A busy sporting calendar means a burgeoning expense account for many investment banks.
Marketing departments are all too aware of the cost of a three-day VIP package for your best dozen hedge fund clients for the Ryder Cup at the K Club in Ireland in September (conservative estimate: $20,000 per head). Would your favourite Swiss issuer like to watch Roger Federer at Wimbledon or Roland Garros this summer? Which Grand Prix are Ferrari most likely to win this season, so we can arrange to take our Italian clients along?
But few things get the investment banking community more competitive than a football World Cup. Everyone’s got tickets to offer, so how do you differentiate your offering?
Euromoney would like to present an inaugural award for World Cup marketing to Royal Bank of Scotland. A couple of weeks before the tournament, we received through the post mini Subbuteo figurines representing the World Cup winners of the past 40 years.
Just one complaint though – the figurines, complete with pitch and football, arrived the day before Euromoney was due to go to press, and proved a great distraction to the editorial team.