RBS cancels Wimbledon and other sponsorship frustrations

FRONTIERS' MISSION is to elevate the status of sponsorship to that of the other elements of the marketing mix, so it is always frustrating when that status is undermined. News that RBS was pulling out of its traditional Wimbledon hospitality in the face of its computer meltdown falls firmly into this category. Not that RBS is making the wrong call; it may judge perfectly reasonably that pictures of its senior management filing their faces with strawberries would not play out well with millions of customers struggling to pay their bills. Initial reactions backed with up with a straw poll on the Guardian's website showing 65% agreed that they shouldn't have been spending on somethign so frivolous in the first place. The bank will no doubt be sensitive in this area especially after its CEO, Stephen Hester was pictured in the papers in horse riding outfit and helmet: a look which was simultaneously elitist and ridiculous.