Budget Direct has stomped its authority on the 2026 NRL season unveiling the biggest fan for both the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the Melbourne Storm.
In a unique marketing approach, the challenger brand wanted to rally its support around its newest sponsored teams. So, just before the NRL season kicked off in Las Vegas, Budget Direct “turned up differently” with two characters that have their own social media accounts and storylines in order to “mirror emotions that fan bases have for their teams”.
B&T caught up with Jonathan Kerr, chief growth officer of Budget Direct’s parent company, Auto & General, to learn about the strategy behind the new @arandomsouthsguy and @imstorminnorman characters.
Who are these so-called superfans?
A Random Souths Guy is the Rabbitohs number one fan who will be showing up at South Sydney’s home games plastered in the famous cardinal and myrtle merch. He’s described as “your friendly neighbourhood Budget Direct bloke” who fans will catch everywhere in his Bunnies jersey.
Named Guy and employed at Budget Direct, this Random Souths Guy does not talk about the brand he works for, but covered in Budget Direct logos he is helping the brand awareness by simply “adding to the experience of being a regular fan”.
The idea behind Guy is that there is already a massive social media phenomenon, celebrated amongst Rabbitohs fans. Random Souths guys wearing their Bunnies jerseys have been appearing in unexpected places for some time now—the WWE, NBA and the NFL Superbowl just to name a few. Naturally, this caused a stir on the platforms.
“We wanted to do something that celebrated this phenomenon,” said Kerr. “He’s a Random Souths Guy. We’re not saying he’s the Random Souths Guy, because everybody can be the Random Souths guy. He is the absolute, living embodiment of the phenomenon.”
Further south, Budget Direct has also recruited Stormin Norman for the Melbourne Storm. Stormin Norman, is a “Budget Direct IT analyst by day, and Melbourne Storm superfan every day.” He’s obsessed with two things: Melbourne Storm and actual storms.
“There’s only one team in the state, and so you can really play into the whole elements that make that state different, special and formidable. They’re not called the Melbourne Storm for nothing and we found Stormin Norman who really does believe that he can harness the power of weather to help the storm win,” added Kerr.
How they show up
Respective fans first were introduced to Norman and Guy via their own social media channels—which were created by and will be handled by Budget Direct’s in-house marketing and sponsorship teams.
But, sticking to its promise of showing up differently and adding to the overall fan experience Norman was spotted out and about at Storm’s first home game of the season.
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Each team’s campaigns will also be found on TV, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, BVOD, SVOD and out of home. Budget Direct is utilising a broad range of media channels to “address the different age groups that we want to hit”.
These potential fans range from 20 year olds upwards, according to Kerr.
“To reach and establish the character, television is used at the beginning. There’s also about 20 billboards in each city for the first few weeks, which really helps introduce the character. There’s a wonderful tram in Melbourne with Stormin Norman all over it.”
That said, the superfans will show up differently in different states. Kerr said that the campaigns do not “cross-pollinate” and they are “set up to run state-by-state and not cross-over.”
Dwayne Bennett
This is not the first time the insurer has created a superfan for an NRL team.
Introduced in the Dolphins inaugural season was Dwyane Bennet, the Dolphins’ very own ‘chief phin-spiration officer’—a die-hard fan who appears across its socials and marketing collateral.
Budget Direct deployed Bennett four years ago to help build hype around the club. The campaign’s goal was to bring the energy and fire up the team all season long. Whether it’s game day or any day, the so-called cousin of one of the greatest ever NRL coaches had a simple task: “living and breathing Dolphins footy.”
Bennett the “unofficial cousin” of the Dolphins first coach Wayne Bennett was back on scene during the first round of the NRL season to build brand awareness for the insurer.
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The success of Dwyane Bennett convinced Budget Direct there was an appetite for Melbourne Storm and South Sydney Rabbitohs superfans. And the insurer will be “taking all the learnings from the Dolphins campaign and applying them separately in Melbourne and in Sydney,” Kerr said.
Footy Charity Championship
“We’re in a very fortunate position to be able to do this stuff. There must be something bigger we could do beyond that, which does create some connection between the three sponsorships, but does it in a way where everybody wins. And so we came up with the idea of doing the Budget Direct Footy Championships,” said Kerr.
The aim of the Footy Charity Championship is to to deliver positive community impact and big wins for some lucky league fans.
As the major sponsor of all three team’s community activity aspects, the Championship will see the three teams battle it out, not just for the two competition points, but to win donations from Budget Direct to the charities nominated by the teams.
Throughout the season, every clash between the Dolphins, Storm, and Rabbitohs will directly translate into tangible support for community organisations. At the end of the regular season, Budget Direct will award $100,000, $50,000 and $25,000 donations to the clubs’ nominated charities based on the final standings.
The insurer will also give three lucky fans the chance to win big for themselves and a cause close to their hearts. Supporters can join the excitement by signing up on the Budget Direct competition webpage and aligning with a team playing in the championship.
