QBE are extremely active in sponsoring Rugby Union, being amongst other things a partner for the up-coming Lions Tour.

However, the RBS Six Nations Championship kicks off tomorrow and QBE are not, as far as I am aware, sponsoring this particular series. Nonetheless, they managed to get me reading about them in the context of international rugby by using their data-analysis skills to predict the outcomes of both the entire series and this weekend's matches. 

This is quite genius content marketing because it is of real value to the target audience and it reinforces one of QBE's strengths - analysing data to manage risk. This approach enables the first paragraph to read: 

"A complex mathematical formula created by actuaries whose day job is predicting the impact of catastrophes such as earthquakes and floods, has been used to predict the outcome of this year’s RBS 6 Nations tournament"

This clearly positions QBE as true experts whilst also lending credence to the value of the content. 

This, for me, is much stronger than simply having a logo attached to a match or series where there is often a feeling that the brand associated with a team is simply the company that over-paid the most for the privilege.

ps, they currently give England an 82% chance of beating the French, which is considerably more confidence than I have!