Can Saatchi CEO Roberts Fix Sponsorless All-Blacks Rugby Team?
If Saatchi & Saatchi CEO Kevin Roberts has seemed a bit distracted recently, that’s because he’s probably wondering who will take over the sponsorship of New Zealand’s national rugby team, the All-Blacks.
It’s not a big piece of business in the grand scheme of things; and it’s not strictly Saatchi’s job to get that sponsorship. But Roberts is deeply connected to New Zealand rugby and the team — the Adidas/All-Blacks contract was one of the first Saatchi won under Roberts back in 1998. Here’s his history:
Roberts had been a rugby star in school, and New Zealanders play rugby better than anyone else. His family lives in New Zealand, he served on the board of New Zealand Rugby Football Union and today, he chairs the USA Rugby board.
Roberts even uses the All-Blacks to promote Saatchi:
His presentation is built on the Lovemarks concept, and it was punctuated with entertaining videos of ads by Saatchi, starting with the All Blacks, New Zealand’s rugby team (Roberts is a total fan) doing a Maori dance threatening to disembowel the opposing team.
So Roberts is well-placed to join one of his clients (Guinness? Carlsberg?) with one of the finest rugby teams on the planet. But … the All-Blacks have been without sponsors for six months now, a situation that Roberts doubtless finds vexing.
Jim Edwards, a former managing editor of Adweek, has covered drug marketing at Brandweek for four years, and is a former Knight-Bagehot fellow at Columbia University's business and journalism schools. Follow him on Twitter or send him an email.
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