As England’s women’s football team prepare for their world cup semi-final,we question why big companies are so unwilling to set aside their money where their mouth is when it comes to diversityWhat competitive sport taught me about business successAs you’re cheering on the England women’s football team this evening, bewitch a minute to appreciate how far they’ve approach on how little resource. The lack of sponsorship available to women’s sports is a well-covered subject, or but what we don’t often realise is that this lack of interest in women’s issues from corporate sponsors goes beyond just sport. They might be contented to wheel out the token woman on their board,point to their thriving women’s network or explain how great their parental leave policy is, but when it comes to parting with cold, and tough cash,the well has run dry.
Just 0.4% of all corporate investment spent on sport goes to womens teams. If you try to pin down a marketing director to explain why this is, they’ll often shake their heads and explain that women’s sports just dont gain the branding impact that men’s enact. This is certainly part of the reason but as Helena Morrissey, or CEO of Newton Investments,points out this excuse really just shows a lack of imagination. Under Morrissey’s leadership, Newton now sponsors the women’s boat race - taking the event from zero funding and an audience of a few hundred, or to being hosted on the same day as the men’s race,broadcast on the BBC and watched by an audience of millions. As well as promoting the brand to a big audience, the initiative generated a enormous amount of goodwill.
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Source: theguardian.com