Wallabies go all BlackBerry with RIM-Current.com.au partnership

By Patrick Avenell

SYDNEY, NSW: In one of the smartest decisions of sponsoring sport, Research in Motion has signed with the Australian Wallabies rugby union team, using the national rugby union team to promote his BlackBerry brand and products.

Rugby Union is a popular game with private school educated old boys who now work for accounting firms, which is just about on the spot as the target market of BlackBerry. Although rugby union is the fourth most popular football codes, his supporters have the highest wealth, which means the code is the sponsorship option attractive to investment banks, airline companies and accounting firms.

In a classic piece of marketing speak, managing director for Australia, Adele Beachley, referred to the synergies between these two organizations.

"We believe that this partnership has great synergy and RIM both ARU will work together to use existing applications such as BlackBerry Messenger and BlackBerry Chalk, in addition to developing applications for the fans, players and management and mobile communication tools," he said.

"Our goal is to help the Wallabies to improve their use of technology and the digital team, using the range of BlackBerry platforms and devices."

The publication that outlines this agreement says that RIM will be providing the Wallabies squad and staff with Blackberry for them to use. In this modern digital age, it is very easy to find out which phones, players are actually using, then this Current.com.au looks forward to make sure that the Wallabies are providing value for their sponsors.

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Here, MD and CEO ARU John O'Neill.

"This is the year that Rugby makes his move on the national and international sporting stage with a new expanded Super Rugby competition, the eagerly awaited Tri-Nations and the Rugby World Cup," said O'Neill.

"To have the edge to edge to help Qantas Wallabies and take the game to our fans on a digital level is fantastic.

"Our partnership with RIM will help the team to stay in touch with family and help keep our fans updated while we're on the road.

"We are pleased to work with the Board and their advanced technology to develop new applications and deploy exciting content, which I'm sure our fans will really enjoy."

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