Driving Differentiation through Sponsorship

Here’s one… Over the months of Thursday Thoughts I’ve written to date, I’ve raised concepts around the merits of sponsorship, the value, the measurement and the overall potential it’s capable of as a business strategy (Read: it’s more than a marketing play…). Today’s thought draws our attention towards its ability to provide differentiation that’s hard(er) to copy. 

Let’s start by thinking about brand and business USPs. 20 or 30 years ago, it was far easier to build a moat around your business; either through NPD or a brand positioning that was difficult to replicate. Today, the pace of life and ability to pivot and change means that the opportunity to mimic what is working for other businesses or categories is far easier to integrate into your approach.  

As more entrants come into play, at a more rapid rate of knots, the need to constantly evolve is paramount. Take ‘Food Delivery’ as a category. In the early phase we had one main player in Uber Eats who were quickly joined by the likes of Deliveroo, Menulog, Foodora, DoorDash, Milk Run et al… What all of these businesses were able to do, is observe. They could watch from afar and plan an entry strategy to create as big a splash as possible until the next entrant came in. 

What I find interesting about these newer business categories is how quickly they all turned to sponsorship as a way to differentiate. I was across the Deliveroo x St Kilda deal, I enjoyed the Door Dash approach with the State of Origin, we all loved the Uber Eats activity with Channel 9 around the Australian Open… Same thing for FinTech. The volume of deals being done locally and globally from these relative ‘start-ups’ is immense. 

What they have all correctly recognised, is that audience passions are the most persuasive way to connect and land a message. We are hardwired to seek out our passions. We think about them more often, have deep emotional connections and an availability bias that is almost impossible to replicate through ‘spots and dots’. 

It doesn’t stop with newer product categories. Some of the world's biggest consumer brands have recently turned to sponsorship in their plight to stay relevant. Google’s recent deal with McLaren F1 Team or Spotify’s deal with Barcelona spring to mind - examples you’d never expect to see under the view of ‘why would they need sponsorship…’’.

So here’s the thought. If you’re facing a competitive threat, have a think about how you can use your sponsorship/s to say something unique about your business that is hard to replicate. Be original, get creative and open the doors for sponsorship to be more than a logo somewhere, to an integrated part of your overall go-to-market approach. Here’s some thoughts to spur you along…

1. Sponsorship, by its very nature, provides category exclusivity. While your competitors can buy advertising around yours, they can’t buy the same sponsorship. 

2. Unlock what makes the audience tick about the sponsorship. Consider this, and how - as a business - you could play a genuine role in amplifying it. (Hint. People care more about their passions than they ever will about your brand). 

3. Think about how the assets you’ve secured can work across the broader business than just marketing. For example, how could they be used to strengthen the supply chain, improve front-line staff performance, enhance thinking around NPD etc.

4. Ask the right questions. Why have we got sponsorship? What is it for? How are we using and measuring it? Get under the hood and develop a crystal clear understanding in order to be able to defend its use when the pressure increases and the urge to ‘buy more display’ creeps in...

In the fast-paced, ever-changing world we operate in, it’s likely your access to people's passions through sponsorship that can provide the strongest, clearest point of difference for your brand or business… 

Power of Three

Here’s one… A trend I’m predicting to gather momentum this year is the inclusion of a third party to partnership marketing. As the creative standards grow within the sponsorship sector, the demands for uniqueness and originality grow with it. 

I’m not suggesting that a conventional Brand x Rights Holder engagement is insufficient - far from it. What I’m seeing is a greater opportunity to connect and inspire by folding a third ingredient into the mix. 

Like many trends, this is one I’ve seen bubbling up under the surface within various subcultures. One of particular note is the masterful work of the Shoe Surgeon. This artist has forged an incredible niche by dismantling our favourite sneaker brands and re-building them with a bespoke twist. Be that another fashion brand, or even a confectionary brand, the results are captivating and unique. 

So what can this third element look like? In my opinion, it doesn’t always need to be another brand - it could be - but another element that brings additional equity to the outcome. It could be a person, a media channel, another property or indeed another brand. 

Arguably, we’ve seen examples of this third pillar for a while, but I’d also argue this was more default than design. The role of ambassadors sitting across multiple sponsorships is a good example. Where I see the potential value is by building these outcomes from the ground up and thereby adding specific elements together with a clear idea in mind. 

