Mastercard signs five-year partnership with Women’s World Rugby
Mastercard has entered into a five-year partnership with World Rugby in which the brand will work to raise the profile of the women’s game around the world.
Through this partnership, Mastercard will deepen its relationship with the sport. The brand has partnered with the Rugby World Cup for men since 2008, the Rugby World Cup for women since 2017 and the Golden Lions Rugby Union amateur women’s club league and senior women’s team since 2020.
Speaking about what sets this partnership apart, Raja Rajamannar, Mastercard’s director of marketing and communications, believes the program’s community focus will allow Mastercard to connect with consumers in a new way.
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Rajamannar said: “Different people have different passion points. There are rugby fans, there are soccer fans, there are tennis fans. So in each of those areas, we’re trying to figure out what resonates best with consumers, with fans, and then trying to bring those types of experiences and interactions to life.”
“With this World Rugby program, for the first time in the rugby space, we’re broadly engaged in the community and focused on women. It’s something we haven’t had before, and we’re very excited to sign a long-term commitment as partners.”
“It’s not just ‘it’s a hot topic, so let’s get behind it,’ we’re committed, we’re consistent and we’re here for the long haul. Rugby is a very important sport, and we have a huge fan base in this space that has scale and is worth the marketing effort. We’re expanding our reach, but we’re doing it across the board; it’s the company’s mission and goal that’s being realized.”
Mastercard will use its Priceless platform to host unique events with World Rugby and brand ambassadors. It will also develop rugby-specific content that reinforces the company’s commitment to gender equality, in line with its Girls4Tech STEM curriculum.
Raising the profile of the women’s game globally will be achieved through Mastercard’s support of the governing body’s strategic plan, “Accelerating Women in Rugby 2017-25.”
Mastercard will also become the first global partner of the Rugby World Cup 2021, the Rugby World Cup 2025 and the first global partner of WXV, the annual global women’s competition that will begin in 2023.
In addition to announcing the partnership, World Rugby also launched a Women in Rugby marketing campaign to inspire more women and girls to play and watch rugby.
The video, titled “Team powered,” created by DesignStudio, highlights women’s rugby as the perfect team sport on and off the field. The film, created by Elisa Santangelo-Russ and directed by Richard Gort at Whisper Studios, shows how the power of unity and cohesion makes a team greater than the sum of its parts.
Media support is provided by LiveWire Sport.
