Mike Hutcheson: Marketing Expert on the NZR-Ineos settlement, what's next for the All Blacks?

New Zealand Rugby and former kit sponsor Ineos have resolved their financial differences. 

A settlement has been reached after NZR lodged an injunction at the High Court in Wellington, with the figure reportedly in excess of $21 million. 

Ineos get to terminate the deal after three years, rather than the full six. 

Marketing Expert Mike Hutcheson told Andrew Dickens NZ Rugby will likely wind up with a contract with a similar company. 

He says we’re a tiny country at the bottom of the world, and you have to look quite hard to find someone who can afford to sponsor the All Blacks. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well. New Zealand Rugby and in Theos. Their sponsorship feud
has officially ended in the High Court. New Zealand Rugby
took the petrochemical company to task in he OS, we
terminated a twenty one million dollar a year deal with
the All Blacks brand. It's believed that Jim Ratcliffe, the
billionaire and the owner of Inios, has now paid what
it owed for the twenty twenty five deal. So that's good,

(00:21):
and even offered a small additional payment on top.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
So.

Speaker 1 (00:23):
Mike Hutchinson is a marketing expert. He is a former
managing director of Sachi and Sachi and despite being an
advertising he's up early too. Good morning to you, Mike.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
I was just saying to your producer, I got working early.
The cat jump on the bed, then followed by the dog,
the dog of Bernie's Mountain dog. You know when she
jumps on the bed.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
Yeah, good, very good. Are you Are you surprised that
New Zealand Rubby did so well out of the court battle?

Speaker 2 (00:45):
I think in the end it's probably quite bene visual.
Assuming that I could pick up the right kind of
replacement sponsorship, I think they president't too badly.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
Okay, So where are we going from here and what
lessons should we learn from all of this if we're
looking for someone to replace ANYOS, Because we thought that
in the OS was going to be great. It was huge,
gym was rich and they have the money and they
were proud of it all. And yeah there were some
dodges looks about it because it was a petrochemical company.
But we thought, this is good, this is going to
be a regular income. Who should we be going for them?

Speaker 2 (01:18):
Well, sadly, they probably need to replace it with something
like INEOS, I mean even an ulter ed of course
who in a sponsored local are more infrastructure and some chemicals.
But you need to chase somebody like a Jim Radcliffe
or a moment Aldred who can make a call. If

(01:41):
you're going to chase after a big corporation, you have
to get buy in from everyone down the line and
including a board of directors and so on. So it's
best to go after an organization was run by someone
perhaps even autocratic, but who can make a call quite quickly.
And sadly that the numbers are very very small. You know,
we're a tiny country in the bottom right and court

(02:02):
of the world. We're not well, I'm up there, certainly
not in the States. The big the big players are
in the States, and you've got to look hard to
find someone who can afford just not to the r BLEX.

Speaker 1 (02:12):
So so you're saying that the All Blacks Jersey is
really a vanity investment, someone who just like Cares.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
I reckon. I reckon because I mean sure, but see
someone like Altrade. I think they're into infrastructure, scaffolding, you
Petrick Chimal stuff. They build plants, they build big things,
and I can imagine the halo effect of that for
Ultrade is terrific. And I think that Altred himself, I
think it was educated in France. He probably knows about

(02:40):
the power of of of rugby and I've putting in
France and in Europe and it's probably quite a good mix.
But that's the that's the kind of person you're going
to go after. You're not going to go after one
of the big banks. You're not going to go after
Microsoft or.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
Very good. Thank you so much for your expertise and
going for the cat and the dog right now. For
more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live to
news Talks.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
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