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Five ways to get involved

An opportunity for every type and size of business

You might think a world-class tournament like Rugby World Cup 2011 (RWC 2011) will only create openings for big, well-known companies that are experienced in such events. Or that opportunities are confined to supplying the materials and services for staging the competition or aspects of the Tournament. In fact, a variety of industries can potentially benefit from RWC 2011. The opportunity is what you make it.

This is a chance to put the unique offerings of your business in front of regional, national and potentially global audiences - an opportunity not normally affordable or able to be accessed or realised.  Maximising the return from RWC 2011 will however depend on careful planning and preparation.

Some of the business opportunities are obvious. They may come directly from the staging of the Tournament or catering to the influx of visitors. But even these opportunities can be better exploited through choosing the right approach or with the benefit of appropriate staff training. So, within these pages, you’ll find specific business guidance on supplying to Tournament organisers and associated businesses, as well as advice to what’s available (and where) in terms of training.

But the opportunities for Northland business don’t end there. The lead-up to the Tournament will be a time of preparation around the region. Infrastructure is being upgraded; consumables and equipment needed for every aspect of the event will be purchased. Training and match venues are being re-vamped. All of this offers opportunities for different sectors of Northland business.

There are, broadly five ways for Northland enterprises to get involved:

1. responding to RWC 2011 related tenders, expressions of interest (EOI’s) and requests for proposals (RFP’s);
2. supplying the RWC 2011 family of organisations and commercial partners;
3. meeting the needs of visitors;
4. supplying to those involved in Tournament delivery;
5. profiling the region, a business and or products and services to potential international investors, markets and customers.

1. Responding to RWC 2011 related tenders, EOI’s and RFP’s

Many local body authorities and public sector agencies are already planning their investment for the Tournament – match and training venue improvements, transport infrastructure, cityscape beatification, signage, civic facility upgrades and so on. Many of the tenders related to this activity will appear on central and local government websites, such as the Government Electronic Tenders Service (GETS), Local Government Tenders New Zealand and ‘Tenderlink’, a newly created and dedicated Rugby World Cup 2011 tendering site.
Find out more about tender opportunities and how to register

2. Supplying the RWC 2011 family of organisations and commercial partners

Potentially this could include supplying to Rugby New Zealand 2011 (RNZ 2011), participating unions, Rugby World Cup (RWCL), and their respective commercial partners. Rugby World Cup 2011 will also have a number of worldwide partners (Emirates, MasterCard and Heineken having already been confirmed), broadcasters and licensees. In addition RWCL will be seeking a second tier of official sponsors and tournament suppliers outside the exclusive categories held by the worldwide partners which could present opportunities for New Zealand businesses. Commercial partners will need everything from limousine and helicopter transport to stationery and information technology equipment.

RWCL has granted master license rights to Licensing in Motion (NZ) Limited (LIMNZ) for Rugby World Cup 2011 for all territories in the world excluding Europe and South Africa - a joint venture enterprise between Velocity Brand Management, Line 7 and Sport and Entertainment Limited. Licensing in Motion has already sub-licensed many New Zealand companies to produce various categories of merchandise for the Tournament with past examples of licensed product for major events including key rings, extensive varieties of apparel, posters and cards, collectibles, flags, CD’s, watches etc. The first Rugby World Cup 2011 merchandising shop opened in Auckland’s CBD September 2009.

Other businesses that have already been granted license rights include Canterbury of New Zealand (tournament apparel) and Rugby Travel Hospitality (travel and corporate hospitality).  It is understood that these organisations will most likely run tender processes for various procurement streams so to procure their base supplies so that may correspondingly deliver product – everything from signage to marquee and furniture hire, catering to corporate gifts. Some of these orders could be large-scale, so it could make sense for like businesses to cluster to meet demand whereas other orders may be for high-end, personalised or boutique goods and supplies.

Rugby Travel Hospitality (RTH) is a joint venture company owned by Sodexo and the Mike Burton Group and now owns the global rights to manage Rugby World Cup 2011’s official hospitality and travel programme, re-appointed following the Rugby World Cup 2007 tournament in France. Hospitality is the Cup’s second largest revenue generator. It is estimated that 80,000 hospitality packages will be sold, 70% of these to be to the Australian and New Zealand domestic markets. In addition, some 120,000 travel packages are expected to sell via a network of officially appointed agents. It should be noted that RTH has the exclusive rights for any hospitality held on match days, with their approval required to include the use of any Tournament wording in advertisements for such events. Events held on non-match days will not be restricted. 

3. Meeting the needs of visitors

Here the need is to ensure the broadest spectrum of hospitality, retail and service industry sectors are well prepared and provisioned to meet the needs of the many international visitors that will come to the region, estimated to be 70,000 to the tournament at large.

Williment Travel Group, appointed to manage the Official Accommodation Bank by RNZ 2011, has already secured inventory from a number of Northland establishments to be used over the course of the tournament to accommodate officials, teams, sponsors, media and Official Travel Agent ticket inclusive packages.

4. Supplying to those involved in Tournament delivery

These include match venues, corporate hospitality venues, traffic management agencies, accommodation providers, security services, transport providers, telecommunications providers, media managers etc. Whilst these organisations may already have their own (and longer tenure) supply protocols and arrangements in place, extra support and capacity may be needed to supplement or meet any increased demand placed upon them.

5. Profiling the region, a business and or goods and services to potential international investors, markets and customers

There will be a significant number of key people (eg. industry leaders, senior executives) from a multiplicity of international organisations and enterprises attending the Tournament that will seek to understand more about New Zealand’s offerings and potential investment opportunities.

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