Football Union gets boost from Red Tiger Marketing partnership

The Fiji Rakavi Football Un­ion has partnered up with Global Sports specialist Red Tiger Marketing to support the or­ganisation's commercial strategy and partnership development.

Director of Rugby Leilani Burnes said the appointment was timely with the recognition of the Flying Fijians as a tier one nation and the team's participation in the Nations Championship in July.

"Our teams are consistently performing at the highest level and we also need to make sure that our pro­gress comes to be able to strengthen our commercial foundations," Ms Burnes said.

"This will be supporting us in terms of our performance, protect our identity and benefits the wider Fiji rugby community.

Ms Burnes indicated their ambi­tion to reflect commercial growth with the values of Fiji rugby cul­ture and unique style of playing.

"Red Tiger marketing will work closely with Fiji rugby to develop structured long term commercial approaches focused on sponsorship acquisition, rights packaging and as well as evaluation," she said.

"In addition to this, we'll be build­ing partnership that aligns with our vision across both the men's and women's programmes."

Red Tiger Marketing, a global sports agency based in London, England, has worked with organi­sations like Manchester United and Scotland rugby.

Ms Burnes said Red Tiger Mar­keting was in partnership with the Commonwealth games which will be held in Glasglow, Scotland in July.

"What stood out to us is their abil­ity to be able to combine elite com­mercial expertise with a general re­spect to sporting identity," she said.

"There's a strong and growing global interest for Fiji rugby. This partnership allows us to harness that interest as well as responsibly do it strategically."

Ms Burnes said the partnership would ensure commercial growth and translate into meaningful im­pact on every level of the game.

Co-founder of Red Tiger Market­ing Laurence Miller said Fiji was one of the most authentic and re­spected brands in world sport.

"There is a clear opportunity to build a commercial programme that reflects the union values, pro­tects its identity and creates long­term value for both sport and its partners." Mr Miller said.

Chairman of Fiji rugby John San­day said the partnership is about building the proper commercial foundations to support the athletes, communities and future of the game in the country.