bank's public relations department "continues to be involved in national or markedly supra-regional projects", while the almost 500 independent member banks concentrate primarily on local sponsoring.
The budget cuts for sponsoring, which run parallel to marketing spending, have reached up to 30 percent for financial institutions in the current planning period. As drastic as these cuts may seem at first glance, consumers will not notice the cost-cutting exercise of most banks to such an extent due to the time lag and the absence of one-off major projects such as Expo.02. And that's a good thing, because everyone in charge is aware of the potential loss of image that could result from short-term withdrawals.
And since most companies in Switzerland, a traditional banking country, are less concerned with brand awareness and familiarity than with improving certain image dimensions and attractive contact opportunities with the target groups, the commitments are usually based on long-term hospitality programs.
Unlike most other banks, which have very similar distribution keys for their sponsorship funds - 60 percent for sport, over 30 percent for culture and the rest for social and educational projects - the weighting at Zürcher Kantonalbank is different. Here, social commitments predominate with 60 percent. 20 percent of the funds flow into cultural and ecological sponsoring. Just as much is invested in sport. Fritz Lienhard, Head of PR, Sponsoring & Events at ZKB, counts those with Zurich Zoo and the Züri-Lauf-Cup among the successful partnerships, which have achieved their goals primarily because they appear authentic and credible. "Genuine partnerships are now in demand," says Wolfgang Goldberg from NAB. "Sponsorships are increasingly moving away from exclusively financial support because sponsors increasingly expect experiences for their customers that money alone cannot buy," says Urs Wyss, explaining the increasing involvement of sponsors. He should know: After 13 years in sponsorship at CS and working with the internationally successful Formula 1 property, he is changing fronts at the beginning of October and will become Managing Director of Grasshopper Fussball AG. If the GfS Sponsorship Study 2002 is anything to go by, he is likely to be one of the winners there too, as the banks in particular still see great sponsorship potential in football.
Set the pace in sports sponsorship: CS for the Sauber team.
Luca Aloisi
