Scottish Power nets deal with Cardiff City

Scottish Power has teamed up with football club Cardiff City to offer gas and electricity to the club’s fans.

This is the third in the series of affinity partnerships for the energy company.

It already has partnerships with retailer Sainsbury’s (MW October 25, 2001) and Lloyds TSB bank (MW July 31, 2003) to sell its utility services.

Under the arrangement with its partners, Scottish Power simply supplies the services and does not market them under its own brand.

The affinities marketing manager Michael Corish says: “Such deals make commercial sense for our affinity partners, which receive a substantial annual revenue stream and also benefit from increased customer loyalty.”

Corish adds that Scottish Power has plans to do similar deals with other top-flight football clubs, following the Cardiff City alliance.The company is currently also seeking partnerships with electrical and DIY retailers and charities to sell gas and electricity.

Scottish Power has been developing affinity partnerships ever since it abandoned its online banking joint venture with the Royal Bank of Scotland and aborted its foray into telecoms three years ago.

The company has since pulled the plug on all of its cross-selling activities and has instead been focusing on building its core business of gas and electricity.