I’ve been working with a business in the US recently and have made this third element a core part of their partnership marketing strategy. It’s a simple addition to a strategy that acts as a turbocharger, not a straightjacket. We’re currently working on some exciting campaigns that bring these two other elements into play, and I’ll share outcomes when it’s suitable to do so. 

In the meantime, have a think about what brand, person, channel or technology you can add into your campaigns to bring a new and unique element to the execution. I’m fairly certain it’ll pay dividends.

Time to put a rocket up our collective proverbials...

Here’s one… How many articles, polls or posts have you seen since the closing ceremony about the sponsorship deals our athletes may now attract having ‘proven’ themselves at Tokyo2020?

https://www.bandt.com.au/expert-tips-the-aussie-olympians-most-likely-to-win-gold-with-marketers-dollars/?utm_source=Adestra&utm_medium=email&utm_term=&utm_content=Expert%20Tips%20The%20Aussie%20Olympians%20Most%20Likely%20To%20Win%20Gold%20With%20Marketers’%20Dollars&utm_campaign=B%26T%20today%3A%2010th%20August%202021

I have nothing against these articles. In fact, they will gradually help us get to a better place by further shining a light on these remarkable individuals, but here’s my point. 

The men, women and (in this example of the Olympics), kids who represented their nations around the world are all extraordinary examples of the human race. Dedication, commitment, tenacity, belief and the walking embodiment of what we’re all capable of to one degree or another. They were always a marketeers dream but they just didn’t have that exposure that made us feel they were worthy of our marketing dollars… 

Why? No reach, no audience, no eyeballs = no value. C’mon people. Really? There isn’t a brand or organisation in Australia or the world for that matter that doesn’t have a reputation or perception problem that doesn’t need a solution (bear in mind a good NPS is 28!). Finding ways to tell their brand story with authenticity does not come from a 30” TVC formed of a wonderfully fabricated narrative and beautifully conveyed by actors, but from proof and evidence. 

There was a kid in my school back in the UK called Anders. His mum was an astronaut. Anders had very few mates and was often found awkwardly standing at the edge of the playground at break. He wasn’t the cool kid and nobody knew at the time his mum was an astronaut. One break, while all eyes were on the cool kids with the Reeboks and slick haircuts, someone shouted out from across the playground “this kids mum is an astronaut”... Anders became a highlight of our year. His mum came in and did a talk. He was still a wallflower, but everyone knew Anders and how his mum might be in space one day. 

Let me break this down:

Anders = unique story and perspective (think Athlete)

Kid who shouted = provided the reach (think media plan)

If you work in marketing, either client or agency side, it is your opportunity to find and shout about an ‘Anders’. Your opportunity to promote the incredible abilities and characters who exist in our society; athletes, dancers, artists et al. Stop looking for the bright lights and flick the switch yourself - it’s waaaay more valuable to help someone on their way up than cling to someone who is. 

A point really well made in Andrew Hornery’s article in the SMH where he describes the slim pickings as far as formal budget allocation to athletes is concerned. Athletics Australia has a budget of $1.7m to support athletes. Compared that to the $123.3m Australian businesses ‘wasted’ on digital spend in the 2nd Qtr this year, and it helps one realise the need for more non-Federation funding changes. 

https://www.smh.com.au/culture/celebrity/why-the-formula-for-funding-athletes-like-peter-bol-must-change-20210803-p58fi7.html

To conclude… Reach is a vital part of what we do but you are missing the trick if you start with it. You can buy reach for toffees these days, but you can’t fabricate authenticity… I hope our athletes get the backing and rewards they some rightly deserve. I hope businesses across the country and world sign them up, but I really hope we all take a moment to realise that they were always worthy of our support, we just didn’t give the time to discover that. 

Why Reach Keeps Me Up…

Here’s one… I’ve wanted to write about ‘reach’ for a while. It’s the single biggest concern I have with our industry, and one I think we all need to be well aware of.

With NSW in the midst of a lockdown due to last god-knows-how-long, and other states experiencing their own ‘squeaky bum time’ now feels like the right time to talk about reach. So why does it concern me as much as it does? The answer lies in a number of places, and I’ll do my best to outline them.

