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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.

Lawsuit Over NFL “Spygate” Revisited

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Carl Mayer is a Jets fan — a season ticket holder who drives from his Princeton, N.J. home to Giants Stadium to watch the gridiron action each season. Mayer was rightfully upset when, during the Jets’ 2007 home opener, the New England Patriots were caught videotaping his team’s signals. So the Jets fan, who works as a lawyer, decided to take action — he sued for $185 million.

“The game will become more and more corrupt if there is no remedy,” said his lawyer, Bruce Afran. “The NFL will degenerate into the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment).”

Though his original suit was dismissed, he is asking the appeals court to revive it, stating that he hopes to learn the extent of the Patriots’ taping. Taping that brought about a $500,000 fine against Patriots coach Bill Belichick along with the loss of their first-round draft choice. But that punishment, enacted by the NFL, didn’t calm the angry Jets fans. They claim they were literally robbed of fair football games.

In the suit, Afran and Mayer claim that an investigation led by U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., revealed that the Patriots’ secret taping went on for seven years.
In their appellate brief, the plaintiffs lawyers said the case was about “a massive, systematic organizational scheme to steal opponents’ signals and cheat ticket-holders of a contest played according to NFL rules.”

In the suit, Afran and Mayer claim that an investigation led by U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., revealed that the Patriots’ secret taping went on for seven years.

In their appellate brief, the plaintiffs lawyers said the case was about “a massive, systematic organizational scheme to steal opponents’ signals and cheat ticket-holders of a contest played according to NFL rules.”

The brief said that “such pervasive cheating has consistently given the Patriots an unfair, illegal advantage over its opponents and systematically deprived plaintiffs of the right to witness football matches played fairly as advertised and according to NFL rules, which is what plaintiffs contracted for.”

In the 3rd Circuit Court of appeals yesterday — that was the question: Is the purchase of a Jets ticket the purchase of a contract between fans and the NFL and do consumer protection laws apply? The decision of whether or not this case will make it to trial is expected within two to three months.

What do you think? Is the purchase of a ticket a contract entitling the ticket holder to a fair game?

jets

Risk Management Lessons from the Olympics

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This came to my inbox Friday and I found it entertaining and insightful. Written by Donald Mango, chief actuary at Guy Carpenter, this fun read explores the risk management lessons from the recent winter Olympics.

We were all thrilled with the spectacle of the just-completed 2010 Olympic Winter Games from Vancouver. Winter sports are known for their inherent high levels of riskiness, so it should not be too surprising that some valuable lessons related to “personal risk management behavior” can be drawn from the way the athletes make decisions and how the competitions are conducted and judged. As risk professionals, when we watch the action on the snowy mountains and icy rinks, we can get another view on the choices made in the taking of risk or in mitigating risk. Here are just a few lessons that offer additional insights:

  • Risk reward tradeoff in men’s figure skating. The most notable example being the quadruple jump. The new scoring system provides more points for a successful quadruple jump than, for example, a triple axel. The number of additional points, however, is marginal. Most skaters felt the additional reward did not match the increased risk of failing to execute the more difficult jump. Gold medalist Evan Lysacek opted not to do it, much to the chagrin of silver medalist Evgeni Plushenko, who did put in a quad. The lesson here: the scoring system drives behavior.
  • Peer pressure leading to excessive risk taking in freestyle ski moguls and downhill ski. In order to contend for a medal in moguls, skiers needed to balance high speeds, precise turns and spectacular jumps. One skier’s results could lead subsequent skiers to modify jump choices or speed based on what they perceived to be necessary to win a medal. We also saw this in the women’s downhill, where eventual gold medalist Lindsey Vonn’s impressive time had two knock-on effects. First, many of the skiers who followed her crashed in their effort to match her time. Then the final skier, Maria Riesch of Germany, a gold medal favorite, was so intimidated by the crashes that she skied tentatively to an eighth place finish. The lesson: peer behavior can lead to excessive risk taking.
  • Judging risk-based performance in freestyle ski moguls. Judges need to essentially quantify the qualitative. Judgment decisions are based on a combination of speed measurement (objective), turning quality (subjective), and aerials (subjective and objective).
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    Assessment of aerials is based on the execution of the chosen trick. Each trick has an assigned degree of difficulty, and the overall weighting among the three categories is set beforehand. This provides a good framework for making risk preference / appetite decisions. Choose a set of independent factors, measure what can be measured (speed) or adopt a scale. For scaled factors, use multiple assessments (judges) and hedge against outliers (average the scores of multiple judges). Also, regularly review the scoring to ensure appropriateness and get feedback.

