By Alex C
Sterling Bank is seeking to leverage a partnership with English Premier League club, Arsenal to expand its customer base. The bank, which announced a three year partnership with the Premier League club months ago as its official debit card partner in Nigeria, is currently seeking to leverage the strength of the Arsenal fan base by pushing an activation scheme that gears towards the endearing new customers and rewarding them with all-expense paid trips to watch an official Premier League game at the prestigious Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal football club is immensely popular in Nigeria and as well as is the English Premier League and targeting the immense passion that football fans have for their various clubs has been shown to be an intelligent way for brands to push their brands and businesses.
Sterling Bank is offering 30 lucky winners a chance to watch the spectacle of the English Premier League live and it is bound to pique the interest of the millions of Gunners’ fans in Nigeria. The prize package is said to include costs of flights, accommodation and match-day hospitality.
Sterling Bank’s approach is clearly driven to push both its business by registering new account holders as well as leveraging brand equity as the Arsenal brand is one of the strongest football brands in Nigeria.
Sterling Bank are not the first Nigerian brand to tow this line of marketing as communications giants Globacom, through its partnership with England’s most successful club, Manchester United, successfully launched a similar campaign which saw a number of United fans travel to Old Trafford to see live games. Industry insiders generally conclude that the marketing campaign was successful and initial forecasts for Sterling Bank’s activation scheme are similarly positive.
With the activation set to run all season, Sterling Bank will be pleased to monitor the growth of its customer base in direct relation to its partnership with the Arsenal football club.
This is not the first initiative that Sterling Bank has launched since its partnership with Arsenal kicked off as it has hosted fans in Nigeria to watch live games as well as launched official Arsenal debit cards which help fans access club benefits like merchandize, match-day hospitality and value-added privileges.
Sterling Bank’s initial partnership was announced to be a three year one agreed in 2013 and could be up for renewal or extension in 2015, the responses and traction that these activations garner could prove vital to the bank’s decision as regards continuing the exclusive partnership with one of the biggest brands in world football.