After winning one of their country’s three gold medals at the 2012 Olympic Games, South African Rowing might have expected a surge in financial and other support. But despite its global achievement, the sporting association survived on scraps and the world-beating passion and discipline of its handful of high class participants. That attracted the attention of RMB, whose CEO James Formby explains in this interview with Biznews.com’s Alec Hogg why his company has become rowing’s headline sponsor. Apart from tailor-made adverts raising the profile of the sport, it could prove a shrewd investment, too. South African rowers have a very real chance of reaching the podium at this year’s Olympic Games in Rio, having won gold and bronze at the recent world championships. This time there’s little chance of commentators mistaking them for Australians – as happened when SA’s coxless four won in London.
RMBâs support of Rowing South Africa and the way itâs aligning the sponsorship with its brand is a fascinating story that weâre going to get into, in a moment with James Formby whoâs the Chief Executive. Before we go there James, tell us a bit about yourself. How did you get into banking in the first place?
I was originally actually at camp in London for one of the big banks. I was doing camp work. Until then, I didnât actually really know what bank did and that gave me my first taste. The bug bit and when I came back to South Africa, I was very keen to work for a bank.
What did you study?
When I studied overseas, it was a Masters in Philosophy. I studied for a while, and then I temped. Then I decided to head back to South Africa.
Thatâs an interesting side because at RMB, you guys do think differently. It almost reminds me a little of what Anglo American used to do with the PPE students from Oxford and Cambridge whom they would often put into the Anglo hierarchy and of course, develop well from there.
Yes. At RMB, we have a very similar thing. I really wanted to kind of, join an organisation that could make a difference and at the time, RMB was young. It was small and it was doing amazing things so I was immediately attracted to RMB, I must say.
Has life changed much for you since you became CEO?
Itâs gotten a bit busier but it was still busy before. I definitely attend more board meetings and things like that as opposed to doing other stuff – more meetings and slightly less clients. I came from the client side so I love meeting clients and dealing with clients but itâs been great. Itâs exciting to be able to work with the different teams across a bank and try and make things happen, and make changes for the better.
And also, to drive new processes like this one that you guys are involved with now, with Rowing South Africa. It was interesting, reading about this ahead of this interview, that RMB hasnât had a television commercial for nine years. Why?
When you really come down to it, we deal with fairly small cross-section of clients because our focus is really, the large corporates across South Africa and also the big financial institutions so we have very deep relationships across those segments. Typically, we market much more directly to them and we also have flagship events like our Starlight Classics events so those have been our focus. Thereâs obviously, also RMB Private Bank, which I donât manage. Itâs managed as part of our broader group. Obviously, thereâs an important brand in RMB Private Bank as well. We felt we were missing something by not really, widening the awareness of RMB and what it does and we think itâs a complementary part of a broader advertising strategy.
A great collaboration by RMB and @TeamRowSA https://t.co/pzXAn2l3t4 We are proud to be a part of SA Rowing. pic.twitter.com/ENIAtMHLay
— Wits Rowing (@wubc_wits) June 3, 2016
âThinking. Pulling togetherâ. Nice, short words I suppose, that mean a lot. Clearly, they do but they are words, which can be remembered within the organisation.
Yes. What happened here was that we started with quite a long process and a little bit of soul-searching to say, âWhat do we think makes RMB different or distinct?â There are many thing that all banks have. Weâve all got good people. Weâve got good platforms and products, etcetera. We are a talent brand so thatâs not to say that we donât think weâve got talented people, but we know that many corporates and banks have very talented people. We felt (after thinking) that we are different. Not because of the people whom we have, but because of the way that they work together, the way they can get things done, and deliver unique solutions for our clients. Thatâs what makes us distinctive. We wanted to create an analogy using that thinking but we needed another analogy to try and explain it. It was interesting. It wasnât that weâd decided a long time ago that rowing was a sport. It was rather more by chance.
In fact, I talked at one of our conferences; just about focusing on whatâs inside our boat as a metaphor for saying âletâs focus on what we can control and not on what we canât control. Weâre going to be the best at what we can controlâ. Funnily enough, that linked to the boat and then linked back to what makes us distinctive. It suddenly started to lead our creative team towards the thinking that rowing was a great analogy or metaphor for that message. I canât take the credit for it. Our marketing team came up with that piece of the puzzle.
It is a lot of creative thinking and yet, in another sense, these are the guys who won a gold medal at the 2012 Olympics. South Africa only won six medals. One of them being these four chaps whom (for most people)⌠I guess, if you had to do a survey around South Africa and say, âWho are James Thompson, Matthew Briton, John Smith, and Sizwe Ndlovu?â Iâm not too sure too many South Africans would actually know that these are gold medallists.
Yes. They probably wouldnât know, but I think many people remember seeing that amazing race and how they came from behind to win it. They were such a surprise that the commentator actually thought they were Australian initially. Clearly, he corrected his mistake. Itâs a great story but whatâs a much greater story is how Rowing South Africa has achieved excellence against all the odds. A gold medalâs obviously one instance, but the excellence of these teams achieved – both at different levels and not just the Olympic level. Itâs fantastic. Once we understood the story, we were very drawn to the story of Rowing South Africa and what itâs been able to achieve, almost against the odds and on very meagre means.
