Author Archives: Jared Wade

About Jared Wade

Jared Wade is a freelance writer and former editor of the Risk Management Monitor and senior editor of Risk Management magazine. You can find more of his writing at JaredWade.com.

Aon and Man U: United

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As the entire planet gears up for the World Cup kick-off today, insurance broker Aon will be watching the matches unfold from an entirely new vantage point. On June 1, the company began a partnership with the world’s most iconic soccer team, Manchester United, and Aon’s corporate logo will now grace the team’s  jerseys for the next four years. Since the World Cup is a competition between countries, not club teams, Man U will not actually be participating, but many of its players, including superstar Wayne Rooney, are playing. So for a company that just became the highest-profile soccer sponsor on the globe, there is of course a new-found excitement for world-class soccer, no matter the venue.

I recently exchanged some emails with David Prosperi, Aon’s vice president of global public relations, to chat about how the sponsorship came about and how he thinks it will affect Aon’s image in the world. He also gives us his World Cup picks.

Jared: Recently valued at $1.87 billion by Forbes, Manchester United is the most valuable sports franchise in the world (much to the delight of this Red Sox fan/Yankee hater). Getting the Aon name on their jerseys is obviously huge exposure. How did this opportunity come about?

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David Prosperi: The opportunity came about in 2009 when Manchester United was searching for a new global partner and shirt sponsor. Greg Case, Aon’s president and CEO, received a framed Manchester United team shirt with an invitation to be considered as the new sponsor. The team invited just a few global firms to tender for its key sponsorship. We thoroughly researched the opportunity, did our due diligence on the team, and we are very pleased that Aon was selected because we feel it is the perfect way to communicate the value we bring to people and businesses.

Jared: What was Aon’s main motivation for aligning with the soccer powerhouse?

Prosperi: We wanted a global platform that would unite our firm, help us generate new business and maximize the efficiency of our global marketing investment. Manchester United has a truly global reach, and they share our values of leadership, teamwork and a passion for excellence. Manchester United is an organization with a proven return on investment in a sponsorship relationship, and it creates the ability to directly support sales and revenue-generating efforts for our firm on a global basis — particularly in emerging markets such as China, Korea, Singapore and Brazil where the club has extremely strong brand awareness. With the #1 brand in the world’s #1 sport, Manchester United’s 333 million fans equal the total population of the U.S., Canada and Australia, and they sell more team shirts than the 32 teams in the National Football League combined.

Jared: Besides just the corporate marketing benefits, I know there is a large charity side to all of this. What types of initiatives will we see in the months and years ahead from this Aon/Man U partnership?

Prosperi: We hope everyone will see some ongoing charitable initiatives that unite our global colleagues and generate some impact in the communities in which Aon does business. On June 1, we kicked off our partnership with Manchester United by doing a charity event in Old Trafford (the team’s stadium) with a Penalty Kick Challenge that generated over ,000 (about for every global Aon colleague) to The Christie, a U.K. cancer treatment facility in Manchester that our office in Manchester has supported in the past. Around the world, Aon colleagues participated in “Aon United REDy Day” to raise money for their local charities by wearing Manchester United shirts or red clothes for the day. And on July 15, we will have “Aon United Day,” which will have our colleagues in over 120 countries participating in fundraising and volunteer activities in concert with the unveiling of the new Manchester United shirt with the Aon logo.

Jared: How does it feel to know that kids around the world – even some without TVs in developing world villages – will now see their heroes like Wayne Rooney wearing your company’s name on their chest?

Prosperi: We feel very fortunate and honored to be only the fourth shirt sponsor for Manchester United. Football is dynamic and competitive. It appeals to a global audience. It transcends cultures and people, and it brings communities together like no other sport. For example, in Asia you will see that in many countries in the region fans have taken Manchester United to their hearts in as passionate a way as the club’s domestic fans.

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That passion is what really attracted us to this opportunity. It also speaks to the power of the Manchester United brand. Most football fans, whether they support Manchester United or not, would agree that the club has helped spread interest in the sport around the world, particularly the English Premier League, which in turn has benefited all teams in terms of more lucrative television rights and sponsorship deals.

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Jared: OK. Last question … two-parter. Who are you rooting for in the World Cup? And who do you think will win?

