Allwyn is doubling down on its social responsibility initiatives via a valuable marketing channel, Formula One in a move which leadership believes is indicative of the future of sponsorship.
The lottery company became a partner of both Formula One as well as one of its most widely followed teams, McLaren, earlier this year and has wasted no time in rolling its social responsibility objectives into the deal with the world’s largest and most widely viewed motorsports series.
This weekend saw the first Allwyn Global Community Award entailing a €100,000 grant, given to Stichting HandicapNL, a local community initiative in the Netherlands headed up by Jan Willem Koopman. The award was announced during the Dutch Grand Prix.
Speaking to SBC Media, Allwyn Group CEO Robert Chvatal outlined how Formula One has proven extremely valuable for Allwyn. This value is seen not just in a marketing sense, putting the firm’s branding front-and-centre for F1 fans across the globe, but also in a CSR sense.
“It’s one of the biggest, if not the biggest, impactful sports series – the World Cup and soccer, and the Olympics, do come close, but this happens every season and across the globe,” he said.
“It’s also good that the community impact will benefit from this visibility. It’s not just about cutthroat competition and innovation, it’s about reminding people that some are less fortunate and we want to celebrate the NGO and grassroots organisations. It’s about inclusion and helping others who can’t help themselves.”
F1 is ideal for innovation
Applicants for the Award are evaluated by a jury on several criteria, including the extent of the positive impact they are having in their local area, their relevance to the Formula One ecosystem, and demonstrating an innovative approach to community impact and sustainability.
The €100,000 grant must be used for the project focusing on the community in the local area to the Formula One race weekend the Award is based around. It must also go towards the specific initiative that the organisation has been shortlisted for.
Following the first Award being given to Stichting HandicapNL, Allwyn has three more planned for the rest of the year, coinciding with the Mexico Grand Prix, the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, and the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
There are two overriding conditions attached to these grants. Firstly, as mentioned above, the projects need to be focused on the community in the local area.
Secondly, the grant must be generally used by the organisation or charity receiving it – the funds must go towards the specific initiative they have been shortlisted for, with two shortlisted for this weekend’s event.
Chvatal explained that the Awards initiative “celebrates and reminds people that we as Allwyn are a company with an obvious strong purpose, almost given to us by the nature of the business because lotteries are associated with good cause funding and non-profit funding”.
Responsibility in all areas
Allwyn’s CEO echoes some comments made by Nicole Garrett, the company’s Head of Responsible Gaming, who spoke to SBC’s iGaming Daily podcast about its safer gaming strategy and initiatives, coming just a couple of weeks ahead of her attendance at the SBC Summit Lisbon.
“We wanted to use the sponsorship to communicate some really simple messages around setting limits, not chasing the win, and keeping calm. I think that these can be considered quite simple messages, but if we don’t say them, that being simple doesn’t matter,” Garrett said.
She added: “We really wanted to use a different and creative way to communicate responsible gaming messages. I think as lotteries, we’re really well placed to lead the way in that because we have such a broad player base.
“So we can reach a very wide segment of society, and the behaviors they learn in our campaigns they can carry into wider gaming products they play with elsewhere.”
Of course, Allwyn’s community initiative around the F1 is not a responsible gaming one – but it is indicative of how the company aims to write corporate social responsibility (CSR) into various aspects of its operation.
As Chvatal asserted, Formula One is a great asset for the company in this regard. Allwyn’s CEO highlighted the prestige, glamour and global scope of F1 as particularly valuable, stating that these factors and more can be ‘well used and channelled into initiatives like the Community Award”.
To read Robert Chvatal’s full interview with SBC News, click here