Paralympics New Zealand make key appointment

This new role is critical in helping us ensure that New Zealand Paralympians are best supported to perform on the international stage and to help us in our continued efforts to promote social change for the 1.1 million Kiwis living with a disability.

Paralympics New Zealand (PNZ) has appointment global sports marketer Rachel Froggatt to the newly created position of Commercial and Marketing Director.

Froggatt will be responsible for the brand and commercial development of PNZ, in support of its threefold purpose: to grow para-sport nationally and send elite athletes to international competitions, including the Paralympic Games; inspire those living with a disability in New Zealand society; and finally, create greater awareness, understanding and acceptance of disability amidst the wider public.

Recruited from Germany, the New Zealander has a 15-year career in the global sports and media industries, specialising in commercial strategy and creative development.

For the past three years’, she has been Global Sponsoring Strategy Director with WPP advertising agency network, Grey Group. In this role, she led the cross-agency team responsible for activating the global sponsorship portfolio of Allianz, one of the largest insurance and investment companies in the world, with 83m+ customers in 70 countries.

Alongside partnerships with Mercedes Formula 1™ Team, FC Bayern Munich and FC Barcelona, Allianz is also an International Partner of the International Paralympic Committee and Froggatt was involved in London 2012.

Prior to this role, Froggatt worked extensively with high profile global brands across the automotive, energy, telecommunications, FMCG, media and charity sectors, including Shell, Ferrari, Ford, NTT DoCoMo, Wrigley and the Australian Red Cross.

Fiona Allan (PNZ, Chief Executive) said: “We are thrilled to have Rachel Froggatt on board as our Commercial and Marketing Director. This new role is critical in helping us ensure that New Zealand Paralympians are best supported to perform on the international stage and to help us in our continued efforts to promote social change for the 1.1 million Kiwis living with a disability.

“Rachel has exceptional credentials and it’s a credit to the increasing level of professionalism and interest in Paralympic sport globally that we can now attract candidates of this stature. As we continue to grow, we will continue to innovate by having the right people, initiatives and structures in place.”

Rachel Froggatt said: “I was very lucky to attend the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympic Games and I remember the overwhelming feeling of pride I had when the New Zealand team entered the stadium, a feeling I saw replicated amongst my friends and family back home. Paralympic sport is unique in that it is a movement that both empowers individuals and is a vehicle for changing society. I am thrilled to be joining Paralympics New Zealand at such a pivotal moment in its development.”

Paralympic Sport has seen tremendous growth in terms of commercial focus and public interest since the London 2012 Paralympic Games, which saw a record cumulative TV audience of 3.8 billion. This represents a cumulated growth of almost one billion (37 per cent growth) on the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games. The increasing investment of high profile global brands such Allianz, BP, VISA, Samsung and Panasonic underlines the value the business community now puts on this unique property, evidenced by the increasing sophistication of their activation programmes and focus on a shared vision for Paralympic Sport. PNZ will support this strategy as it develops its future partnerships.

Sponsorship specialist consultancy Gemba were engaged by PNZ earlier this year to review the organisation’s commercial strategy and two of their key recommendations to PNZ were to firstly resource for success in this area, and then amplify PNZ’s audience reach and brand profile.

Richard Howarth, Gemba’s New Zealand General Manager, said: “Our research study demonstrated that PNZ is really well supported by New Zealanders, as it sits just between the Black Sticks hockey team and the Kiwis rugby league side when we measured ‘likeability’.

“When people are so fanatical about you, it’s much easier to build a connection with them, so we said to PNZ they should focus upon increasing their direct supporter reach and building upon the terrific reputation they have already established. For example, PNZ rank in the top three New Zealand sports teams or organisations for the brand attributes of being ‘inspirational’ and ‘caring-for-our-community’, so they have a fantastic story to tell.

“Consequently, we were delighted to hear the news of Rachel’s appointment as she has both extensive international sponsorship experience, together with an in depth understanding of brand and marketing.”