Traditional banks are zeroing in on music-related entities—namely music festivals and concert venues—as they try to attract young music fans with sizable disposable income into clients for years to come while also supporting the local community and aligning with events that generate significant local economic benefits. Last month, Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) inked a deal to sponsor Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour when it arrives in Toronto in November 2024, hoping to gain brand recognition with legions of Swifties packing arenas worldwide.

In addition to branching out into music sponsorships, traditional banks are maintaining their commitments to other avenues like sports. A case in point is the recent extension of a $25 million per year sponsorship deal with a major golf organization.

Meanwhile, neobanks—which exist solely in the virtual world—are taking a page out of traditional banking’s playbook, ironically, and going all-in on major pro sports sponsorships to attract mainstream audiences. Last February, Ally Financial Inc. announced a league-wide sponsorship making Ally Bank—the largest digital bank in the US—the Official Consumer Bank of NASCAR and NASCAR-owned tracks.

And in what is perhaps the most surprising U-turn in the sponsorship industry in recent memory, embattled cryptocurrency brands—reeling from the collapse of FTX and recent decreases in exchange volume—are retreating from the endorsement frontlines as they regroup and reevaluate their marketing strategies.

For all these reasons and more, we’re excited to unveil our inaugural Banking Marketing Partnerships Report 2023. Authored jointly by SponsorUnited’s Marketing Research & Insights, Analytics, and Marketing teams, it delivers an in-depth analysis of more than 650 brands, 5,600 assets, and over 15,000 social posts from January 2021 through August 2023.

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