Our agency, Austin Lawrence Group, recommended to a U.S. financial institution that it become the title sponsor of baseball and softball in the U.K. Unfortunately for us, BaseballSoftballUK, thousands of British kids and this particular firm, the sponsorship didn’t happen. It was intended to burnish the reputation of this company in the local market, aid employee morale (a community service concept was part of the program, whereby its employees would act as coaches and umpires with a great reward event at the end of the season) and make baseball accessible to British youth who might not have had a prior interest or the ability to pay for the equipment and/or coaching and umpires needed to have an organized team and league.
We also recommended to start a “City Softball League” to raise money for a teenage crisis center in London – elements of which seem to have been taken up by BBSBUK with its “London Corporate Games” initiative.
I’ve posted this item because I believe so strongly in the value of such a program to the kids who could be served by it…hundreds or maybe even thousands of children could be positively impacted by an investment well within the reach of most City financial firms.
For a U.S. securities broker or money manager this would be a transatlantic sales, marketing and branding initiative that would more than pay for itself in terms of enhanced reputation among clients and peers, and a unique way to make a difference in the community. As I write, there is no title sponsor for this organization, so a close and possibly exclusive relationship should be possible to negotiate.
And baseball represents a lot of what is great about the United States. It’s a wonderful game that teaches many important life lessons, and for the British, a chance to experience a bit of our culture firsthand, instead of through Hollywood or McDonald's.
If you think there’s no market for U.S. sports in the U.K., consider: more than 300,000 British kids play baseball every year. And, U.S. football is making noise about greater activity in the U.K., with the New York Giants and Miami Dolphins playing in London in October. Check out the NY Times article today for more info on U.S. football in the U.K. and beyond.
If you’re interested and would like to learn more about our program design, contact me at k.lempit@austinlawrence.com or James Ollerenshaw, at james@austinlawrence.com. You can learn more about baseball in the U.K. at http://www.baseballsoftballuk.com/
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