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    The lesson: we CAN develop a scientific system for making decisions using expert judgment.

Sports provide us with benchmarks, analogues and evidence to illuminate the way the human mind deals with risk and reward. Applying this understanding to the rationale for companies’ risk decisions demonstrates that some actions may not be in the companies’ best interests. They may be driven by pressures to “perform” and to “follow the pack.

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” We were all thrilled with the spectacle of the just-completed 2010 Olympic Winter Games from Vancouver.

Risk reward tradeoff in men’s figure skating.  The most notable example being the quadruple jump.  The new scoring system provides more points for a successful quadruple jump than, for example, a triple axel. The number of additional points, however, is marginal.  Most skaters felt the additional reward did not match the increased risk of failing to execute the more difficult jump.  Gold medalist Evan Lysacek opted not to do it, much to the chagrin of silver medalist Evgeni Plushenko, who did put in a quad.  The lesson here: the scoring system drives behavior.
Peer pressure leading to excessive risk taking in freestyle ski moguls and downhill ski.     In order to contend for a medal in moguls, skiers needed to balance high speeds, precise turns and spectacular jumps.  One skier’s results could lead subsequent skiers to modify jump choices or speed based on what they perceived to be necessary to win a medal.  We also saw this in the women’s downhill, where eventual gold medalist Lindsey Vonn’s impressive time had two knock-on effects.  First, many of the skiers who followed her crashed in their effort to match her time.  Then the final skier, Maria Riesch of Germany, a gold medal favorite, was so intimidated by the crashes that she skied tentatively to an eighth place finish.  The lesson: peer behavior can lead to excessive risk taking.
Judging risk-based performance in freestyle ski moguls.  Judges need to essentially quantify the qualitative.  Judgment decisions are based on a combination of speed measurement (objective), turning quality (subjective), and aerials (subjective and objective).  Assessment of aerials is based on the execution of the chosen trick.  Each trick has an assigned degree of difficulty, and the overall weighting among the three categories is set beforehand.  This provides a good framework for making risk preference / appetite decisions.  Choose a set of independent factors, measure what can be measured (speed) or adopt a scale.  For scaled factors, use multiple assessments (judges) and hedge against outliers (average the scores of multiple judges).  Also, regularly review the scoring to ensure appropriateness and get feedback.  The lesson: we CAN develop a scientific system for making decisions using expert judgment.
Sports provide us with benchmarks, analogues and evidence to illuminate the way the human mind deals with risk and reward.  Applying this understanding to the rationale for companies’ risk decisions demonstrates that some actions may not be in the companies’ best interests.  They may be driven by pressures to “perform” and to “follow the pack.”

freestyle skiing

Super Bowl Risk

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All major sporting events pose some sort of risk — whether it’s unruly fans, unsafe venues, lack of security or all of the above. But there are a few sporting events that pose more risk than others — namely the Olympics, the World Cup and, of course, the Super Bowl. I was fortunate enough to get some feedback on Super Bowl risk from Chris Rogers, director of risk control for National Entertainment Group, a part of Aon Risk Services and Lori Shaw, managing director of sports/leisure for Aon Entertainment Group.

