Earlier this year, Arbella Insurance Group announced its official partnership with The New England Revolution for the 2024 and 2025 Major League Soccer seasons. And, boasting over $1 billion in revenue, it’s a stunner of a goal for the insurance carrier. Speaking to Insurance Business, Gayle O’Connell (pictured), executive vice president, chief marketing officer at Arbella, said that the partnership is reflective of the sports-mad community they live in.
“We’ve been working with the New England Revolution for quite some time on community marketing programs and the Revs are truly a community-based sports organization,” she said. “We live in a sports’ rich community and the New England Revolution are very focused on giving back.”
“Arbella’s relationship with the Revs began 15 years ago when we co-sponsored the annual Special Olympics Massachusetts “Bowl for a Goal” event. The reason I fell in love with the Revs is that every player on the team attends the event,” O’Connell said. “The players bowl with Special Olympic athletes, truly demonstrating the importance of inclusion. Fifteen years later, the support and the camaraderie of the team continues, and it is truly amazing.”
With 1,100 employees based in Massachusetts and Connecticut, Arbella and its network of over 450 independent agents appreciate and support many communities-focused programs.
“One of our top core values is to take care of our employees, agents and customers. Giving back to our communities is ingrained in our DNA,” explained O’Connell. “In fact, Arbella’s Charitable Foundation has donated over $43 million to our local communities since its inception in 2005. Our Foundation is recognized every year as a top corporation by the Boston Business Journal. We also do a lot for homelessness and food insecurities – as well as for neurodiversity and social justice causes.”
“We talk about our core values in our annual reports, and it’s posted in all of our buildings. Our employees know that we put people first,” she added.
Measuring and managing the success of marketing initiatives is also important to O’Connell and her team – though it can prove challenging.
"It’s hard to measure the success of marketing campaigns unless it’s linked to digital or social efforts where you can measure site visits or clicks,” she told Insurance Business. “Quite often, it’s more about brand awareness and aligning ourselves with organizations that give back.”
But why soccer? Well, the choice was very intentional for Arbella – not least because of the inclusivity and diversity of fans that the sport really appeals to.
“Soccer in general reaches a very diverse group,” she explained. “Fans reach across all age demographics, gender and socio-economic backgrounds. There are 3.5 billion soccer fans worldwide and it is the number one sport in the world. It’s been slowly growing in the US, but we hope that with Argentinian soccer legend Lionel Messi joining the Inter Miami team, it will get the attention of potential fans.”
Looking towards the future, O’Connell said that they are excited about some of the programs the team is planning, particularly the Revolution’s sponsored themed nights.
“They have a Concussion Awareness Night – with helpful tips on how to protect yourself in sports,” she told Insurance Business. “They also have a Neurodiversity Night, which is very educational from an inclusion perspective. We applaud the team using their popularity to champion these programs and help create real change.
“There’s such a synergy between Arbella and the Revs. And we are very excited about our partnership.”
