Corporate Express delivers Commonwealth Games promotional merchandise for NAB
National Australia Bank (NAB) undertook one of its largest sponsorship programs when the Commonwealth Games were held in Melbourne earlier this year. Part of the Games sponsorship included an extensive merchandise program that was successfully implemented by Corporate Express.
NAB had used Corporate Express as a supplier of stationery for many years but had not considered them for suppling promotional merchandise.
The Commonwealth Games merchandise program comprised two separate components – VIP hospitality and a staff catalogue. The VIP hospitality program included a range of items that were delivered to the hotels of visiting NAB VIPs who were invited to attend the Commonwealth Games. The staff range was put in place for staff to buy items for themselves and also to purchase merchandise for use in promotions.
Trish Briggs, Sponsorship Operations Manager with NAB says that Corporate Express took away the worry factor for her team during the Games.
“This program was one of the most successful we’ve ever run. We received great feedback from all our stakeholders and everything ran really smoothly.
“An added complication was the branding change we undertook during the Games period. Corporate Express had to manage the transition from the old branding to the new one, making sure there wasn’t heaps of old stock and cost blowouts.
“Plus we had four different brands involved – NAB, MLC, BNZ (New Zealand) and Clydesdale Bank (Scotland) all of which required a different colour palette and logo. This meant that the relevant VIP guest needed to get the right merchandise delivered to their hotel, in the right size polo shirt and of course on the right day. Corporate Express managed the process seamlessly.
“The 5,000 VIP packs included a leather laptop bag, binoculars and clothing items, all of which were very well received. We went for subtle branding and received very positive feedback from the recipients. In a survey we conducted, 95.2 percent of our VIP guests said that they found the items in the pack to be useful,” said Briggs.
“For the internal program we received $58,000 in orders from staff for their own use which really shows how interested and proud they were of the Commonwealth Games and NAB’s involvement,” she added.
Since the successful Commonwealth Games program, Corporate Express has developed an ongoing merchandise range. Michelle Dimond, Account Manager with Corporate Express has been instrumental in putting the range together.
“We have worked closely with NAB to put together this ongoing range of around 20 items. We hold the inventory and manage stock levels for them so we need to work closely with Trish and her team to track major events in their calendar,” said Dimond.
The ongoing range includes standard items as well as specific branded items to support NAB’s AFL and FFA sponsorships.
“As well as the standard range we also purchase one-off promotional items from Corporate Express on an ongoing basis. We provide a brief that includes a budget and requirements and they come back to us with four or five options,” said Trish Briggs.
“Corporate Express works with us to meet our deadlines. When the timeframe is tight they source an item locally but if we have a longer lead time they’ll source it off-shore for a more competitive price,” said Briggs.
Corporate Express is now in its 11th year in Australia and has 49 branches around Australia and New Zealand. For more information about Corporate Express please call 13 26 44 or visit the website at www.ce.com.au
