Association with cricket has shown itself to be an excellent way to increase profile

Brit Insurance, one of the Lloyd’s market’s biggest companies, has clinched a deal to sponsor the England cricket teams from 2010.

The agreement, which will run for four years initially, will see the Brit logo emblazoned on the shirts of England cricket stars including Andrew Strauss and Kevin Pietersen and Charlotte Edwards, captain of the England women’s cricket teams, as well as those of the men’s reserve team, the England Lions, and the national disabled teams.

This new sponsorship is the culmination of a strategy developed over several years to increase awareness of Brit and will raise the insurer’s visibility further in the UK and across the world.

“Our association with cricket is an excellent way to increase our profile with those that purchase and advise on business insurance as we know a high proportion of these people follow the game,” says Eleanor Lewis, Marketing Manager of Brit Insurance.

“Cricket has an excellent fit with our business: we share similar attributes and audiences, and media coverage enables us to increase our name awareness with brokers, intermediaries and buyers of insurance.

We know that existing cricket sponsorships have worked well for us and we were keen to build on this success,” adds Lewis.

“Our sponsorship of the England teams is a logical extension of our involvement in cricket at what are exciting times for us and for the game.”

Summer tussle

The tussle this summer between the England and Australian teams for possession of the famous Ashes urn gripped the nation.

There was nothing to separate the team after four Test matches, with the series balanced on a knife-edge at one victory apiece.

The series was decided at the Oval—with England regaining the Ashes—the famous cricket ground that is also sponsored by Brit.

Sponsorship deal

The England sponsorship deal is the latest milestone in a six-year association with the sport for Brit. “We identified some time ago that sponsorship of the England team would be an ideal fit with our brand aspirations.

We also recognised how successful it has been for Vodafone over the past 12 years that they have been sponsor; helping them to build their brand.

Obviously opportunities like this don’t come up all the time and we are delighted that we have had the opportunity now to build even deeper links with cricket,” says Lewis.

Sporting supporter

Brit has been a keen supporter of the country’s national summer sport, sponsoring Surrey Country Cricket Club and a number of community and charitable ventures, including the Tsunami Appeal game in 2005 that raised over £1m for victims of the disaster and a 2006 limited-overs game that raised £250,000 for survivors of the Pakistan earthquake.

Since 2006 Brit has donated a day of play at the Oval to the Lloyd’s Community Programme to enable 160 children from Tower Hamlets to spend a day at the ground, to have cricket coaching and take part in a tournament.

It also actively supports Surrey’s community programmes, including its efforts to bring cricket to children who live in the inner-city London boroughs of Lambeth, Sothwark and Wandsworth as well as to those with learning and physical disabilities.