The issue was how to shift some public and very sport-focused sponsorships into partnerships that better reflected the more socially responsible and financial entrepreneurship minded values that the bank felt it truly stood for. This is the story of the changes made and the tools used to find success.

Industry

Financial Sector

Head office

Helsinki, Finland

Size

32,000 employees

Opportunity

As with many big corporations, Nordea maintained a portfolio of partnerships that it did not have a great handle on. Headquarter knew of the biggest ones, but lacked a lot of information on many others. They were decentralized and unable to effectively communicate many of the important details surrounding these partnerships.

“The decision making process with PerforMind™ helped us add people and resources to our team. It proved our value on transparency and aligned us strategically.”

Anna Kosonen
Master Expert, Community Engagement
NORDEA BANK

Simultaneously, the overall marketing strategy was shifting. Nordea wanted to be known more for its commitment to the communities it served, and less as a brand highlighted by well known sporting and cultural events that its customers and clients saw simply as big budget commercialism.

Improved transparency would also be necessary to showcase the community mindedness Nordea wanted as a centerpiece of their strategy.

Sponsorium was engaged, to first learn of the new strategy so that the PerforMind™ tool could be tailored to implement, and second, to educate both the markets where Nordea was active as well as the internal teams that would be executing the new strategy.

Outcome

The first immediate success for Nordea was their new ability to present their existing sponsorship portfolio professionally and transparently.

Through PerforMind™, their team could store and report on all the details of their partnerships. This initial audit within the Nordic countries demonstrated that even though they sought to focus on entrepreneurship and financial skills (strategic pillars) they were still sponsoring sports as a majority of the portfolio.

Implementing PerforMind™ allowed them to pinpoint end dates of contracts and encourage local business managers to renegotiate contracts to include an element of entrepreneurship or financial skills. The push was also to get Nordea employees involved more in those projects, so an important element to a contract is now employee volunteering.

Nordea continues to see success in a number of areas that previously were challenging:

  • Grown the team of users that are influencing the sponsorship strategy in multiple markets.
  • Documented alignment with a more socially responsible strategy.
  • Educated the marketplace with proposals guidelines and process.
  • Empowered local managers to work closely with properties to better communicate that necessary Nordea objectives are considered.

Tell us about you

You are proud of the brand you represent. You are extremely passionate about what you do. You believe in the power of sponsorship to bring your brand to life. You wish you could do more with your existing programs. You would like your team to shine and get the recognition it deserves.