The HPA case study

Strengthening sponsorship conversations with customer insight

At a glance

Customer: The Hurlingham Polo Association (HPA)

Industry: Sports governing body

Solution: Customer insight powered by InfoBase® UK and Personicx® UK enrichment

Use case: Audience intelligence to support sponsorship and commercial partnerships

Match rate: 94.4%

Challenge

For organisations seeking sponsorship and commercial partnerships, understanding the value of their audience is essential. Sponsors want confidence that their investment will connect them with the right people, making robust audience insight a powerful commercial asset.

The Hurlingham Polo Association (HPA), the governing body for polo in the UK, recognised an opportunity to strengthen its sponsorship proposition by developing a richer understanding of its membership.

While the HPA already knew its members well, it wanted to support that knowledge with independent, data-driven insight. By gaining a clearer picture of members’ lifestyles, interests and purchasing behaviours, the organisation aimed to present a more compelling and credible audience proposition to prospective sponsors and partners.

“We wanted to reach a wider range of potential sponsors and have the confidence to speak about not only our demographics but much more detailed profiles and buying habits.”

Anna Hall, Chief Executive, The Hurlingham Polo Association

Solution

To support the HPA’s commercial ambitions, Acxiom combined customer insight reports powered by InfoBase® UK with Personicx® UK enrichment.

The profiling provided a detailed understanding of the HPA’s membership by analysing it against a broad range of demographic, lifestyle, and behavioural indicators. The analysis successfully matched 94.4% of the HPA’s records, providing a highly representative picture of its membership and confidence in the findings.

Alongside the profile report, the HPA also received Personicx-enriched customer data. This meant the insights weren’t confined to a report; they became an asset that could support future audience segmentation, member engagement, and commercial activity.

Richer audience intelligence

The project confirmed that the HPA’s members represent a distinctive premium audience and, importantly, provided objective evidence to support that position.

The analysis demonstrated that members consistently over-index across a range of affluence, lifestyle and purchasing indicators compared with the wider UK population. Rather than simply confirming assumptions, it quantified the characteristics that make the HPA’s audience attractive to premium brands and sponsors.

The findings also revealed strong commonality in members’ interests and lifestyles, providing the HPA with a richer understanding of the audience it serves and creating a clearer framework for discussing audience value with prospective commercial partners.

“The research backed up what we already knew, but it was highly impressive to see specific criteria where the HPA members over-index multiple times compared to the average population.”

Anna Hall, Chief Executive, The Hurlingham Polo Association

Turning insight into commercial value

The greatest value of the project lies not simply in understanding the HPA’s membership, but in being able to confidently communicate that understanding.

The insights have become a valuable resource during conversations with prospective sponsors and partners. Instead of relying solely on high-level demographic information or anecdotal knowledge, the HPA can now support discussions with robust audience intelligence that demonstrates the quality, purchasing power and lifestyle characteristics of its membership.

Looking ahead, the enriched customer data provides additional opportunities to support audience segmentation, member engagement and more tailored communications as the HPA continues to evolve its marketing and partnership strategy.

Early impact

While commercial outcomes are still emerging, the project has already delivered significant value. The HPA now has an evidence-based understanding of its audience that strengthens its sponsorship proposition and supports more informed conversations with prospective partners.

The organisation is better equipped to articulate who its members are, what differentiates them from the wider population, and why they represent an attractive audience for premium brands.

“Working with Acxiom was very easy; they guided me through every step of the way and delivered exactly the work we had agreed on, on time and to budget. The work has enabled us to be confident that we really understand our membership in early discussions with potential partners and sponsors. These are yet to bear fruit, but I have no doubt that they will do it in time.”

Anna Hall, Chief Executive, The Hurlingham Polo Association

Building the foundation for future growth

By combining the strategic insight of InfoBase® UK with the actionable segmentation capabilities of Personicx® UK, Acxiom helped The Hurlingham Polo Association turn customer data into commercial intelligence.

The project has strengthened the HPA’s ability to communicate the value of its audience today while creating a foundation for more targeted engagement, stronger sponsorship conversations, and future commercial growth.