When Phil Gould took over as the Penrith Panthers General Manager, the first thing he did was pretty cheeky. During a Channel 9 game, Gould started calling the club the “Sanyo Panthers”.
At the time Sanyo was the club’s major sponsor, and when Gould started calling them the Sanyo Panthers, he somehow managed to do it in a way that wasn’t crass marketing. It pretty much gave everyone a bit of a smile.
Fast forward to 2012 and Oak became Penrith’s major sponsor. On the day of the announcement, #OakPanthers got a huge work out on Twitter. Hell, its pretty much the only way I reference the club at this point.
Oak was a good fit for the club. Who doesn’t like flavoured milk? Everyone’s had it! It can be marketed to the entire supporter base and to every demographic. It is also a product that is perfect for promotions for both the club and Oak itself, unlike other major sponsors products, you can give away Oak to kids at a coaching clinic.
It is a sponsorship deal that just worked so well on every level.
Game one of the NRL season and unfortunately, the Panthers lose to the Canterbury Bulldogs. At the press conference, the Panthers had placed a fridge full of Oak products into the sponsor layout behind the players and coaches. It was a brilliant idea. Whoever came up with it should get a raise.
A few days later, and the NRL stuck its head into the Panthers business. They told the Panthers they had to remove the fridge. The basically said it was too good of a marketing idea and took away from Telstra: the NRL’s major sponsor.
Just think about that for a second…
As clubs fight hard to get major sponsors, the Panthers came up with a marketing idea that was so effective that everyone took notice of it.
Don’t for a second think that 15 other marketing departments in the NRL, not to mention in other sports, didn’t look at that fridge full of cool, tasty, refreshing Oak products and think, “What a great idea!”.
The NRL got in contact with the Panthers and told them they would have to remove the fridge, thereby giving the Panthers major sponsor less exposure and possibly hurting the Panthers bottom line, now or in the future.
This is likely to have a negative impact on any future sponsorships clubs may pick up as, according to the NRL, the Panthers can gain sponsorship and market themselves and their sponsors – but dont be too good at it.
What a joke!
As Phil Gould pointed out in the newspaper today, the money that filters down into the Penrith Panthers from Telstra’s major naming rights sponsorship of the NRL is a tiny percentage of how much Oak pays Penrith to have their logo on the club’s jersey.
Gould even cheekily said that Telstra were more than welcome to contact the club and discuss markets options with the Panthers if they were looking for more exposure than they currently get.
At the end of the day, what right does the NRL have to dictate to a club how it runs its business? Its not like flavoured milk is in direct competition with a telecommunications company.
I can understand that at a press conference, the NRL needs to set certain standards. We can’t get to a point where players and coaches are doing interviews while in a car or wearing sunglasses from a sponsor.
However, the Oak fridge fit into the sponsorship backdrop seamlessly. It looked great, it gave the Panthers sponsors the exposure they required and put money into the club.
The NRL pays the Penrith Panthers a grant from broadcasting rights and other types of sponsorships. This money is not nearly enough to run a club. It is not even enough to cover the club’s salary-cap payments in first grade, let alone every other grade.
The Panthers were a club without a major sponsor a few months ago and in a tough financial climate managed a substantial deal with Oak.
Whoever from the NRL that thought the biggest issue in the game was a fridge in a sponsorship background should be fired. If they are part of the NRL’s marketing department they should be fired and replaced with the Panthers marketing department.
As a Panthers fan, I hope Phil Gould tell’s the NRL to go and jump into the Nepean River. Our club is rebuilding after years of mismanagement. The changes that Gould and his new football club staff have made already have been dramatic.
The last thing we need right now is a bunch of suits at Moore Park thinking they can tell us how we service sponsors that pour millions of dollars into the club and keep the Penrith Panthers financially viable.
If a fridge full of Oak products is enough to undermine the NRL’s naming rights deal with Telstra, then it is pretty obvious that the NRL has a problem servicing Telstra.
That is their problem. It is not something the Panthers should be penalised for.
Nick Sharratt
Guest
I'm in the UK watching NRL and as far as I know, we don't have Oak products over here but just confirming that the Oak marketing with the Panthers is so good that I had to Google it as its everywhere. I've no idea about the fridge, but all the other placements they manage dominate all other marketing when the Panthers are at home.
mushi
Guest
Okay Oikee the reason they didn’t have a true major sponsorship agreement with a little trucking company is because pure PIK agreements are rubbish for a league like the NRL. If the NRL wants to it can take some of the cash from the Telstra agreement and slap the NRL logo on the side of a trucking company and there you are truck adds, cash and PIK from telstra! Also stobart isn’t a “big” company compared to Telstra, it isn’t even 2% of Telstra’s market cap. Telstra could buy Stobart out of its current cash position. Which sponsors are we losing? Do you have any visibility on the value versus the decrease in value from not being able to offer sole naming rights? When you say you worked it out I would love to see that modelling that values the rights to host the game at 70 million on a conservative basis.
