Why are insurance companies keen to sponsor marathons?

21st Century Business Herald reporter Fang Haiping and intern Chen Salaryyu Shanghai report On November 9, the official WeChat of the Information Office of the Shanghai Municipal Government released a message saying that the Shanghai Marathon (hereinafter referred to as "Shangma") Organizing Committee said that in view of the current epidemic situation, after careful consideration, the 2021 Shanghai Marathon, which was originally scheduled to be held on November 28 (Sunday), was postponed, and the specific time will be notified separately.

As soon as the news was released, it received more than 100,000 views, which shows the heat of attention on the horse. In fact, in recent years, the transformation of marathon sports from professional events to national sports has almost set off a wave of horse racing in many cities across the country, and with this trend sweeping the country, it has also derived a huge economic effect. According to the "China Marathon Annual Master Report" released in 2019, 1581 marathons and related sports scale events were held in China in 2018, with a total annual consumption of 17.8 billion, the total consumption driven by the annual events reached 28.8 billion, and the total annual industrial output was 74.6 billion.

As a sports project, the running industry represented by various types of marathons is undoubtedly the most relevant to various sporting goods companies and brands, however, the reporter also noticed that in various events in China, a type of financial industry, that is, insurance companies, has frequently appeared. What is the connection behind this, and why are insurance companies keen to sponsor marathons? The reporter recently interviewed the organizer of Shanghai Donghao Lansheng Race Management Co., Ltd. and the relevant person in charge of the insurance company China Merchants Cigna.

In recent years, the popularity of marathon events in the private sector is obvious to all, and in 2014, the State Council issued the "Several Opinions of the State Council on Accelerating the Development of the Sports Industry and Promoting Sports Consumption" ("Circular No. 46"), which is regarded as the main reason and landmark time node behind this change.

According to public data, China's marathon and related events have included 234 cities in 31 provinces, autonomous regions and cities across the country, including Tibet. In addition to first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, the Xi'an Marathon, Wuxi Marathon and Qingdao Marathon events are also extremely popular.

The economic value of its spawn is also self-evident, taking the horse as an example, according to the "2019 Shanghai Sports Event Impact Assessment Report" jointly released by the Shanghai Municipal Sports Bureau and the Shanghai University of Sport, the Shanghai International Marathon has brought about 328 million yuan of direct economic benefits, as well as about 1.145 billion yuan of indirect economic benefits, and also increased the tax revenue of nearly 68 million yuan.

The emergence of the epidemic has had an impact on the field as much as it has affected other mass activities.

"In normal years, we would organize about 6-7 events a year, but since the outbreak, it has been greatly reduced, and last year we held 3 events in the whole year." Jiang Jue, general manager of Shanghai Donghao Lansheng Event Management Co., Ltd., revealed to the 21st Century Business Herald reporter.

From the perspective of the scale of the event, he told reporters that around 2014, the number of participants on the horse was about 3,000 people, and then it has been increasing, the highest time is about 7,000 people, and in the past two years, due to the impact of the epidemic, the number of people has been controlled at about 5,000 again. Judging from the winning rate of the registration lottery, "about 20,000 people registered for the 10-kilometer elite race this year, about 5,500 people were drawn from it, and about 130,000 people registered for the three-kilometer race, and about 18,000 people were drawn from it, and the winning rate was about 9:1." ”

From the perspective of the income composition of an event, Jiang Jue told reporters that the main income comes from the sponsorship costs of sponsors, and an event often involves 7-8 sponsors, which are different according to different levels of cooperation costs, and the largest piece comes from the title sponsors, mainly some sports brands.

It is worth noting that insurance companies are frequently present among the sponsors of these running events.

Jiang Jue also pointed out to reporters that among the sponsors who cooperate with them, insurance companies occupy a very important proportion and are the types of companies that participate the most in the entire financial industry. "Insurance companies such as Ping An Insurance and China Merchants Cigna are all sponsors of the launch event."

Compared with other types of sponsors, the sponsorship model of insurance companies has its characteristics, mainly in combination with products. In fact, due to the risk characteristics of sports, event organizers often require participants, staff, and security personnel of an event to purchase relevant insurance products during the event, so in an event, the sponsor may be different, but there will basically be an insurance company involved in cooperation.

Cai Lianhe, deputy general manager and chief actuary and chief marketing officer of China Merchants Cigna Life, one of the partners of the Shanghai Marathon, told reporters that the reason why he is keen to sponsor the marathon event mainly has three major considerations: First, the possibility of accidents such as slipping and falling among the participants of an event is higher than that of other scenarios, and the sports event itself requires the participation of insurance products and timely claim processing services, and the two naturally have a combination point.

On May 24, 2021, the Silver Mountain Marathon encountered a major accident caused by sudden extreme weather, 21 people were killed, and public information showed that the estimated compensation amount of the accident group accident insurance was more than 10 million yuan, and the estimated compensation amount of natural disaster relief insurance was more than 2.3 million yuan. Among them, Yellow River Property Insurance provided 12 million yuan of emergency compensation.

Second, the combination with the event is more conducive to helping insurance companies accurately reach customers, the shanghai marathon released data in 2019, pre-registration of the crowd, 30 to 49 years old group accounted for 2/3, men accounted for more than 70%, which is also highly compatible with insurance company customers.

In addition to the fit of the attributes of the crowd, the fit of the concept is another important consideration, whether it is the operation of the marathon event organization or the insurance company, both are committed to transmitting the concept and image of a healthy life. Jiang Jue also pointed out to reporters that in the process of selecting sponsors, concepts and values are also one of the most important considerations.

Third, Cai Lianhe also stressed the consideration of insurance brand promotion, saying that there are more than 90 life insurance companies in the country, and it is difficult for ordinary people to remember the name of an insurance company. With the popularization of marathons, the discussion and dissemination effect of each event is rapidly increasing.

From the data point of view, from 2019 to 2021, the premium amount of China Merchants Cigna's sponsorship of the Shanghai Marathon 10 km Classic is that in 2019, the accident insurance amount of 7,000 people participating in the event was RMB300,000 per person, that is, the total sum insured was more than 2 billion yuan, and in 2020 (affected by the epidemic), 3,000 people participated in the accident insurance, the accident insurance amount was RMB 300,000 yuan / person, that is, the total sum insured was 900 million yuan, and in 2021, the 5,500 people participated in the event, and the accident insurance coverage was increased to RMB 400,000 / person, that is, the total insurance amount was more than 2 billion yuan.

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