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Welcome to the Scout Newsletter, an exploration into the data behind the Australian Sport and Sponsorship Landscape.

This Week in Sponsorship is a weekly wrap up of the latest deals and renewals with a special focus on the Deal of the Week.

The Scouting Report is a monthly long-form deep-dive covering topics of interest to the sponsorship industry. Check out previous articles 

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23rd October 2024

Deal of the week

Perth Scorchers x BMD

Brand: BMD Group

HQ: QLD

Category: Construction & Engineering

Deal type: New

Tier: Official, Sleeve (2)

Context: Leading Australian Construction company BMD Group has signed a two-year deal with the Perth Scorchers, across the Men’s and Women’s teams. The partnership ideally complements BMD Group’s existing portfolio, with several major sponsorships, but gaps in WA and in Cricket.

Gaps in sponsor portfolios

Sponsorships across multiple codes: Before the Scorchers deal, BMD had six major partnerships across the Australian sporting landscape. BMD has operations Australia-wide, using Club partnerships as a platform to demonstrate their community values.

Gap in WA: The deals were all with organisations located in QLD, NSW and VIC. However, BMD had no sponsorship activity in WA (the next largest State).

Gap in Cricket: Similarly, while BMD Group had sponsorships across five major codes, it had no presence in Cricket.

Weakness in summer: Furthermore, when overlaying fan interest in each of BMD’s sponsorships, their investment skewed towards winter-spring, and was weakest in summer. The Scorchers therefore provide opportunity for a more year-round platform.

A great fit: The Scorchers partnership is therefore particularly well-suited to BMD as a way to grow their unique reach - now able to reach WA audiences, and Cricket fans - turning two areas of relative weakness into strength.

Broader gaps analysis: There are 425 brands with sponsorships in multiple codes, and 310 brands with sponsorships in multiple States. The largest “gap state” or “gap sport” will vary for each brand, and can identify which opportunities would best grow their incremental reach (assuming this aligns with their sponsorship objectives).

Taking sponsors with the largest footprints in Clubland, we can identify similar opportunities. To provide three examples:

• Chemist Warehouse has 21 major partnerships, yet none in NSW (the largest State) and none in Cricket, making the Sydney Sixers and Sydney Thunder particularly efficient opportunities to grow their sponsorship share in those markets.

• Similarly, National Storage has no deals in NSW, nor in Football or Netball.

• After BMD’s Scorchers deal, SA and Basketball become their biggest gaps, though this may not be achievable in one deal given the 36ers partnership with SGP Civil.

For more on gaps analysis, including the biggest gaps in specific states and sports, drop us a note.

Other notable deals

NEW

⚽️ Red Bull Australia has partnered with Western United as the Club’s Official Energy Drink Partner, a first for the energy drink company in Australian football.

⚽️ Ebury, a global fintech, has announced a sponsorship with Auckland FC. Ebury’s brand will feature prominently on Auckland FC’s playing shorts throughout the season and training jersey. The brand previously sponsored the Melbourne Rebels, who entered administration earlier this year, providing opportunities for ex-sponsors to redeploy budget, as reported in our Q2 wrap.

⚽️ Melbourne City have announced a new multi-year partnership with ctrl:cyber. The deal will see the cybersecurity company become the naming rights partner of Melbourne City’s training and administration facility at Casey Fields, as well as the home pitch for the A-League women’s team. The deal follows significant activity in the Cyber security category in recent months (CyberCX x Rugby Australia; OpSys x Crows; NordVPN x Saints).

🏀 Bendigo Spirit have announced a new partnership with electrical infrastructure company Powercor, who have committed to a three-year deal as a playing uniform shorts sponsor.

🏀 The Sydney Kings have announced accident hire car company Right2Drive has joined the Hoops Capital club as a partner for the NBL25 season.

🏀 Adelaide 36ers have announced Apex Steel as a back of jersey partner for the next two seasons.

🏀 WNBL signed the Ford Dealer Network as a Major Partner ahead of the 24/25 Season.

🎾 Tennis Australia inks multi-year partnership with Deloitte for United Cup. Deloitte’s logo will be featured extensively on court signs in Perth and Sydney during the United Cup, an international hard-court tennis competition featuring mixed-gender teams from 18 countries.

RENEWALS

🏏 The Brisbane Heat and Queensland Cricket have signed an extensions with Toyota, with the automotive giant signing a new two-year extension of the long standing partnership.

⚽️ Melbourne Victory have announced the extension of its long-standing partnership with AGL, who has renewed as a Major Partner and the Official Energy Partner for the next two seasons.

🏀 Australian Motors Mitsubishi has renewed its partnership with the Adelaide 36ers for a sixth straight season.

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