Captain Kickass
Guest
Does anyone else see the irony in having Oak flavoured milk marketed along with Tony Ferguson on the same strip ? Back to topic : I like how Gus offered on Twitter "... if Telstra want to supply me with a phone-booth I'll put the Oak's in there !"
oikee
Guest
You still with me league freak, i am not finished yet on our marketing fools. Here is another one. Channel 9 think they own rugby league, now our marketing boys need to get a handle on who owns who, and if they get this wrong, we might as well start following another sport because we will know someone has got his hand in the trough. Half the country (the half that follow rugby league) would drop channel 9 faster than a girl with boils on her face if they ever lost the rights to ruggy league. Who ever wins the rights, wins the veiwers, and at no time in rugby league history have we ever had these muppets over a barrel as we have them now. Ratings are king, rugby league has the ratings, whoever wins league wins. If our market guys dont take advantage of this, i would launch a full inquiry, a industrail commission inquiry, a federal a criminal whatever other inquiry their was to inquirer about, because we have them over the barrel,. And if channel nine thinks it is just going to walk away with cheap rights, i would be asking questions. 1.5 billion and nothing less. One way to scare the life out of them, just tell them we are selling the whole package to Fox. whatch them panic. I would never watch free-to-air ever again.
oikee
Guest
And while i am here having a good whinge, i might as well tell you what i think of Isreal Folau. This guy is a loser, and i have no respect for him whatsoever. Here is why. This kid was a Australian Schoolboy, he then became a Junior Kangaroo. He began his career at the age of 17 playing for the Broncos, instant success and went on to represent Australia i think as a Kangaroo before he then played Origin for his State, Queensland. This guy is nothing but a loser as far as i am concerned, he is now a nothing, nobody. I would be pretty annoyed if league paid big money for him or the other guy returned. I have no wish to even see him back at the Bronc's. If some other struggling side wanted him, fine, the point is, the Bronco's have replaced him, moved on to bigger and better things. We have moved on from Lockyer, and he was 10 times the player you.
Gareth
Guest
"I'm the Secretary of State. Brought to you by Carl's Jr." Marketing can f*** right off, shrewd, clever or otherwise.
oikee
Guest
I like to be able to see lots of sponsers in the background. Rugby league is killing itself by locking out these sponsers, telstra has got way to much say over rugby league. Plus it is a fools paradise, dont telstra also sponser AFL. This is plain wrong, and no company 'should' be allowed soul sponser if they sponser another sport. Mate, it is time our code woke up. It would be the same as Gallop running our game, then going down to Melbourne on a Sunday to have a coffee with demitriou. ? How would that work then. And the same as our muppet nrl reporter doing a interveiw with Demetriou,? Why is this fool Buzz giving him airtime, he should be gone from league, and he is a sharks supporter, no wonder they are hopeless.
oikee
Guest
Stobart are a big trucking comapany brand. What i am saying is, if your code signs up for a major sponser, you are shackling yourself from other sponserships, much like what the NRL have done. Gus cant have his brand because Teltra wont let him, they have closed our position to add more sponsers by having soul rights. Now you understand.? So, as for Super League, they took a hit, Allowed Stobart to sponser them because they are a huge trucking company, could see that they would get their brand out their by displaying it on the sides of trucks, all throughout Europe, all through London. They took the no money deal, took the hit for a better return. By not having Stobart as soul sponser, this opened up the path for other sponsers, and Hienz come on board for the club challenge, and that is the one thing i remember about the game, is "Hienz, Big Red Soup". They can also add sponsers throughout the year because they are not locked into Eddie Stobart. The NRL on the other hand, we are so shackled by Telstra it is not funny, and our marketeers have no idea, not a clue what sponsers we are losing because we cant do jack because Teltra has soul rights. Mate, look, if it was my company, the market department would have gone years ago, yet the NRL has still got these old dinosaurs running the game, i would even be suprised if they are not still useing a landline. These guys are dinosaurs. Another blunder was selling your grand finals to Sydney for chicken feed, ? What was it, 20 million for 10 years,. I worked it out that we got done by probably 50 million or more, conservitively. Only a lunitic would on-sell for that long, Queensland was willing to pay 5 million, and that was opening bid for 1 year.? Mate, this game is run by muppets, not now, but they have done alot of damage.