1. Selling sponsorship based on the audience it reaches, while important, allows the marketing industry to view sponsorship as a media channel and therefore compare it to other media channels. While many of our top properties come with huge audiences, none of them can reach as many consumers as other channels can for a fraction of the cost. Ergo - we’re wrongly educating the industry that the strength of sponsorship is its ability to reach an audience vs. its ability to persuade an audience. 

2. When sport grinds to a halt, sponsors run for the hills. We saw this at the outset of Covid, and we’re at risk of seeing it again now. Marketeers want make-goods, refunds or terminations because they’re no longer reaching fans in the numbers they were sold. Fans are fans regardless of whether an event is cancelled or not. Clearly this is a case by case thing, but I’d bet the majority of brands with grievances were just logo slapping in the first place. 

3. Focussing on reach takes the focus away from actually using sponsorship. If you’re justifying sponsorship spend based on reach and therefore media value, it’s highly likely you’re not leveraging IP or integrating the sponsorship into your business or value chain (hint: this is where sponsorship will crush any other media channel for performance). Sponsorship isn’t a media channel, it’s a business strategy. Logos mean nothing without a proposition behind it. 

4. Reach blurs the lines of logic. It’s like a crack pipe for the sponsorship industry. You just want more and more of it regardless of whether there is a better-placed property to help solve your problem, albeit with a smaller reach. Are we overlooking opportunities to partner with more niche properties in search of others with maximum reach? I reckon we are…  

So if reach really does worry me, what do I propose we do about it? Well, it’s actually quite simple. Don’t start with it, don’t focus on it and don’t justify against it. 

Instead, focus on finding the property with the best potential to solve your problem. Then, build the sponsorship proposition that aligns the property with your business and/or brand strategy. Finally, get creative and design a solution that can be integrated into your business. 

Only once you’ve done this, can you then use what reach is available to hit your audience. If you need more reach than the property provides, top it up with paid spend. You will end up with a far more powerful approach that isn’t impacted if an event is postponed. 

I’m super passionate about this topic and hope my concerns and suggestions have been clearly articulated. Selling/buying reach is a race to the bottom. We have a mountain to climb to get the collective marketing industry to see sponsorship for its myriad advantages and to use it to its best to solve problems. Reach is always going to be important, but it can also be our demise...

How close are we to Sponsorship’s ‘Tipping Point’?

Here’s one… Would you believe me if I told you that you’re 7x heavier when you engage in your passions than at any other point in your life? 

Like many millions of you, I’ve been glued to Netflix taking in Sir David Attenborough's latest attempt to get the world to take climate change seriously. Like many millions of you, I’ve been equally as touched and concerned at the realities facing all of us and our individual and collective obligations in helping to reverse some of the ‘boundaries’ highlighted in ‘Breaking Boundaries’. 

So what does this mean to us - primarily those in the sponsorship industry? Well, back to that reference to your weight… Clearly I’m not suggesting your waistline ballooning, but I am telling you that your carbon footprint is on average 7x greater when consuming a passion of yours than at any other point in your life. Take that in. Your impact on the environment is 7 times as great just by doing something that makes you, you. 

Over time fans have demanded an increase in the levels of sophistication, attention to detail, ‘raising-of-the-bar’ and overall ‘thrills and spills’ when it comes to measuring their value for money. As an example in the space of only a few short years, the Australian Open has catapulted into the best sporting spectacle in the southern hemisphere from what was a great tennis tournament into a fully blown culture, sport and lifestyle festival. But at what cost?

I remember going to the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the UK when I was a kid. Loads of cars roaring up the hill of Lord March’s land. Back then there was the odd 3x3 marquee offering refreshments and give-aways etc. Fast forward a decade and you’ll find what we see today; rows and rows of extravagant one-off builds displaying the very best cars from every auto brand known to humankind. What we find at today's event is a something-for-everyone solution that gives fans little choice but to put the festival on the annual calendar. 

What these brands and events are adding to our lives as fans brings an inordinate amount of value and experience that we’re all the better for it, but heeding the insights from Prof. Johan Rockstrom would convince us we need to reset our expectations. 

This is a pure supply and demand situation; fans demand greater value for money, rights holders supply it.

