Beauden Barrett sports the Gallagher Insurance logo on the All Blacks' shorts. Photo / Photosport
How did the All Blacks pull off one of the swiftest and most lucrative sponsorship moves in decades? Shayne Currie meets the powerful American businessmen behind a multimillion-dollar deal and reveals the superstar name that helped get it across the line.
On Monday night in Chicago, most of the All Blacks squad ventured out to watch another fabled sports team. But while the likes of Ardie Savea, Caleb Clarke, and Rieko Ioane enjoyed a night of fun, near enough courtside, at the Chicago Bulls’ NBA game against the Atlanta Hawks, there was one noticeable absence.
Back at the Waldorf Astoria hotel, All Blacks playmaker Beauden Barrett sat on a small stage in a slightly cramped third-floor, low-ceiling room, speaking to a private audience that included some of this city’s most important business people.
The fewer than 30 in attendance heard directly from Barrett, Anton Lienert-Brown, and Quinn Tupaea about the significance of the All Blacks’ jersey, the team’s legacy, and their prospects for this weekend’s test against Ireland at Soldier Field.
The trio spoke candidly, away from the normal media spotlight, in a critically important 30 minutes for New Zealand Rugby. Afterwards, Barrett dined privately with the group.
In Barrett, New Zealand Rugby (NZR) was presenting one of its biggest superstars to the organisation’s newest sponsor – Chicago-based Gallagher Insurance, a global firm with a US$72 billion ($124b) market cap and 70,000 employees, including in New Zealand.
Gallagher has earned a spot on the All Blacks’ playing shorts by way of a lucrative new sponsorship agreement that was pulled together at relative breakneck speed following the unilateral decision by British firm Ineos to pull out of its long-term sponsorship, citing financial pressures globally.
Sitting front row on Monday night, listening intently to Barrett was Gallagher president, chief executive and board chairman J. Patrick (Pat) Gallagher jnr, the grandson of Arthur James Gallagher, who formed the business in 1927.
Pat Gallagher is a powerful American businessman, leading the world’s third-biggest insurance broker.
He explained why he ultimately signed off on the All Blacks and NZR deal and why the values of the team struck home.
“I’m a strong believer that culture, in my opinion, is probably one of, if not the leading ingredients to the success or failure of any human enterprise,” Gallagher told the Herald, shortly before sitting down to break bread with Barrett.
“I would say that includes your family. I’ll say that to people, and they look at me like ‘what?’ I go, ‘yeah, how’s the dinner table?’ and they get it.”
He said that as he grew older, he firmly believed success was based on an “unwritten code of conduct”.
“How you are going to behave yourself among each other and be able to call each other out: ‘That’s not our culture, don’t do that’.
“When you see that and believe it like I do, then you’re looking for things that align culturally.”
Gallagher referred to a comment Barrett had made minutes earlier to the small gathering about what being an All Black meant to him.
“You heard them talking today – I put this jersey on [and] all these people came before me. I love the fact - I never knew until tonight – that they have their number.
“It’s really cute. ‘I’m [All Black number 1115] and proud of it.’ I get the fact that in New Zealand, every kid wants to play for the All Blacks and their families are proud of them. I think that’s a wonderful thing – and for us to be identified with that culture.”
The monetary details of the Gallagher deal have not been revealed, but it is understood that the terms of the arrangement – alongside a similar new sponsorship deal with Toyota, and NZR’s out-of-court settlement with Ineos – have more than covered the $21 million hole left by Ineos for this year.
The Gallagher deal was pulled together rapidly, within a matter of a fortnight – an astounding feat considering the cautiousness with which big corporates usually respond, especially in a still-tight global economy.
The Herald understands that NZR chairman David Kirk and Gallagher’s Auckland-based Australasian boss Steve Lockwood – Gallagher was once the Crombie Lockwood firm in New Zealand – were instrumental in talking first before they and the NZR leadership team took the proposal to Gallagher head office.
In Chicago, the pitch landed perfectly with Gallagher chief marketing officer Chris Mead, who has been pivotal himself in a significant number of major sports sponsorships for the firm over the past decade.
He travelled to New Zealand to help sign the new sponsorship.
“Kirky was incredibly important,” said Mead.
“He’ll be spending time with our leadership team on Thursday. The NZR leadership team understand business. The conversations with him – we probably talked during those negotiations 20 or 30 times before it got done.”
It is understood Beauden Barrett was a critical cog in the deal, with Kirk and NZR chief executive Mark Robinson identifying him as the ideal ambassador for the company.
Gallagher has a number of former rugby players on its staff, including ex-Wallaby Tim Horan and Scotland’s Nathan Hines, who MCed the event in Chicago on Monday night.
Mead consulted them both over the potential All Blacks partnership – they did not hesitate.
Mead said having Barrett as an ambassador was a “natural decision”.
“He might as well be a Gallagher employee,” says Mead, who played golf with Barrett and other All Blacks in Chicago at the weekend.
“We hope we take lots of these players and help them find a career path after, but I feel like Beauden could be sitting in the office right next to me. He just fits with us.
“Kirky and Mark kind of knew, knowing our culture.”
Mead confirmed there were some performance-based incentives as part of the partnership, although he would not go into detail.
“There are a few of those, and we love those. I mean, we all have performance-based incentives, right? We do, and the team should too. I think there should be more of that. We want our teams in the playoffs.”
Gallagher is involved with numerous Major League Baseball teams – including the Chicago Cubs – as well as football and ice hockey franchises. It has the naming rights to English premiership rugby, and this weekend’s All Blacks-Ireland test match at Soldier Field.
In an age of social media, Mead is a strong believer that sports – through stadiums and teams – are the modern-day equivalent of the town square, where old-school community principles still exist.
“Internationally, obviously, as we continue to grow as a company, we are going to invest in sport that is relevant to the community,” said Mead.
“We are not trying to paint the world with Gallagher blue - it’s a mosaic and every community, every country has a different passion. We look for things that are relevant to that culture in that community.”
He says Gallagher’s NZR partnership – the initial deal runs until the end of 2027 – was a “no-brainer” but he also acknowledges it was a “fast negotiation”.
“You know, when someone comes to us with a problem and they’ve had a fire in their building, we don’t say, ‘Okay, let’s give it a year and then we’ll work with you’. They need help now.
“Don’t take that analogy too far. I’m not saying New Zealand Rugby was on fire by any stretch, but if we can help now and we can engage and we can align, we’re going to do that.”
Mead also says Gallagher is not a passive partner. “If we’re going to go in all in, we’re going to go all in.”
Pat Gallagher says the sponsorship was “not just about putting a name on a billboard and selling more insurance - believe me, we’re into that”.
But such deals also helped create a community, where what goes around comes around. “[It’s] this whole pulling the whole community together, supporting us and us supporting them that really makes it long-lasting.”
Pat Gallagher also loves the respect that rugby players have for each other and officials on the field.
“If you’ve ever listened to a rugby game – you’ve listened to a lot of them – when it comes to the refs, it’s ‘Gentlemen, I’ll have no more of that’; ‘Yes, sir’.
“Well, they don’t mic up the NBA for a reason.”
Would Gallagher want its logo on the front of the All Blacks jersey one day?
“At the right price, you bet,” Pat Gallagher says. “Right now, I’m happy with the bum.”
Shayne Currie travelled to Chicago with assistance from New Zealand Rugby.
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.