Prosperi: Personally, I am hoping that the U.S. team performs well. I think that Brazil is the favorite to win, with England being the sentimental favorite.

BP Mismanages a Coffee Spill and the Best of @BPGlobalPR

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Not surprisingly, the whole world pretty much hates BP now. And more and more people are lashing out against the oil conglomerate with attacks. Some are vicious advocacy campaigns that include pocket-hurting measures like boycotts. Others are vicious satirical jabs at a company whose reputation is being destroyed, piece by piece, day by day.

Here is the funniest attack I’ve seen. From the Upright Citizens Brigade, it’s a spoof of how BP would try to handle a boardroom coffee spill. (There is one instance of NSFW language at the end.)

Good stuff.

And coming in at a close second is the fake BP public relations Twitter feed. If you’re not familiar, many companies use the social media site Twitter to inform the public of their latest news and offerings. And someone has created a satirical @BPGlobalPR account that sends out frequent humorous updates laced with acerbic cynicism for how BP is handling this mess. Often accompanied by the sarcastic “#bpcares” disclaimer, the account advocates charity causes such as offering “free bpcares” t-shirts that you can purchase for $25. (You can read more about @BPGlobalPR here and here.)

Here are the cleverest updates from the account so far:

SPOILER ALERT: The leak stops eventually, everyone forgets about it and we all buy another vacation home. #cantwait

Found driftwood that looks like Jesus crying oil. Not sure what it means but we’re charging 20 bucks to see it. #bpcares

If we’re being accused of being criminals, we want to be tried by a jury of our peers — wealthy execs who don’t give a damn. #fairisfair

I’ve gotta say, at night the gulf really doesn’t look that bad. #bpcares

OMG This isss ridciulsus. playing a drinking gamee where we drink a shot everytme we seeee an oily birdddd!!! LOL! so wasted!!11 #pbcares

What a gorgeous day! The ocean is filled with the most beautiful rainbows! #yourewelcome #bpcares

They want to fine us $4,300 for every barrel of oil spilled? Umm, we’re not spilling barrels, the oil is going directly into the gulf. DUH

A bird just stole my sandwich! You deserve everything you get, nature!!! #bpcares

If Top Kill doesn’t work, we’re just gonna toss a giant “Get Well Soon” card into the gulf and hope for the best. #bpcares

Just wrapped up a meeting with the EPA. Terry kept farting out loud at all the right moments. Not sure how he does it, but it’s SO FUNNY!

Funny, no one has thanked us for seasons 3-15 of Treme yet. #bpcares

The good news: Mermaids are real. The bad news: They are now extinct. #bpcares

Catastrophe is a strong word, let’s all agree to call it a whoopsie daisy.

Beverly Hillbillies marathon on TBS – now THESE guys knew what to do with an oil leak!

Not only are we dropping a top hat on the oil spill, we’re going to throw in a cane and monocle as well. Keeping it classy.

The “Unintended Consequences” of the Neal Bill

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In the video below, Swiss Re has done a marvelous job using new media to help advocate its position against “The Neal Bill” (HR 3424) that is aiming to impose a new tax on foreign reinsurers — something most of the stakeholders in the insurance industry are against.

The Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS), a nonprofit organization that represents risk managers (and publishes this blog … and pays my salary), is also firmly opposed due to the fact that any tax on the reinsurance industry will only be passed on first to the insurance industry and then to insurance buyers. Taxing reinsurers will also threaten capacity and make coverage harder to find at any price.

National Underwriter wrote a good, informative piece explaining such:

Speaking for RIMS, Scott Clark, risk and benefits officer for the Miami-Dade County School Board and a RIMS board liaison, said, “The group has always opposed proposals to restrict market access to insurance capacity.”

Mr. Scott called the legislation “a great threat to insurance capacity in the United States.”

“Over the past decade it has been proposed several times, not surprisingly, by a handful of U.S. insurers which seek to gain via a protected market that would allow them to charge higher prices,” Mr. Clark said.

Honestly, the changes proposed by this bill represent yet another example of how poorly Washington understands insurance. Advocates of the bill probably think they’re helping out insurance buyers by giving U.S. insurers an advantage. They’re not. No one — not reinsures, not insurers, not brokers, not commercial buyers, not personal line buyers — will benefit here.

