All Black jersey to have a sponsor

First topic message reminder :

Just got a wee bit of inside news. The ABs have inked a huge deal with AIG who will become the team's major sponsor and they will get their logo printed on the sleeve.

A sponsor's logo has been done before obviously with Steinlager adorning the jersey in 96-97. Interesting that it's on the sleeve and not the right breast though.

Obviously most Kiwis would rather just have the silver fern (not even the Adidas logo lol) but it was always going to happen again in this day and age. The Aussie league jerseys now look like the drivers' kits in Formula One they have that many sponsors. The sleeve isn't too bad.

Anyways thought that some people would like to know-Kiwis in particular.

Adidas get involved by the looks. They sent someone out to have a quiet word with the NZRFU. Still talk of a small logo on shorts or sleeve of shirt, which I think more would tolerate if it had to be done.

http://i.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/7324203/NZRU-backs-off-All-Blacks-jersey-sale

Something tells me that a lot of this is actually about the Sevens jersey for 2016??

Problem is we need the cash....................

The best idea I hear about was to make a giant logo but in Black so it is texture and not visible.

what a great idea awop

Announcement to be made today apparently

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10839983

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/7806894/NZRU-set-to-announce-All-Blacks-AIG-deal

Whatever your viewpoint, stand back and watch the reaction in NZ....

Yeah as I said in the original post the deal had been inked months ago. They were just trying to figure out how to break it to the public.

oh dear the end of the greatest rugby brand in rugby apart from the Lions....makes sense though that the NZRFU would bail itself out by allying itself with a firm that took $40 billion in bailouts itself from the Fed.

The Lions or the ABs being the biggest rugby brand is a moot point-as is how the hell AIG had that sort of money to give the NZRU I'm sure.

The AIG All Blacks.....sounds fecking awful

Don't see what the big deal is really. Professional sport = sponsorship = logos on stuff. Who isn't doing it?

don't like the logo on there. looks afwul


but it brings in the money


so the monetary side is good, but the desecration of a national treasure is not

dallym wrote:don't like the logo on there. looks afwul


but it brings in the money


so the monetary side is good, but the desecration of a national treasure is not

Desecration!!!! It's a sports shirt no matter which way you look at it! NZRU need the cash and should go for it. Let's remember no Union club or Nation will ever touch the 'round ball' and apart from 3 countries Union is not even the major sport. I have travelled the world and I have seen pretty few AB shirts compared to Manchester United, Juve, Barca, etc.

Anyway you want to be precious about your shirt get it made by Canterbury in NZ rather than in China by Germans.

Dont see any problem with it at all.

I'm disappointed it's on the front-it was going to be on the side and was said so in the deal. Reckon the Yanks threw a few bucks at Adidas to shut them up.

RW I don't think Canterbury's shirts are made in NZ either lol.

I remember the old Steinlarger jerseys. They were pretty nice. Wonder will having the same sponsor as ManU make the ABs even more unpopular?

Guns – not sure the AB’s are unpopular as you suggest? Most people I have spoken to regard them as their 2nd favourite side after their own nation. There are also a lot of people who know nothing of rugby but know about the All Blacks and the haka. In the south of France the All Blacks are everywhere....

Steve Tew was suggesting this deal would be the 2nd biggest commercial deal in Rugby after the Adidas deal....so it’s megabucks indeed. What strikes me is that AIG haven’t put their logo on the jumper, just three letters. Seems that the NZRFU has tried to minimise the impact on the jersey by making the logo as plain and unmarketed as possible. Well done if this is the case. From my point of view, what they have allowed is no worse than having Steinlager on the top in the 90’s.

Welcome to the real world. At least we still get 'clean' shirts at world cups.

AIG only had AIG on Man Utd shirts so if it was good enough for one of the biggest sporting clubs in the world I am sure it is great for the AB's.