It’s a rarely reported outcome of the Olympics that the venues created to host them turn into white elephants pretty quickly. We saw Olympic greatness in Brazil when Schooling beat his childhood hero Phelps to the gold in butterfly claiming Singapore’s only ever medal. Just 12 months later, the scene of the triumph looks somewhat different…

In Sir David Attenborough’s documentary it called for our collective contribution in reversing the boundaries or ‘tipping points’ in our everyday lives, so what can we and should we be doing through sponsorship?

From a sponsors point of view:

1. Expectation - quite often, glitz and glam is requested to appease the ‘powers that be’ about the merits of a sponsorship. Having the C-Suite and Board rock up for a cheese sandwich and lukewarm mug of tea doesn’t cut the mustard nor leave the best impression. It’s the Sponsorship Directors responsibility to set the expectations up the chain in order to avoid unnecessary expense in execution.

2. The brief - the task being set for the agency needs to recognise the requirement for the solution to be ‘lighter’ and more sustainable. Bigger is not better. It’s certainly going to garner attention, but don’t be fooled by it. Attention to detail, strong insight and sharp execution will win the race. 

3. KPI’s - challenge your partners to deliver concepts that are carbon neutral or at the least have a reuse or recycled factor to them. I’ve walked around warehouses full of builds that ‘will be used next year’ that never were… What Waste Management does with the WM Phoenix Open in Arizona is top class - 99.9% reused or recycled.

From a rights-holder point of view:

1. Set the guidelines - great focus is given by rights-holders on ensuring sponsor activity does something for the fans and not just the sponsors ExCo, but ensuring activities fit into a stringent set of guidelines around environmental impact is critical. 

2. Publicise progress - own your destiny and path to sustainability. Nobody expects there to be no environmental impact in what you do, but don’t let the positive impact you create become invisible. Help fans know you’re on a journey to sustainability and promote it. If you need inspiration, look to Forest Green Rovers and the journey Dale Vance and his team have been on (more in this in next week's feature)

3. Standardised spaces - as much as I don’t like the one-size-fits all approach to the US Open, the standardisation of the fan environments takes the opportunity for brands to ‘peacock’ out of the question. The retail precinct around Show Court 3 at Melbourne Park is a brilliant example of standardisation that still enables creativity. Having attended US sports events in consecutive years I can tell you they roll out the exact same activations year on year. Not only is this cheaper, it also gives fans a chance to register messages, recognise activity and gain that year on year familiarity to the event. 

We’re all in on this one together. We have to be. If we all set ourselves the same challenge of reducing our carbon footprint at events year on year, we’ll be doing our part. It doesn’t need to impact sponsorship value or creativity either. If anything it can help to drive it further forward. 

If you need convincing of the merit of marketing your purpose, pop the kettle on and get comfy for a google session on the topic. Or I could save you the time and tell you it’s bloody powerful. 

Sir David Attenborough and his cohort of scientists haven’t relented in their efforts to get us all to pay more attention to the devastating impacts we’re creating to the environment, so let’s not overlook our opportunity to play our part. 

The Naomi Osaka Rule

Here’s one… What role should we play, do we play or can we play in regards to protecting the mental wellbeing of the athletes we seek to commercialise? I’ve spent much of this week going over and over the recent concerns with Naomi Osaka and her withdrawal from the French Open. There are hallmarks in this example that point to the areas we should be doing a better job at as an industry and there’s a role we can all be playing in that.  

ICYMI - Naomi Osaka announced prior to the French Open that she wouldn’t be taking part in the tournament's mandatory post-match press conferences citing concerns over her mental health. The news put the sports and entertainment industry into a tailspin of conflicting opinions, morals and judgement, but mainly just headlines about how much she was being fined

Owing to the resulting interest in her refusal to partake in the interviews, Naomi ended up withdrawing from the Major in the interests of removing the distraction she’d caused to other players, but it’s where we’re left as an industry that I find particularly important to discuss. 

I must start by saying that our collective welfare, mental health and wellbeing has never been of more importance than it is today. The circumstances we’ve all endured and are enduring these past 18months have pushed us all to our limits, and beyond, and I find examples like Naomi’s particularly concerning. 

What’s happened since the withdrawal? Well, of course the International Tennis Federation will undergo an investigation into the treatment of players in the hands of the media, but my worry is that this is only one part of the problem, and focussing just on the media will distract us from looking at the other key factors.

