Last week the Perth Bears announced a landmark deal with Budget Direct, securing its first major commercial partner ahead of the clubs 2027 NRL debut. This deal for a sleeves sponsor set a new benchmark in the sport.
Unbeknownst to how much Budget Direct paid to strategically place its logo on the sleeves of the Perth Bears jersey—a jersey that doesn’t even exist yet— it has been suggested online that the sponsorship is worth over $1 million.
B&T caught up with Budget Direct’s chief growth officer Jonathan Kerr about the landmark deal, that is reputed to have sold at the top of the market for what a highly sort after sleeve usually sells for.
“The Perth Bears believe that it is the largest deal for a sleeve partner ever signed in the NRL. I’m not entirely sure how comparable all sleeve deals are with one another, as they all come with different levels of other rights and benefits, but I can tell you we are very happy with the deal we have signed,” he said.
Kerr might be “very happy” with the deal because Perth Bears is the only WA NRL team.
“We want to increase our brand’s mental availability primarily in WA, although due to where the team will play, both physically and on TV/online, we expect it to benefit us nationally as well. Also, via the way we go about our sports sponsorships, we hope people will see how different we are to our competition and when they get their next renewal, our brand will be top of mind, and they will remember to ‘Quote Budget Direct First’,” Kerr explained.
He went on to talk about the buzz the Bears have already generated, before even stepping on the field. Kerr believes that sponsorships are an effective way of increasing top of mind awareness.
“We are big believers in improving our performance by increasing metal availability, so our marketing mix needs to be where the public is at, not where you want it to be. Our activity needs to generate some form of emotional response to be remembered, so we need a blend of marketing to maximise that,” he said.
“Being directly involved in supporting a club, a community, and a fanbase is the perfect platform to move our brand into the day-to-day emotional discussion about sport, rather than just more and more ads about insurance. The Perth Bears are already a huge talking point in WA and will continue to be so going forward, and we look forward to being a positive driving force behind their journey to come.”
This is not the first time Budget Direct has made a major contribution to an NRL club before its debut. Back in 2022, Budget Direct signed on as a founding premier partner of the Dolphins. As part of the partnership, the Budget Direct logo featured on both sleeves of the Dolphins’ foundation jersey.
Touching on the two partnerships, Kerr said, “There are more similarities than differences. The Dolphins sponsorship has been very successful for us and of course will continue. We will leverage all we have learned from being on such a similar journey to optimise our campaign with the Bears.”
To help the Dolphins build its fan base, Budget Direct, with the help of Bastion and the approval from the Dolphins and its NRL supercoach at the time, Wayne Bennett, launched ‘Dwyane Bennett.’
Budget Direct deployed into the NRL landscape, the Dolphins very own chief phinspiration officer to help build hype around the newest NRL 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.”
He certainly did, quickly rising to fame in the process.
Kerr left B&T with a little hint as to whether the Perth Bears fan base will have their very own ‘Dwyane Bennett’.
“We will leverage what we have learned from our Dolphins campaign, but everything will be tailored to the Bears and their story….as you will see from the launch photos, the Perth Bears identity lends itself to a lot of fun and engagement.”
