Nationwide, the building society, which replaced insurer Green Flag as England team sponsor in 1999, has announced that it is “unlikely” to renew its deal, worth £20m over four years, which expires next month. A Nationwide spokeswoman commented: “Nationwide’s sponsorship of the England team has been extremely successful over 11 seasons and has significantly raised the profile of our organisation. Our current sponsorship deal ends at the end of July and it is unlikely to be renewed.”

It leaves The Football Association  with a rather large void in its funding, in the wake of England’s incredibly disappointing World Cup campaign, which culminated in the 4-1 defeat to Germany in the last 16 of the World Cup. Had England performed better and reached the Quarter Finals or gone further, surely Nationwide would have continued it’s sponsorship? It seems very unlikely that they would not have renewed the contract, following a successful tournament that engendered the goodwill and support of the English public, or the “consumer” in marketing parlance!! (more…)

This post is filed under: Brand Marketing, Sponsorship, Sport