Matt S
Guest
This seems like a well orchestrated 'stouch' that's just reaped Oak milk millions in free publicity and Penrith saying 'join us, we'll give you valuable exposure'. Well done Phil, well done independent commission.
Maximus
Guest
Penrith would know the rules and every other club has to play by them so "deliberately" flouting them is not a good look..If Penrith somehow manages to lower the asking the asking price for the overall league sponsorship by actions like these who will be first to complain when there is no money for junior footy etc. Would penrith be impressed if a rival Milk company Moove put up lots of signs or had lots of dolly birds dressed in Moove T shirts round centrbet stadium during a game...(ps not a wise move for the girls there I suggest)
mushi
Guest
just like my typing ability!
mushi
Guest
I don’t get what you’re saying Oikee. You support Payment In Kind (PIK) sponsorship arrangements (such as the super league one) but the NRL deal includes payment in kind. You also extol getting your games on channel nine, the NRL gets paid for this – they also have PIK advertising as well. So it seems they are doing the bits you like about these other programs but ALSO getting actual dollars. Call me insane but that sounds like a win to me. I think also you need to realise that both of your examples are ignoring that the NRL is in a completely different market position to those two. The NRL rights have more value hence they can get both substantial PIK and get paid. Then the “shackling”. Sponsorship rights tend to have more value if they are limited. The more brands competing at anyone one time for our attention on the screen/event etc the less total value for the sponsors. They decided to be “shackled” because it maximises the value of the product they are selling. Yes they can’t sign up a new sponsor over the top of Telstra but that’s because Telstra are one of Australia’s largest brands that have purchased those rights in a somewhat competitive market.
mushi
Guest
Oh union would neve be this strict...oh wait a minute they took a world cup away from NZ due to ambush marketing clauses? This is clearly something that they believe is reflected in their current agreement with Telstra (which would be very typical), and I'd be very surprised if the Panthers and every other club had not at some point been made aware that ambush marketing is not allowed. The only problem here is that Gould basically appeals to the fan's lack of understanding of these agreements and probably has a limited udnerstanding himself.
Steve
Guest
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Steve
Guest
C'mon oikee we love hearing gordon tallis talk about how tough he was and that knocking somebody out is just good footy. -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.
oikee
Guest
P.S, not long ago alot of fans in England were saying how bad the super league was run because thewy signed Stobart as sponser for nothing. No sponser money changed hands. What they did not tell you was that the super league could sign up more sponsers because Stobart was happy to be named main sponser rights holder. Super league can sign up any other sponser for large amounts, as they have already done with Hienz big soup, and they will continue to look for others. On top of that, theEddie Stobart trucking company, which is the biggest in Europe, drives around with super league pictures on the sides a 100 of their trucks, this will increase over the next few years. Also this year, the Queensland cup has Paid to get one game a week on channel 9. This again sounds like madness, but they realise by doing this, more sponsers will come forward to support the teams because they will get expossure being televised at least once or twice a year on 9. The C.E.o of Queensland cup said it was a fantastic deal for their comp. Which it is, and i also said Stobart was a fantastic deal, which is probably going to be worth about 8-10 million a year to super league in advertising value. The NRL on the other hand has Shackled themselves to Telstra, and we cant see the forrest for the trees. Our marketing has let us down big time. You only have to look at Super league and the Stobart deal to see we are being ripped off, big time.
peeeko
Roar Guru
perhaps a role for you Oikee in the new commission?
oikee
Guest
Thanks for backing me up, most who listen to my rants know that i have said, rugby league needs to sack its whole marketing department. I have been saying it for years. The way league is promoted and shown to the public is a disgrace, and they need to overhaul the presenters, having ex-players in charge of shows turns the whole thing into a comedy act. Plus they need someone to get ready to replace Rabs over the next few years, they should have started this already. Rugby league needs a overhaul, lets hope the commish can see this, starting with our marketing, who have never done the game any favours. They are hopeless.
Corey
Guest
Great article, it is small minded thinking like this from the NRL which is the reason we are so far behind Union in terms of international presence and so far behind the AFL in terms of marketing our product.
peeeko
Roar Guru
NRL has a deal with Telstra to get those signage rights. the NRL gives every club millions each year. seems a non issue to me.