Colin Banks, SSE’s Head of Sponsorship, explains the rationale, ambition and good fortune behind its decision to support women’s football through its SSE Women’s FA Cup sponsorship.
As our background is engineering there are parts of SSE that remain male-dominated. That’s historical, not deliberate, so we wanted to demonstrate that as a company we’re committed to diversity in general. We had to decide what areas would make the most impact.
We felt women’s sport could do with support and investment from a major FTSE top 50 company. How could we do that in the most effective way? We did our due diligence, to explore the areas where we felt we could best make fundamental change. We explored a number of different options through sport, made a shortlist and ultimately agreed to support women’s football for a minimum of four years.
That was 2015, the year the FA Cup was brought to Wembley for the first time and the Lionesses became superstars at the FIFA World Cup in Canada. So, there was an element of luck in our timing, let’s be honest. Our decision was also coloured by the massive growth of women’s football in general. Now it is the third most participated-in sport in the UK, amongst men and women, so the reach is there. We were also encouraged by the commitment to invest in grassroots girls football made by the FA.
Last year’s SSE Women’s FA Cup Final was the perfect way to kick off the deal. It was brilliant. We welcomed over 500 customers and colleagues in a record 30,000 plus crowd. Everything was absolutely superb.
When we reviewed how the event had gone – well, I’ve never been involved in a sponsorship where there was no negativity at all. We monitor these things closely. The sentiment around the SSE Women’s FA Cup was 100% positive. So it wasn’t just about the value of the event, it was the tone. The only downside is: how do we beat that? But I’m not worried. We’re ambitious about where this goes as are our partners The FA and it’s a fantastic start.
I’ve heard our investment called “a leap of faith”. That such a major blue chip FTSE 100 company should put such a significant investment in women’s sport surprised a lot of people. But we feel that if our investment makes people sit up and take notice of women’s sport and if it attracts other investors to other sports, then brilliant. It also holds us as a business to account with our own approach to diversity and inclusion.
I would say to other companies thinking about such a move that if it meets your business objectives then have a look at the opportunities out there. We’re very happy and we’re in it for the long haul.