One the eve of the new season, a look at who sponsors Aussie Rules teams and where the sport should be looking to target new sponsors

To answer this question, caytoo has analysed the following two sponsorship datasets to identify which categories “Aussie Rules” clubs (or Australian Football League (AFL) to give them their proper title) could look to target for future sponsorship growth.

Most common sponsors

We analysed the most prevalent sponsors in the AFL and compared this to it’s closest competitor league, the National Rugby League (NRL).

More specifically, which categories account for the biggest share of sponsors in the NRL and what the corresponding share is for those categories in the AFL.

This method provides a broad overview for AFL clubs as a whole to target.

The angle being that these categories are the ‘lowest hanging-fruit’: they clearly have a strong propensity for sponsoring teams in a major national sports league (the NRL). Therefore, it should be relatively easy – certainly compared to categories that don’t do much sponsorship – to convince these categories overall to sponsor a different national sports league (the AFL).

At a category level, it shows that AFL clubs should prioritise targeting Professional Services, Industrials, and Health/Wellbeing companies for future sponsorship growth.

These are the categories the AFL most heavily ‘under-performs’ versus the NRL. For instance, Professional Services firms account for 12.5% of NRL sponsors but just 3.7% of AFL sponsors. In other words, PS firms account for over three times the share of voice in the NRL compared to the ARL.

At a subcategory level, it shows that AFL clubs should prioritise targeting Specialist Professional Services, Construction companies, Health Services, Legal and Property Development firms for future sponsorship growth.

These are the subcategories the AFL most heavily ‘under-performs’ versus the NRL. For instance, Specialist Professional Services account for 6.2% of NRL sponsors but just 2.3% of AFL sponsors. In other words, SPS firms account for nearly three times the share of voice in the NRL compared to the ARL.

(Full lists and charts available in report)

Who sponsors Aussie Rules teams Gap Analysis

The second dataset is a Gap Analysis. The idea of this is to identify the most prevalent categories among a rights holder’s competitive set in which each organisation doesn’t have a sponsor.

The idea being that the category overall deems sponsoring your field (in this case, Aussie Rules) to be an effective marketing channel. Therefore, it should be easier for any entities in a competitive set missing a sponsor in that category to convince them to come on board.

In the AFL, Soft Drinks brands are the most prevalent sponsors. However, (at the time of writing) Brisbane, Carlton, Freemantle, Port Adelaide, Richmond and Sydney don’t have a sponsor in this subcategory. So that’s where these teams should prioritise targeting new sponsors.

(Full list and charts available in report)

So, undertake a Gap Analysis among your competitive set (e.g. other teams in your division/league) to identify which categories should be the lowest-hanging fruit for sponsorship.

The Gap Analysis, as well as the full list of all the sponsors, is included in the report which is available to clients and triallists in the Insights section of our platform.