Sponsorship is used by many companies to raise their profile, but choosing just the right partner and product to augment an image is important.

Sponsorship is used by many companies to raise their profile, but choosing just the right partner and product to augment an image is important.

Private banks and financial institutions sponsor everything from sports events to orchestras, writing prizes to finance courses, and most of the time it is an effective alternative to advertising.

For example, UK private bank Duncan Lawrie sponsors the Crime Writers’ Association Dagger Prize for crime fiction, which is now known as the Duncan Lawrie Dagger, and the Duncan Lawrie International Dagger for the best translated work.

The main prize is for £20,000 paid to the writer considered to be the best by the judges, and a further £5,000 is paid to the writer of the best international crime fiction. The CWA also pays £1,000 to recognise the work of the best translator.

Peter Ostacchini, deputy managing director of Duncan Lawrie, said: “Essentially, for the best part of 20 years Duncan Lawrie has sponsored literature. We have sponsored the Arvon Foundation, which is a charity that is better known for its poetry competition, but it also looks more generally at promoting creative writing.

“The sponsorship of writing was in our blood – we have a great number of literary agents and writers who are customers. People have known us as a writers’ bank because of these contacts.

“A great deal of our customers and our target audience read crime novels, it is a very popular genre for people to read. You are building an awareness of your brand, and it puts money into the arts. Outside of their work, clients in our age bracket like the arts.”

Mr Ostacchini said that the CWA are “very easy to get on with” and that Duncan Lawrie has just extended its association with the Dagger awards until 2010 because it is so happy about the way things are going.

There are PR and marketing costs over and above the prize money, said Mr Ostacchini, as it also sponsors the judges’ lunches, where the winners are picked. He is keen to point out that it has no influence on the outcome.

He said: “The CWA has a long tradition of doing these awards, it is not part of our remit to come along and hijack it. The integrity was understood. “We could not believe our luck when we got it.”

The irony of a bank sponsoring a prize for crime fiction is not lost on Mr Ostacchini, but he emphasised that it is “fiction”. But it is a much more targeted means of promoting your name than advertising, said Mr Ostacchini.

Other banks have also chosen to patronise the arts – Coutts, for example, is the principal sponsor of the Almeida theatre.

HSBC Private Bank is currently sponsoring the Mario Testino exhibition of photographs of Diana, Princess of Wales.

UBS Wealth Management in the US is also sponsoring music this year – by becoming a series sponsor for the Seattle Symphony. The “UBS Masterworks Season” will be “a celebration of the work of immigrant composers”. This will be the orchestra’s main concert line-up this year.

Barclays Wealth has also recently announced it is to sponsor the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra for the next three years, at an annual cost of £30,000.

The sponsorship programme offers the orchestra the opportunity to expand its repertoire, “educating young musicians and reaching more people through increased performances and recordings”, said Ian Ewart, head of marketing for Barclays Wealth.

It will also support the orchestra’s instrument van – vital when you consider how many cumbersome and expensive instruments an orchestra needs to carry with them to every performance.

Barclays Wealth already has two offices in Birmingham, employing around 130 staff, and tying up a deal with this orchestra enables it to show it is committed to the city, while aligning itself with the qualities of the orchestra. This is a tack taken by most, if not all, companies when they are looking to tie up a sponsorship deal.

Mr Ewart said: “This as a demonstration of our commitment to the city as we continue to expand our operations both in Birmingham and across the UK. The orchestra’s focus on leveraging its national and international presence from the regions fits closely with Barclays Wealth’s strategy, as does their ethic of education and diversity.”

This is a tack taken by most, if not all, companies looking to tie up a sponsorship deal.

For example, Norwich Union is the main sponsor of UK Athletics – and has extended its association until 2012 – when Britain will host the Olympic Games. This deal is worth a staggering £50 million over the next six years, and covers not just the elite athletes, but grass roots too.

Patrick Snowball, executive chairman of Norwich Union said “We have a strong heritage in the sport of athletics and are passionate about the sport. Our continued long-term support is testament to the vision and strategy we share with UK Athletics – that of helping prepare future champions through increasing participation at the grassroots level, identifying and nurturing talent, and providing the best possible support structure to retain talented athletes and prepare them for major competitions at senior level.

“But it’s not all about the elite. Not all children can be world or Olympic champions, but sporting activity can help prepare children from all backgrounds with vital life skills such as improved confidence, discipline, motivation, behaviour and even academic attainment. Schemes such as ours develop teamwork and leadership skills together with all the associated health benefits of being active. With athletics being the root of all sports, we are in a unique position to champion this cause.”

On what is undoubtedly a smaller scale, but nonetheless important, are the scholarship programmes that some companies run, sponsoring students or courses in certain areas.

Citigroup is one of the latest companies to get involved in this, with the Citigroup Foundation financing the private banking course at Italy’s Bocconi University where it is offering a Master of Science in Finance.

For 2006/7, its grant will finance the teaching on the “Private Banking and Institutional Money Management” course, plus a scholarship for the highest achieving second year student.

The course covers areas such as private banking services, portfolio management and the creation and management of client relationships. Unlike some sponsorship deals, it is not difficult to see what the bank would get out of this deal, especially as the top students will get a prize trip to the Citigroup Private Bank office in London. Getting good staff is a perennial problem in the private banking arena.

Giuliano Malacarne, Citigroup country officer for Italy said: “This partnership is a real novelty to the Italian academic scenario. On the one hand it confirms the importance of private banking for Citigroup in our country, and on the other hand represents a further tangible commitment towards financial education at all levels. Our decision to fund Bocconi University was based on the institution’s excellence, their extraordinary planning capacity and the commitment of the teaching staff involved”.