Meh. The real world isn't that nice-I'm sure we'd all prefer our national shirts to be sponsor free (though if the All Blacks put a Georgie Pie logo on the shirt to get the great Kiwi franchise back I wouldn't mind lol) and the fast that we've been so steadfast means that any alteration would be worth the megabucks AIG paid.

AIG compromised their logo too and it is minimalistic so it's a small win. I liked the Steinlager emblazoned shirt too as it wasn't splashed all over the front.

Glad I got my RWC11 AB jersey when I did eh EE-not only that I paid 50 Euros (NZ85-90) whereas it cost 220 NZ at home!

disney, as sponsors go i think it looks really quite nice, understated and very sympathatic to the shirt. Compare that with some of the other sponsors around..

Do you think the rules around the world cup will ever change? Would be a huge shame to lose the sponsor free shirts you get every 4 years!

I reckon they will change EE but I reckon the IRB or the tournament sponsors will charge the sponsors through the nose to get a logo. If so they might be moved to the sleeve-remember these are the same guys who moved the sacred Springbok onto the sleeve of the South African jersey and obviously other commercial interests would be behind such symbology in the pecking order.

I bought a Man United shirt for me and one for my dad at the Old Trafford store-and I remember the AIG logo then. It was pretty big (also was thinking that the way it was printed could mean it fell off easily after a few washes). So when weighed up against that the All Black jersey is a lot better. I mean the name of the team is All Black-so you have to keep the jersey kind of the same. Maybe we could get the same people that printed the English numbers on at the last World Cup to do the printing here-would last 5 minutes then it's back to old styles

That was hilarious to watch those numbers slowly peeling off, hilarious and embarassing! As 'All Black' shirts go the England effort was quite nice, poorly timed but the execution wasn't too bad.

disneychilly wrote:Meh. The real world isn't that nice-I'm sure we'd all prefer our national shirts to be sponsor free (though if the All Blacks put a Georgie Pie logo on the shirt to get the great Kiwi franchise back I wouldn't mind lol) and the fast that we've been so steadfast means that any alteration would be worth the megabucks AIG paid.

AIG compromised their logo too and it is minimalistic so it's a small win. I liked the Steinlager emblazoned shirt too as it wasn't splashed all over the front.

Glad I got my RWC11 AB jersey when I did eh EE-not only that I paid 50 Euros (NZ85-90) whereas it cost 220 NZ at home!

Yeah after the 60-0 trashing Id say it was pretty easy to find AB jerseys at the bottom of bargain bins in Elverys in Dublin.

Effervescing Elephant wrote:That was hilarious to watch those numbers slowly peeling off, hilarious and embarassing! As 'All Black' shirts go the England effort was quite nice, poorly timed but the execution wasn't too bad.

Excellent timing I thought.

Ha GG I was only going to get it if we won the final (sad guy I know)-saw them on sale and I rang my German missus 5 mins after the final telling her to pick one up-she got the last in Dublin Good girl.

I'd think the 3 point loss would have been more responsible for them filling up the bargain bins!

I guess you probably needed the jersey to hit the town after the final whistle?

That 60 nil trashing was the lowest point in Irish rugby for 20 years. The players gave up. Cant ever remember that happening before in my lifetime. Cant believe that out manager retained his job after that.

I wore it to work haha-got the one I was wearing soaked with beer instead.

The choice of sponsor is pretty low too-I mean I know no NZ company will give them the exposure AIG would but this is one of the companies at the heart of the financial meltdown-almost feels like the ABs (and Man United) took dirty money. Considering the US government bailed them out I'd like to thank Barack Obama and the American people for the cash injection. Not that we'd ever put the Stars and Stripes on the black jersey of course.

Maybe the IRFU could seek sponsorship from Mr Quinn?

disneychilly wrote:Maybe the IRFU could seek sponsorship from Mr Quinn?

From reading about the possibilities arising from the oil field finds off Connacht and considering Tony O’Reilly’s son is in charge of the company with the rights to drill I reckon the IRFU might look to get a bit of a payday off the back of that!