Yes the media play a huge card in this topic, but isn’t their job to ask the tough questions that help mere mortals realise these people are only human? Society looks to those in the spotlight as a source of comfort, inspiration and relatability. We need to see angst in order to learn how we can all overcome it. 

I reached out to a good friend and WTA Board Member earlier this week to get their read on things. Like me, they felt the issue here wasn’t purely about the media but something that lay closer to home for Naomi; her representation…

As you’ll appreciate, agents nurture talent in order to find them commercial deals which supplement their on-court earnings through lucrative endorsements. In return, they are rewarded for their efforts. For the most part, this important relationship works very well, yet sadly there are an increasing number of examples where it doesn’t; and I fear in Naomi’s case that’s what we’re seeing. 

Like many highly-strung athletes, Naomi is actually an incredibly shy person off court. She has a very sharp moral compass and deep interests in other areas of her life, but what she isn’t is the bulletproof marketing machine that she’s sold to be. It’s not that she shouldn’t be taking commercial opportunities (far from it), but more so that she be better guided and protected by those around her as she does so.  

Setting expectations of the commercial realities of professional sport takes a back-seat to physical training and competing. It’s something I experienced first hand earlier this year when I was approached to work with young Aussie golfer Steph Kyriacou as she prepared to take her first season on the LET. It wasn’t until talking with Steph that it became clear that little time, if any was given to educating athletes on the commercial realities of sport. Media training, sure, but the gory details about what brands will expect if they sign deals with them, less so. 

So what can we be doing better? Here’s a few thoughts:

1. Clearer communication. This will always lead to results. Better communication with the athlete around their purpose, principles and values in order to understand what is right and wrong for them, and doing this early enough in the journey to greatness for it to be embedded is vital. My work with Steph covered how to think of her brand, her boundaries, morals and values and also things to consider when being responsible for a brand's image other than her own. 

1. Better guidelines. There are sadly occasions where the media overstep the mark in the nature of their questions and are then largely unaccountable to the ramifications. We see agents stepping in to cut off questions, but the damage is already done by that point. We need to help the media by shaping an appropriate approach where they’re able to elicit the insights they’re looking for without doing so at the expense of the athletes' wellbeing; if they do, there should be fair implications. 

1. More authenticity. As athletes get more wise to the world of the commercial aspects, they’re better able to accommodate deals which may stray from their core beliefs. Setting clear frameworks for athletes early on in order to protect their welfare through appropriate deals is vital. The worry here is that they seem harmless on the surface, but have a highly negative compounding impact that hugely damages athletes' sense of self. ‘Selling out’ is a fear all athletes have, and recovering from this can take some time. 

This is a difficult topic to unpack and likely to draw all types of opinions. For me, the most important thing we should be doing as an industry is to run towards the issue, not away from it. I’m not casting blame or doubt here, ultimately we’re all responsible for situations like we saw with Naomi, I just hope we can find better ways of connecting fans with their passions without being at the expense of such precious muscles such as the mind...

3 Points of Contact

Here’s one… have you ever wondered what happens if you go rock climbing and take both hands off the wall at the same time (or both feet for that matter)? I’ll save you the hassle; you’re highly likely to fall off. 

The ‘3 Points of Contact’ rule is one of the oldest and most important rules to understand in order to stay safe and enjoy climbing. It means that at all times, you have both hands and a foot, or both feet and a hand in contact with the surface. Obvs, but what does this have to do with partnership marketing? Good question. I've recently been working on a portfolio review for a client and the thought occurred to me that the more points of contact we form between a brand and the rights holder, the less chance the sponsorships have of ‘falling’ (or failing). 

Think about IP utilisation or assets like MCBE’s and tickets. The more deeply these are used within the brand organisation, the stronger the performance of the sponsorship. How many times have you heard that a sponsorship was pulled because it wasn’t performing rather than it having ran its course? Lots I’d imagine. I’d also imagine in a large number of these cases that the assets weren’t really being used which is why it was pulled as opposed to being used but not performing… 

So what might ‘Three Points of Contact’ look like? Well:

1. IP - There are very few brands in the world who are more meaningful, desirable and immediately identifiable to your audience as the brands of their passions. Contact number one should be taking your rights holders brand through every relevant touch point in your brand architecture. Websites, end-frames, holding messages on call centres, artwork etc. If you’re not using their brand as far and wide as relevant, you’re leaving huge sums of value on the table. 

