Groupama creates Groupama Assistance Voyage

9 August 2010

With its entry in the Volvo Ocean Race, Groupama extends its sponsorship programme and boosts its presence in football

2010 marks a new milestone in Groupama’s sports sponsorship programmes. The unfailing thirteen-year partner of Team Groupama headed by Franck Cammas, the mutual insurance group has decided to enter the world’s competitive sailing Everest: the Volvo Ocean Race. The Group has also boosted its sports partnerships policy through its Groupama Regional Mutuals, especially in football with the Olympique de Marseille football club and the signing of new contracts with the Olympique Lyonnais and AJ. Auxerre football clubs.
Over the past 13 years, Groupama has included sports sponsorship programmes as an integral part of its communication strategy. This action provides the Group with leverage to boost its image and underpin its growth strategy.Since 1997, when Groupama opted to invest in competitive sailing, Team Groupama has contributed significantly to modernising the Group’s image. As Frédérique Granado, Groupama’s Director of External Communications, says, “Having now partnered Franck Cammas for 13 years, we are now able to assess the benefits of this human adventure project. Groupama is today identified as the leading players in French sailing and its image has progressed significantly as an audacious, ambitious, innovative, open and modern Group.For this reason, in 2010, Groupama decided to confirm sailing as the main focus for Groupama’s sports sponsorship programme in partnership with Franck Cammas through to 2015.

The commitment to the Volvo Ocean Race (a crewed round-the-world race with stopovers) corresponds to a clear goal for Groupama: support the Group’s international development on its new markets and contribute to Groupama’s integration in the top ten European insurance companies.

“Today, Groupama is active in 14 countries. 11,000 of its 39,000 employees work outside France and generate 30% of its sales” says Frédérique Granado. “The decision to commit to the Volvo Ocean Race is clearly based on the desire to generate a project that is more international in scope while asserting the Group’s personality as a sustainable, master builder and human-centric company.”

The financial investment is indicative of Groupama’s goal, as the Group has decided to lift its average annual expenditure from 10 million euros to 17 million euros for its sailing projects.

Alongside this policy of international development, Groupama remains deeply attached to its origins and its regional roots as a day-to-day insurer.

It was for this reason that Groupama launched a policy in 2006 to back the sports partnerships formed by Groupama Regional Mutuals that target stronger local ties, while also boosting customer numbers in urban areas and the Group’s notoriety.

Instigated by Groupama’s regional companies with financial backing from the Group, these partnerships mainly focus on football through support for the first and second divisions of French professional football.

2010 also signals a milestone for Groupama in football, with the extension of its partnership with the Olympique de Marseille football club, and the signing of two new contracts with the Olympique Lyonnais and AJ. Auxerre football clubs for the coming three football seasons and involving a total investment of around three million euros.

Through these new commitments and its global budget earmarked for its sponsorship operations, Groupama has clearly stated its goals and joins the leading group of major sports sponsors in France.