The opportunity to partner with a globally-recognised brand such as MetLife is ideal for growing badminton’s fan base internationally, specifically through the MetLife BWF World Superseries.
Speaking as the rebranded Superseries touched down in Malaysia for the first time under the MetLife banner recently, BWF Secretary General Thomas Lund noted the “timing of this partnership coincides perfectly with our plans for the future”.
“As a leading global life insurance company, MetLife has the type of profile and brand values with which the Badminton World Federation is pleased to align itself as we continue developing badminton at all levels.
“The MetLife BWF World Superseries is our flagship tournament series and it speaks volumes when a company like MetLife shows confidence in and commitment to the World Superseries with a four-year partnership. This will allow us to jointly plan long-term strategies to enhance the World Superseries and thereby badminton’s prominence as a flourishing sports-entertainment commodity. We have enjoyed significant success in recent years and we are looking forward to building on that with MetLife as one of our leading partners.
“BWF is committed to ensuring the 2014-2017 tournament cycle takes the World Superseries and badminton to new heights for players, fans, sponsors, hosts, etc. As our President (Poul-Erik Høyer) has been reiterating our goal is to make badminton shine even brighter. Having MetLife on board will help us achieve our targets, including attracting even larger audiences to badminton with fun fan engagements.”
MetLife’s President for the Asia region, Chris Townsend, said: “Fan engagement is a key aspect of the MetLife BWF World Superseries that we have a great desire to encourage and develop. As a company that believes in and supports the principles of health and wellness, engaging fans is a great way for MetLife to promote its values of healthy living, which includes participation in activities such as sports. Diversity is also a key value of MetLife’s culture, and badminton is an inclusive sport that appeals to all genders, age group and nationalities.”
“MetLife utilises sports sponsorship to showcase our brand’s values and share in our customers’ interests and passions,” added Townsend. “Therefore, we are working closely with our partners at BWF to develop more fun and interesting ways to drive fan engagement and increase public excitement around our brand and the World Superseries. This includes fun public events at the games themselves (such as “Who can hit the fastest shuttle” booths) and bringing fans into even closer contact with their favourite badminton stars.”
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