The competition within the UK financial services marketplace has never been more aggressive and following closely on the heels of Lloyds TSB's announcement of its sponsorship of London 2012, competitor Nationwide is today launching its most ambitious, and bold, multimillion-pound campaign to date.
"Sponsored by you" has been in secret development by the Nationwide in partnership with the four national football associations (England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales) for the last six months.
Nationwide has decided to bring to life the modern context of mutuality, where everything it does is seen through the lens of its customers as opposed to external shareholders, unlike the business strategy adopted by all its major high-street rivals that must satisfy external investor interests often at the expense of their customers.
Peter Gandolfi, head of brand strategy at Nationwide, said: "This campaign has been designed to get people talking and to engage with our 12m customers in a unique way.
"For the first time, we're focused on leveraging the bulk of our football sponsorship investment in delivering 'money-can't buy' experiences for our customers and handing back the sponsorship benefits to them -- not just for one match but for the duration of all our sponsorships."
The Nationwide will make available 100% access to its ticket allocation to its customers for matches played by the home international sides.
In addition, other benefits include the chance for customers to see their names appear on match programme ads, have their children lead out the national team for a match, attend team training sessions, meet the players and management and receive exclusive signed merchandise.
In addition, the Nationwide will become the first national sponsor to directly use the names of its customers on all perimeter advertising boards at major international matches as ambassadors for its brand.
The new campaign will break for the internationals starting at the end of May, including England's first game against Brazil at the new Wembley Stadium on June 1.
Jonathan Hill, group commercial director of the FA, said: "We welcome this innovative and new approach to the new England sponsorship. This is a bold and imaginative way to build on the success of our long term relationship."
Nationwide decided to enter football sponsorship back in 1999 because it made good business sense. Its sponsorship objectives can be summarised as increasing awareness, increasing brand preference and ultimately driving sales of its products and services.
Gandolfi said: "We've nearly 700 branches in towns and cities across the UK and we'll be engaging with football fans, our customers and employees all the way through this integrated football sponsorship.
"There's massive interest in the national teams. And by stressing our mutuality credentials in a highly engaging way, we are demonstrating that we are genuinely proud to be different."
Ardi Kolah is a sponsorship practitioner and author of Sponsorship: Strategies for Maximising the Return on Investment, published by SportBusiness (2006).