Of all the potential risks facing such a large event as the Super Bowl, what do you feel is the number one biggest risk on February 7th?
Without a doubt, the biggest risk by far is the “lone wolf” with explosives knowledge. It is the very quiet ones, without support from any organization at the time that presents the greatest challenge, simply because there is so little possibility for detection prior to their arrival on the scene. Plus, if they have the ability to put together an IED, this combination could be very catastrophic.
Do you feel there is more potential for risk before, during or after the game?
The highest risk would be during the game, primarily due to the fact that this is when there are the most people present and there is so much going on all over the stadium. The close second would be just prior to the start of the game when there are large crowds lining up waiting to get inside.
Lori Shaw, Managing Director – Sports/Leisure, Aon Entertainment Group
How are corporate sponsors and marketers managing the financial risks related to prizes and promotions?
Many corporations look to events such as the Super Bowl as a way to create impressions with consumers. Besides basic TV, advertising many look to specialized promotions and prize offerings to attract interest and support their marketing goals. This may mean offering product couponing and redemptions offers to drive consumers to their brands, arranging prize trips for consumers, and often times, offering the potential to win large cash prizes such as what Dorito’s is doing with its Dorito’s “Crash the Super Bowl” promotion. Often times, corporations will look to the Contingency Insurance market to provide unique and customized insurance products to protect their balance sheets from the volatility that these promotions can bring. Products such as overredemtion insurance, sponsorship liability, marketers liability, special event and travel accident coverage and prize indemnity policies can be crafted to appropriate transfer this type of potential risk.
How does the Super Bowl manage challenges such as professional liability? What types of insurance can the Super Bowl event managers and organizers obtain to protect themselves from the many potential risks that can occur during such a large event?
Planning for large events, such as the Super Bowl, start way before the “kick off” of the game. Local organizing committees have been working months, sometimes years, ahead of a large event to make all the necessary arrangements. Insurance coverages that are contemplated may include: General Liability, Auto Liability, Property, Directors & Officers, Terrorism, Event Cancellation (which can include weather related perils, communicable disease, and threats of Terrorism), Media Liability, Broadcast and Professional Liability for things like police, EMT’s, physicians, etc.

RMM: Of all the potential risks facing an event as large as the Super Bowl, what do you feel is the number one threat on February 7?

Chris Rogers: Without a doubt, the biggest risk by far is the “lone wolf” with explosives knowledge. It is the very quiet ones, without support from any organization at the time that presents the greatest challenge, simply because there is so little possibility for detection prior to their arrival on the scene. Plus, if they have the ability to put together an IED, this combination could be very catastrophic.

RMM: Do you feel there is more potential for risk before, during or after the game?

Rogers: The highest risk would be during the game, primarily due to the fact that this is when there are the most people present and there is so much going on all over the stadium. The close second would be just prior to the start of the game when there are large crowds lining up waiting to get inside.

RMM: How are corporate sponsors and marketers managing the financial risks related to prizes and promotions?

Lori Shaw: Many corporations look to events such as the Super Bowl as a way to create impressions with consumers. Besides basic TV advertising, many look to specialized promotions and prize offerings to attract interest and support their marketing goals. This may mean offering product couponing and redemption offers to drive consumers to their brands, arranging prize trips for consumers, and oftentimes, offering the potential to win large cash prizes such as what Doritos is doing with its Doritos “Crash the Super Bowl” promotion. Oftentimes, corporations will look to the Contingency Insurance market to provide unique and customized insurance products to protect their balance sheets from the volatility that these promotions can bring. Products such as overredemtion insurance, sponsorship liability, marketer’s liability, special event and travel accident coverage and prize indemnity policies can be crafted to appropriately transfer this type of potential risk.

RMM: How does the Super Bowl manage challenges such as professional liability? What types of insurance can the Super Bowl event managers and organizers obtain to protect themselves from the many potential risks that can occur during such a large event?

Shaw: Planning for large events, such as the Super Bowl, start way before the “kick off” of the game. Local organizing committees have been working months, sometimes years, ahead of a large event to make all the necessary arrangements. Insurance coverages that are contemplated may include: general liability, auto liability, property, directors and officers, terrorism, event cancellation (which can include weather related perils, communicable disease and threats of terrorism), media liability, broadcast and professional liability for things like police, EMTs, physicians, etc.

soccer fans