{"id":63266,"date":"2012-07-26T15:28:30","date_gmt":"2012-07-26T19:28:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=63266"},"modified":"2012-08-02T12:18:29","modified_gmt":"2012-08-02T16:18:29","slug":"webster-bank-becomes-part-of-uconn-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2012\/07\/webster-bank-becomes-part-of-uconn-team\/","title":{"rendered":"Webster Bank Becomes Part of UConn Team"},"content":{"rendered":"

A marketing relationship agreement that will join Webster Bank as a multimedia partner with UConn and the UConn Alumni Association was announced Thursday.<\/p>\n

The agreement was described as a \u201cunique partnership\u201d that for the first time will bring together all aspects of the University\u2019s marketing activities, including its high-profile athletic program and efforts to reach more than 200,000 alumni and 28,000 UConn students.<\/p>\n

The comprehensive partnership will integrate media, hospitality, venue signage as well as use of intellectual property for branding, promotions and affinity marketing. The program will be managed by IMG College, the nation\u2019s leading collegiate multimedia marketing and licensing\/brand management company which currently manages the UConn athletics marketing program.<\/p>\n

\"Rex<\/a>
Rex Hough, regional vice president of IMG Campus, left, Lisa Lewis, executive director of the UConn Alumni Association, Jerry Plush, president and CEO of Webster Bank, and Warde Manuel, UConn's director of athletics, at an event held at Centennial Alumni House to announce a major agreement to make Webster Bank "The Official Bank of UConn" on July 26, 2012. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWhat you\u2019ll find is we\u2019ll be everywhere,\u201d said Jerry Plush, president and chief operating officer of Webster Bank during a news conference at UConn Alumni House in Storrs. \u201cYou will feel Webster\u2019s presence on campus at all of the events. What\u2019s landmark about this deal is that by encompassing students and alumni, we\u2019ll be closely aligned with UConn. We\u2019re certainly excited about embracing everyone at UConn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Webster Bank will also provide support for the University\u2019s youth and community relations programs as well as for the new 70,000-square-foot Basketball Development Center scheduled to be constructed adjacent to Harry A. Gampel Pavilion on the former site of Memorial Stadium. Jim Calhoun, Hall of Fame coach of the men\u2019s basketball team, has served as a spokesman for the bank since 1998.<\/p>\n

Plush said the five-year partnership agreement includes a five-year renewal option. He noted that Webster Bank, which has its origins in Waterbury, Conn., where UConn has a regional campus, has a history of community service, with its employees volunteering to support community-based organizations.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things we talked to the team about during the course of the discussions is:\u00a0 How can we be helpful to prepare these kids better or the future?\u201d\u00a0 Plush said. \u201cThey\u2019re focused on their studies, all the other activities they’re involved in. We think it is important that we act and step up and help in running some courses on campus to help prepare kids.\u00a0 It\u2019s a really great stage in a young person\u2019s life to understand financial responsibility. We\u2019d love to be the institution that will help to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Warde Manuel, UConn\u2019s director of athletics, said the long-term agreement and commitment to youth programs is a significant factor for both the University and Webster Bank.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want to know there is a long-term commitment, that there\u2019s no wavering,\u201d Manuel said. \u201cThere is a commitment from both sides to really help build the relationship, strengthen the partnership for both our benefits — for our student-athletes, our coaches and our fans for the things that we do.\u00a0 On the flip side they know there is a long-term partner that is going to support them and to activate the partnership in a way that is meaningful for their customers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plush said Webster Bank will have several automatic teller machines set up at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, home field for Husky football games, and\u00a0 at Gampel Pavilion, on-campus home of men\u2019s and women\u2019s basketball.\u00a0 He added that the bank will pursue proposals for ATMs on campus, as well as the possibility of a full-service branch of the bank on campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though much of what is happening today with banking these days is electronic, we think it\u2019s really important to still have some of that physical presence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Alumni Benefit<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lisa Lewis, executive director of the UConn Alumni Association, said alumni will now have the opportunity to participate in a unified banking program connected to the University, including a branded credit card program.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo have one cohesive message to alumni, whether it\u2019s a program, a service or a partner, is easier and more helpful for them,\u201d she said. \u201cThe branded credit card is something people enjoy having. Whether you are at a restaurant or the store and it has the Husky on it, a conversation gets started. It\u2019s about an affiliation, a relationship and pride.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plush said the announcement that Husky men\u2019s hockey will become a member of the Hockey East Conference in 2014, was a contributing factor to the bank\u2019s decision to work with UConn.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very excited about UConn joining Hockey East. We think that\u2019s going to give the University great exposure,\u201d he said. \u201cIt will bring a lot of exciting games here to Connecticut, which I think is great for the economy and it will \u00a0be great to generate interest in hockey in the state and a little bit of Husky pride when we go to places like Boston College and Boston University. \u201c<\/p>\n

Manuel added that working with a Connecticut-based business provides advantages for the University and the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just like recruiting,\u201d Manuel said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019re not going to look elsewhere, but I want my coaches looking at the great student-athletes in this state. We\u2019re going to do the same with companies. We\u2019re always going to go with companies in this state to help them. It\u2019s a call to other companies and people out there to say it was important for Webster to invest in the student-athletes and it encourages others to look at that in terms of partnerships.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A marketing relationship agreement that will join Webster Bank as a multimedia partner with UConn and the UConn Alumni Association was announced Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":63259,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[56],"class_list":["post-63266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-07 04:41:36","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63266"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63480,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63266\/revisions\/63480"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/63259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63266"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=63266"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=63266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}