And Swiss Re sums that all up perfectly in 140 seconds. (For more on the issue, you can check out www.KeepInsuranceCompetitive.com)

The Comcast/NBC Merger Faces a Diversity Hurdle

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In May, we covered the the risk management complications of the proposed merger between NBC and Comcast. The crux of the piece was to look at the unique difficulties of any media sector merger and we also looked back at the failed AOL/Time Warner marriage as well as the legal liabilities that Google inherited when it bought YouTube for $1.6 billion in 2007.

Now, however, the future of a combined Comcast/NBC look murkier than expected.

On Monday, a House Judiciary Committee hearing into whether or not the deal would be approved took an abrupt turn. The Los Angeles Times show business blog Company Town explains:

C-SPAN didn’t cover Monday’s nearly four-hour House Judiciary Committee “field hearing” on Comcast’s proposed deal to take control of NBC Universal. But if it had, viewers accustomed to the network’s trademark colorless coverage would have been treated to a Hollywood-worthy drama.
After all, who would expect a gathering of staid Washington lawmakers to feature a congresswoman implying that she had been offered a bribe, another member oblivious to media consolidation, one witness likening a corporate giant to a “plantation,” and three attendees arguing about race?
But this hearing had all that, plus plenty of grandstanding from lawmakers and the witnesses, who both faced cheers and groans from the audience.

C-SPAN didn’t cover Monday’s nearly four-hour House Judiciary Committee “field hearing” on Comcast’s proposed deal to take control of NBC Universal. But if it had, viewers accustomed to the network’s trademark colorless coverage would have been treated to a Hollywood-worthy drama.

After all, who would expect a gathering of staid Washington lawmakers to feature a congresswoman implying that she had been offered a bribe, another member oblivious to media consolidation, one witness likening a corporate giant to a “plantation,” and three attendees arguing about race?

But this hearing had all that, plus plenty of grandstanding from lawmakers and the witnesses, who both faced cheers and groans from the audience.

Reps. Maxine Waters (D-CA), John Conyers (D-MI) and Louie Grohmert (R-TX) all questioned company executives on the diversity — or lack thereof — of their staff and airwaves. None of Comcast’s stations are wholly owned by African Americans and, given the increasing consolidation of media in today’s world, this was viewed by some lawmakers as not just less than adequate in 2010.

The New York Times‘ Media Decoder blog highlighted the issue by quoting one of the hearings witnesses.

“Black executives have never had greenlight power at a major studio or network,” said Suzanne DePasse, the chief executive of DePasse-Jones entertainment, and an established film and television producer who broke into the business with Motown.

“We need greenlight power,” she said.

Those from the corporate side of things disagreed. Comcast carries TV One, for instance, they claim, which while not 100% owned by African Americans is a network aimed at black families. Hip Hop on Demand is another black-targeted channel on the Comcast roster, noted Company Town.

Such analysis provoked a rebuke by TV One Chairman Alfred Liggins, who said the relevant factor is that his network is managed by, and programmed for, African Americans.

Will Griffin, head of Hip Hop on Demand, a video channel, found Washington’s logic even more perplexing. In testimony, he said Washington’s view of “racial purity in public policy almost cost us a chance at American history. Our president is black enough … and so is TV One, and so is Hip Hop on Demand.”

Furthermore, Griffin added that Comcast is “blacker” than much of the other media companies out there.

Will Griffin, the chief executive of the Hip Hop OnDemand, a service that has been closely associated with Comcast, described that large minority base as reason to approve the merger, rather than oppose it. “This is far more direct and immediate market leverage than minorities have over other media companies,” Mr. Griffin said in prepared remarks that were distributed before the session began. During the hearing, Mr. Griffin spoke forcefully in favor of Comcast, as did a handful of others.

In her testimony, NBC’s VP of diversity Paula Madison outlined a post-merger plan to add “two new independent cable two new independent cable services annually for the first next three years, with substantial minority ownership in at least half of them.”

That’s a good start, say some. But it’s now beginning to look like this issue, which has led some minority advocates to call for a boycott against the companies, will present a much larger hurdle to the media marriage than most expected.

“It’s not going to happen without conditions,” said Alex Nogales, the president of the National Hispanic Media Coalition

Stay tuned — quite literally.