The sport of polo “continues to remain largely the domain of the wealthy and the influential,” yet it also has become “a globally recognised sport, attracting serious sponsorship and investment,” according to Salamander Davoudi of the FINANCIAL TIMES. The game “is an attractive vehicle for corporate hospitality.” U.K.-based Asprey is “one of a number of luxury brands that invest in polo by sponsoring teams and tournaments and by developing lines of clothing and accessories that tap into the sport’s exclusive image.” Other luxury brands “making significant investments in polo include Jaeger-LeCoultre, the Swiss watchmaker.” Jaeger-LeCoultre CEO Jérôme Lambert said that polo’s “various sponsors pump up” to $28M a year into the sport. Luxury jeweller Cartier “has been involved in polo for almost 30 years and remains one of the sport’s most significant sponsors.” Davoudi noted it is “not just luxury goods groups that are attracted to polo.” Among the sport’s other backers are Audi, which “sponsors the annual Audi Polo Awards, Veuve Clicquot, the champagne house, and Julius Baer, the Swiss private bank.” In addition to the “brand association in traditional markets such as the UK, US and Argentina, polo’s growth internationally offers access to developing markets.” It is “expanding in countries such as Hungary, Russia, Poland and China, and in the Middle East.” Sponsors said that polo is “beginning to shed its male image,” and there has been “a notable rise in the number of female players” (FINANCIAL TIMES, 7/23).
