Much has been written about the growth of rugby, and that growth is most prevalent on college campuses. Hundreds of schools have added the sport on what’s known as the high club level, which makes the men’s and women’s programs not quite a varsity sport but with some of the assets, like a coach, offices and the ability to fundraise and use facilities, that did not exist even a few years ago.
Rugby also has something many college sports do not outside of some of the bigger ones; a broadcast television platform with NBC. This June the Penn Mutual Collegiate Rugby Championships, the season-ending title for the Olympic sport of Rugby Sevens, will again be seen from Talen Energy Stadium in Philadelphia before a crowd of almost 30,000 people for the two days, giving college rugby its greatest presence of the year. The event has been created and grown by United World Sports with NBC as a partner, and for the second year has an unconventional title sponsor in insurance company Penn Mutual, which has used rugby as its first foray into college sports after 150 years.
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Why? A great way to engage a young audience just entering the workforce without the clutter of a traditional sports engagement, especially in the social setting. How has Penn Mutual done with that engagement and measured success in year one? We asked Leanne Acton, AVP of Sponsorship Marketing to break it down.
College rugby is not a traditional way to engage in sports, why does it make sense for Penn Mutual?
It makes sense for us because rugby is the fastest growing team sport in America, and Penn Mutual is one of the fastest growing life insurers in America. Rugby has deep roots, but is very contemporary, like Penn Mutual. And rugby’s values, like integrity and respect, are very much in line with Penn Mutual. So we think rugby is a perfect match for us. And while it’s the fastest growing team sport, no one had stepped up to sponsor collegiate rugby, so we believed it was a great opportunity for us, and it really sets us apart in the sports marketing space.
You want to reach college students, how has the social strategy played out in that process?
We’ve leveraged the granular targeting strategies that are available when advertising on social channels such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to reach this audience. We can target specific age groups, college affiliations, and certain interests to best reach the college audience. Of course we are also tailoring our content to include topics, messaging, and media types like video, motion graphics, and photography that will resonate with this group.
Have there been success stories in terms of engagement in certain geographic area or at schools that you have been surprised at?
We have seen varying degrees of success in every market where we’ve been able to connect with teams and colleges at the local level. Overall, we’ve been very well received by the college programs as support from a well-respected national corporation has helped the rugby clubs visibility on campus and grown respect for their efforts as club sports. Our sponsorship of the National Small College Rugby Organization (NSCRO) has been overwhelmingly positive and allowed us opportunities to engage the programs at these smaller schools and build more personal, intimate relationships with the rugby clubs and campus administration.
How is this digital engagement strategy different from what Penn Mutual has done outside of sports?
We have really grown our following among the rugby crowd. We’ve noticed that they are a tight knit community and are quick to share, comment, and interact with our content. We have developed relationships and are beginning to gain more advocates and influencers from this group. Because this group is so active, we’ve seen success with running rugby/sports related contests on social media. Our most recent contest was a Bracket Contest for the Penn Mutual Varsity Cup.
Do you see this type of engagement working with other sports for the company, or is it really unique to a demo for rugby?
Our involvement with rugby has provided a framework for engagement with other sports, although we don’t have any plans for such. What really makes the rugby community unique is the inherit values of integrity, respect and teamwork. Passed down through generations, these values are often instilled at the youth level and provide a greater sense of community and “what can I do for you?” mentality than we have seen in other sports.
Does the digital outreach and engagement go beyond the college market? How deep is the pool for Penn Mutual through this partnership?
We began leveraging our sponsorship by building our fan base and gaining the trust of rugby players and teams. This quickly spread to the entire rugby community including coaches, parents, former players and college alumni, and youth and club teams. Now we seem to be growing beyond just a rugby interest to people interested in supporting their college sports teams. And with our sponsorship of two Olympic rugby hopefuls – we are expanding our reach to sports fans in general and those who are simply interested in the Olympics. Rugby was an easy door in to a much larger market.
With the Penn Mutual CRC coming in June, what programs should we be looking out for?
We’ll be actively involved at the CRC, both in-person and with many of our social media channels. For instance, we have a 3D “sidewalk art” rugby experience that we’ve been gaining traction with to increase social engagement with on site players and fans that we think will be very popular at the CRC.