2. Integration - How many departments within your business know about your sponsorships? Do they know what the portfolio strategy is, how they are being used or measured? Empowering the broader business on what sponsorships your brand has and how they can play a role in their day-to-day is contact number two. 

3. Experience design - Most contracts will have some form of money can’t buy experience (MCBE), player appearance or similar. Quite often there’s little logic on why these assets are in the contract in the first place, but they can provide valuable return nonetheless. Sitting down to plan out how you can use these assets takes less than a day and can be a quick win on getting your sponsorships to work harder for you. That’s contact number three.

So there you have it. There are many other ways to draw contact points between your organisation and the partner, and we don’t need to be confined by the conventional reality of two hands and two feet. My point though is this; don’t hang from the wall by one hand and complain when you fall off and land in a puddle. 

If sponsorship isn’t performing, I’d bet it’s likely due to its lack of integration...

Now that’s team spirit, Telstra.

Here’s one… now we’re a few weeks on from the Telstra Small Business Week, what can we all take away from Telstra’s activity through their NRL and AFL sponsorships?

While the concept of ‘pass-through’ is nothing new (Mastercard have built their business by buying rights and sharing them across myriad issuer and merchant partners), this particular execution is a strong proof point of the brands objectives to support small businesses and an interesting execution to boot. 

So what can we take away from this? Well, here’s some fodder for thought:

1. Sponsorship can drive the value chain - Sponsorships provide an unreal power to forge relationships and work towards common goals. For Telstra to bring so many SME’s into play here is evidence. Working your sponsorship through your value chain is rarely done, but oh so powerful when it is. Do it!

2. Slap-on-the-back logo usage - This is some brand slapping I applaud. Why? Because it means something and supports a strong narrative. Having the confidence to ‘turn off’ your brand in order to ‘turn on’ another's is a clever way of re-injecting interest back into your brand. Over time, fans can become impartial to brands with long tenure. While that doesn’t mean there’s a problem, it does mean that pulling off something like this actually drives a reinvigorated awareness and interest into your brand. 

3. Insightfully rich - We always look for the unique fan insight into leverage activity, but an idea like this leans on a far broader insight around the Australian spirit of the ‘have a go’ attitude and the essence of ‘mateship’. It’s a clever way of giving the campaign licence to exist outside of the stadiums in which it appeared and into the zeitgeist around the country. You could be an NRL rejector and still be moved by what Telstra have done to help others. 

4. Up in Lights was a big gesture, but has a HUGE impact on business owners - Few of us will know what it’s like to launch and grow your own business. I’m only just at the start of my journey, but can only imagine the sense of excitement and pride that comes from seeing your dream ‘up in lights’ and broadcast to the nation. I know how good it feels to see your own logo on a keep cup, let alone a footy field! 

5. Don’t say, do - This is categoric proof of the power of sponsorship to do ‘real’ things that mean ‘real’ things. There is no other brand touch point that actually exists and touches people in the way sponsorship does. If you have a strong brand purpose, how are you using your partnerships to prove it? 

6. Collaboration - There’s no doubt this would have been a ball-ache to pull off (pun intended). Managing conflicts, exclusivities, multiple stakeholders is a serious undertaking. The entire project team from both Andrew Abdo and Kylie Rogers to Jeremy Nicholas and his leadership team at Telstra right through to the broadcast partners, agency partners and commercial teams at the clubs should be proud of what they’ve pulled off. Don’t get me wrong, this wouldn't have been all rainbows and lollies but when all is said and done, great things are never the easiest to do, but the most rewarding to be a part of. 

Here’s to hoping activity like this gets recognised far and wide as another strong example of raising the tide mark in the strategic and creative execution of sponsorship. 

Bravo, Telstra. 

The Sweetest Deal of the Year

Here’s one… can a brand we’ve all grown up with, whose purpose is to spread joy and which can be found in cupboards, convenience stores and servos right across the nation be the much-needed driving force in growing the game of Rugby? I absolutely think so. 

Hot topic of the day was news around Rugby Australia’s landmark deal with confectionary manufacturer, Cadbury. Only mere weeks after news that RA lost their previous partner GFG Alliance (blessing in disguise), this is possibly the best news for a sport which deserves good news. 

