Investec CMO pins hopes on knockout football tournaments

Investec will use the “massive breadth” global coverage of the Premier League offers to help drive growth across all of the 16 countries it operates in, after signing a two-year sponsorship deal with Tottenham Hotspur.

The investment company’s name will appear on players’ shirts in European cup competitions, the FA Cup and League Cup.

Investec’s sponsorship portfolio already includes backing of the autumn rugby union internationals at Twickenham and horse racing’s Derby Festival.

Raymond van Niekerk, chief marketing officer at Investec, told Marketing Week that the sponsorship, and reach of domestic and European football, provides an opportunity to make inroads in multiple markets at less cost than individual marketing campaigns.

He adds for a decentralised company like Investec that offers a variety of services, umbrella brand strategies such as sponsorship help increase awareness of what we stand for and gives a broad hint of what we do.

It is “highly likely” that Investec will use the Spurs sponsorship in future advertising campaigns.

Investec is the second shirt sponsor Spurs has signed in as many months after agreeing a two-year deal with IT firm Autonomy last month for its brand to appear on shirts during league matches.

Van Niekerk admits there is an element of risk to sponsoring a team in knockout competitions only but that cup competitions offer hope compared with the often predictable “long hard slog” of the Premier League.