Great new partnership unveiled between RMB and Rowing SA – excited to be part of the project #thinkingpullingtogether
— Frontiers Sport (@FrontiersSport) June 1, 2016
Only 3000 rowers in South Africa, so not expected to be a powerhouse internationally. Youâve got the look for the ingredients somewhere and perhaps, in the bit of reading Iâve done, Roger Barrow (the coach) could be that ingredient. Whatâs your reading of it? Why are they such outperformers?
Again, it links to the message in our ad because with a small pool of rowers, it canât just be about the talented people. Obviously, theyâre very talented but itâs much more about the way they work together, and the way theyâve built a team (acted and behaved as a team) to achieve amazing things. Out of that pool, Iâm sure that other countries with much bigger rowing communities would say theyâve got bigger/more muscular people, but weâve been able to do that well because of the passion, commitment, and teamwork that the other countries may not have been able to do.
Are there things that youâve been able to learn from observing the way Rowing South Africa has gone about its work?
Weâve really been amazed at the passion of the people and the incredible discipline that they show. The time and commitment that these elite athletes have to devote to rowing boats on and off the water, or inside and outside the boat is truly amazing. They do this. Not for the fame because as you pointed out, theyâre not famous. Theyâre not know. Maybe this ad will help to show this. They are extremely passionate and disciplined and theyâve achieved excellence for excellenceâs sake and not because of the huge sponsorships or because rowing has been a sport, which hasnât been the beneficiaries of massive publicity or sponsorship.
Those three words that you are using through these ads and clearly, like to associate with RMB â thinking. Pulling. Together. What do you put around them when youâre talking to not only your own people but to the public?
Part of the detail/message âthinkingâ and one of the ads we focus on specifically is all about the detailed hard work, the preparation, and the planning that one has to do. âPullingâ is really, the race, passion, and commitment to win and obviously, âtogetherâ is about teamwork and this where I think rowing is unique from other sports. Itâs much more about the team. In other sports, an individual can score a century or score a goal. Here, itâs really only about the team and every member of the team has to be absolutely functioning at 100 percent. The âthinking, pulling, togetherâ in isolation, works because each word is powerful on its own but when one puts it together and thinks of the combination of words, itâs also very powerful. Itâs a thinking manâs sport. Thinking is what we do at RMB. Thatâs what we pride ourselves on but thinking and pulling together has this combination of working together, which is something thatâs much broader than just banking.
It talks about the role that banks play in our economy and in our society. I think you can extend it to say how important it is as South Africans, that we think and pull together. You can engage with these words (I think) on multiple levels.
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How has your team at RMB reacted to this sponsorship?
The truth is that we havenât really told them yet. We launched this today for the press and more widely, and weâll do a viewing across the bank of these ads and the sponsorship only on Friday. I think there may have been a few whispers in the corridors and I think thereâs a little bit of excitement coming through, but weâll really only see it after Friday.
Theyâve been struggling financially, for a long time (Rowing South Africa). Are you only now going to be kicking money in, and for how long?
In terms of our arrangement, what weâve tried not to do is trying to exclusively, buy SA Rowing. Thatâs not the intention at all. We wanted to work with SA Rowing and help and support what theyâre doing. Weâve got an annual arrangement â renewable â and if it works for us and it works for them, weâll keep doing it. We know this is not something, which we enter for the short term. Itâs something we want to build and we want to help SA Rowing beyond the Olympics. We havenât put a defined time on it. What we have also said is the way we can work together is not only in monetary ways. There are many things that we can do to help our teams. For example, weâve given them access to our slow lounges, which is obviously through the FNB brand but theyâve all got access to slow lounges because when they travel, small things like helping them by sponsoring them with small things they need such suntan lotions, equipment and all of those things.
We donât want it to be seen that weâre just providing monetary support and clearly, we also want to make sure that the sport benefits. Not only at the elite level where it is important, but also at a school level and at a developmental level. I think those help build the sport for the longer term.
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Thereâs no doubt that the involvement with a smaller sport like this, can be thoroughgoing. The prize, surely, has to be the potential for another gold medal. South Africa never won a rowing gold medal up until the 2012 Olympics and I think weâve competed 18 times so that was an outlier. How are these guys doing? Are they likely to be contenders in the Rio Olympics?
I must say Alec, I canât really comment specifically. I just wouldnât know, relative to the other teams and how theyâre doing. We know that theyâve put an incredible amount of work in but we always said that this was an association, which wasnât about the Olympics. Weâll all root for them at the Olympics and weâd love them to succeed but this is actually a story, which is much more about the passion and commitment of people to achieve this excellence whether they win a Gold, Silver, or Bronze or not. Weâll still be proud to be associated with them and to support them because of the passion theyâve shown.
How big is the team thatâs going to be going to the Olympics? Are you close enough to that?
I donât actually have all the details on that, Alec. I know that theyâre getting close. The boats have just gone and the selections are literally in the process of happening. I wouldnât want to pre-judge exactly what and whoâs going, etcetera because that process is still unfolding for them as far as I know.
Thereâs no doubt that the timing of your television campaign isnât going to hurt their appeal to South Africa. It wonât just be the people at RMB whoâll be pulling for them.
Yes. Absolutely. We hope that it does just that, that it raises awareness for South Africans who are going out and competing on the international stage and hopefully, will do well. We know that South Africans sometime achieve amazing things, against odds.
James Formby is the Chief Executive of RMB.