ASB Donates New Zealand Rugby Sponsorship To Help Kickstart Small Business

Monday, 6 July 2020, 7:50 am
Press Release: ASB

ASB is donating its largest sponsorship asset, the All Blacks, Black Ferns and Maori All Blacks, to promote small and medium-sized New Zealand businesses in an effort to spotlight SMEs and stimulate New Zealand’s economy.

The bank will create 100 advertising packages featuring the players from all three national teams to promote 100 SMEs across New Zealand.

ASB executive general manger Business Banking Tim Deane hopes the New Zealand Rugby sponsorship donation will help SMEs to get ahead in their business recovery following COVID-19.

“SMEs are the backbone of New Zealand’s economy and we all know someone who has owned, worked in or frequents a small business, but with limited resources, we know many small businesses aren’t able to market themselves sufficiently at a time where it’s so crucial for revenue.

“We’re very excited to use our New Zealand Rugby sponsorship to help boost small businesses by creating compelling advertising content to promote businesses throughout the country, featuring some of the biggest names in world rugby,” says Deane.

The bank is dedicating $3 million to supporting SMEs through their Borrow the All Blacks campaign by leveraging their sponsorship of New Zealand Rugby (NZR), creating and producing 100 advertisements and purchasing media placements around the country tailored to each individual business.

“We know that many parts of New Zealand are struggling through these challenging times, including small businesses, so we’re thrilled to see our partners at ASB going above and beyond to help them,” says NZR chief commercial officer Richard Thomas.

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“We’re looking forward to supporting ASB in their mission to help some fantastic Kiwi businesses and the wider New Zealand economy,” says Thomas.

Each business will receive a personalised video advertisement starring one of over 50 players from the Maori All Blacks, All Blacks and Black Ferns teams.

The advertisements will put these SMEs in front of millions of New Zealanders through digital media, out-of-home billboards and social media throughout August.

This initiative is the latest for the bank in their support of local businesses since the beginning of New Zealand’s lockdown, and follows its recent launch of the ASB Business Hub, an online resource providing SMEs with free advice, tools and offers for navigating the economic impacts of the pandemic.

SMEs can enter via the ASB Business Hub to Borrow an All Black for their own advertising campaign. To find out more and apply, visit businesshub.asb.co.nz.

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