ICYMI the details of the agreement can be found below but what it means is that Rugby now has the chance to exist and drive relevance to millions of Aussies who have likely lost touch with the game in the recent past. 

https://www.rugby.com.au/news/rugby-australia-announces-fiveyear-partnership-with-cadbury-2021512

I don’t have a crystal ball, but predicted back in October 2020 that the Wallabies would end up with a partner who can be found in every house in Australia. I spoke with only last week who was quietly optimistic about who was on the cards to replace the embattled GFG, but for that brand to be a brand with the instant appeal such as Cadbury and for them to be front and centre on our National teams is a tasty prospect indeed. 

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/greatest-sponsorship-ive-never-seen-andrew-clarke/?trackingId=%2BzNOIQfGeZMYmIaNh59asQ%3D%3D

Key to all sponsorships are the strategies that supports them and the creativity that lands them into the laps of those intended. Here’s a handful of elements I’d love to see come to fruition:

1. Bespoke products - When you’ve been making chocolate in Australia for over 100 years, you can make pretty much anything. A fan-led creation would be fantastic and a great way of using RA’s IP on shelves around the country - getting the Wallabies brand into the public domain will be a critical opportunity.

2. ‘Willy Wonka’ activations - I can see the golden ticket promotions, fan activations and general excitement Cadbury can bring to game day. Eating chocolate releases dopamine and other endorphins. Capitalising on these excited fans around the match will be a walk-over try in the scheme of things. 

3. Integration - Rugby in Australia needs more visibility. Driving IP integration into limited edition packaging and even working with retailers to pass-through rights will help with the cause. 

4. Tackling obesity in kids - No pun intended on this important topic, It would be a shame if this important area was overlooked as the program rolls out. Teaching kids that treats such as chocolate are a perfectly suitable reward after effort and hard work is where sport and rugby can play a huge roll. 

5. Product integration - Talk to Joe Roff or Campo and they’ll tell you about the support needed for retired players. Like many sports, what happens after retirement can be a bleak outlook. Might be a nice opportunity for Cadbury to drive a program around their ‘Old Gold’ product to provide financial support for the part players.

Growing up in the UK and following Rugby religiously, I would fear any fixture against the Wallabies. It’s fair to say that Rugby has been in a difficult position in the past few years, but the values that underpin the game and it’s participation are values lesser seen in other sporting areas. 

Bravo to the entire team.. I’m off to buy a Crunchie…

Blink and you’ll have missed it

The sports world was dominated this week by the Punch and Judy saga that was the European Super League; the breakaway Football competition formed of 12 ‘super clubs’. 

Upon first impressions, many of us would have been little surprised by attempts from clubs to control more of their financial destiny. It’s not the first time this has been attempted, and it won’t be the last. In fact, it’s a tale of ‘will they/won’t they’ that we’ve seen from other global sports platforms, namely Formula One and Golf. 

Beyond the obvious heavyweight jostling going on through the media, and some of the firmest words I’ve heard from a sporting President in my life, the key pieces to take from the saga (in my opinion) is thus:

1. Don’t feel sorry for these 12 clubs financial situations. Of all professional sporting teams globally, these are the least affected from the COVID-19 impacts. Their cries for more income is embarrassing. 

2. Don’t let this take your eye off the real issue in Football. Racism. It would be a terrible outcome if this fiasco does anything to diminish the slow momentum in that regard. 

3. Let sport be sport. Sport relies on unpredictability, underdog stories, dreams and hopes. Limiting any of the variables in sport and you’ll end up with an entertainment product. A case perfectly made by the 1,000’s of fans of the 12 clubs protesting AGAINST their inclusion. 

4. Two eyes, two ears and one mouth. The key from all of this is to ensure we, as an industry, are prepared to look and listen to what was driving this and the lessons we can learn more so than just weighing in with misguided points of view. There are always two sides to this. We have to learn from them in order to define the correct paths forward. Same point for the ESL, same point for the Premier Golf League, same point for the Super Formula (F1 example). 

Sport will always dish out heaped spoons of mayhem such as this. UEFA, the PFA and the Unions will all do well to sit down and come to better terms moving forward. For now, let’s just focus on the more pressing issues facing sport.