Surprised Heinz have never sponsored the Irish rugby team alright. I believe that Tony O'Reilly is one of the wealthiest exrugby player of all time.

Id say Sean Quinn is probably more of a GAA fan and is bankrupt anyway. He was once worth £4billion though.

Well I'm sure Quinn's trying to tell the Gardai he's bankrupt!

Was shaking my head at the press release-Tewy going on about needing money in this economic climate after signing a deal with one of the main players responsible for said climate!

Beggars can't be choosers though I suppose. Disagree with the other teams being called All Blacks though. Are they THAT broke?

disneychilly wrote:Well I'm sure Quinn's trying to tell the Gardai he's bankrupt!

Was shaking my head at the press release-Tewy going on about needing money in this economic climate after signing a deal with one of the main players responsible for said climate!

Beggars can't be choosers though I suppose. Disagree with the other teams being called All Blacks though. Are they THAT broke?

His wife isnt bankrupt thats for sure.

On a poll last night 78% of kiwis who voted were against the wya the jersey displays AIG.

When I saw the NZ 7's team run out today with AIG on the jersey and the commentators calling them the "NZ 7's All Blacks", I realised the earlier move to rename the Maori, 7's and other teams "All Blacks" was part and parcel of AIGs sponsorship contract...carefully publicised well clear of the appearance of AIG on the jerseys.

Strike one for the lie of AIG being sponsors and having no influence...

What will be next? The AIG All Blacks play in Vegas against the Global Rugby Allstars in a game in 4 quarters and modified rules to appeal to an American audience is my bet.

It looks gash....the All Black shirt was all black, now it isn't, it has a bloody great white logo in the middle of it

The All blacks should be renamed as the 'All blacks with a hint of white'

Yes, the AIG Mostly Blacks.

I am very happy they have sacrificed the all black branding because at the end of the day they need to make this money.. Had enough of the IRB bailing them out..

Any fan that doesnt like this needs to understand its a neccesity not an optional choice!

Word to ya mother! Thanks IRB, we owe ya one for that compensation

With any luck, we'll hopefully retain more of our second tier talent. Little logo on shirt, meh. Stronger ABs? Yes please thank you.

O dont see the problem here myself. Its a branding and brings much needed money to the NZRFU. It doesnt look too bad either.

I have this idea for electronic sponsorship. Do you remember a few years ago the rage was to "e-paint" logos onto the pitch via image processing rather than actually painting the grass?

I reckon it's a viable marketing strategy to sell syndicated advertising to regionalised markets by tagging the players in real time with sponsors logos.

That way you could pay to watch the ABs in traditional black, or watch free with a giant AIG logo on everyone. In Britain they could be the Betfair All Blacks and in Australia the XXXX Allblacks...

Or if you got upset you could pay to for instance have Chris Ashton marked up so he looked like he was wearing a tutu.

its actually a very viable idea awop.. Its the way the internet works on the whole anyway.

Not sure how easy it would be to do on shirts .

That's cool AWOP. Could make a fortune out of that.

Could Haskell advertise breast reduction?

Guinness have been sponsoring that lot for decades.

A similar idea has been copyrighted for DVDs. In the not too distant future you should be able to pause a DVD and click on any of the characters and it will list what the actor is wearing and links to where the items can be purchased.

Will it also tell you what other actor might have been better for the role?

nganboy wrote:That's cool AWOP. Could make a fortune out of that.

I'm thinking also that you could retrospectively update the sponsorship and make even more money.

For example, you could pay to sponsor the 2007 Springboks retrospectively, so that when anyone watches the RWC final again it's the Barlcays Springboks, rather than the ABSA Springboks. This way winning a tournament leverages more financial reward in the future in larger ways.

Although this does imply serving the golden source of the game always from a central repository or making sure replicated copies expire at the same time as the sponsorship agreement.