From managing partnerships at one of Australia’s oldest AFL clubs to planning a wedding in October, Hawthorn Football Club’s head of commercial partnerships and growth, Dan Hamer, has a lot on his mind.
Welcome back to ‘CMOs To Watch‘ , presented by Zenith. Once a month, we look beyond the biggest marketing bosses in Australia and the world to focus on emerging leaders and under-the-radar brands.
B&T sat down with Hamer to discuss the year ahead for partnerships and growth at Hawthorn FC and what the next five years have in store for the man behind it all.
B&T: What’s your top priority for Hawthorn FC for the coming 12 months?
My top priorities are focused on a number of core and non-core revenue projects across the business. However, the opportunity to welcome another major partner into the brown and gold family is always an exciting one. Additionally, with the Tasmania Devils set to join the AFL in the not-too-distant future, we’re working on shaping what the next iteration of our partnership with the Tasmanian State Government looks like (entering its 25th year in 2025). In 2025 we’re also celebrating Hawthorn’s 100th VFL/AFL anniversary, and we’re set to move into our new, $100M training and administration facility (the Kennedy Community Centre), so it’s safe to say there will be plenty happening over the next 12 months.
B&T: Where are you finding the biggest opportunities for growth?
The club’s move to a new state-of-the-art facility, the Kennedy Community Centre, will be transformational – our home for the next 50/100 years. As we’re now deep in the development stage, the opportunity to integrate brands into the build to leverage as a showcase facility is significant.
Additionally, our AFLW program continues to go from strength to strength, being backed by blue-chip brands like General Mills, KFC, Nissan and Ryman Healthcare while allowing us to engage with a different market of consumers and Hawthorn people that we might not have been able to engage with previously.
Lastly, I think we’re all eager to see how brands and rightsholders leverage increasing levels of sophistication in the AI space.
B&T: How do you work with your agency partners, and what do they allow you to achieve that you otherwise couldn’t?
From a rightsholder point of view, it’s quite a unique position to operate within – we work with agencies from a club and league perspective, but a lot of our commercial partners utilise agency relationships to help leverage and optimise brand campaigns and activation opportunities. We love working with agencies to help cultivate divergent thinking and provide fresh perspectives on creating brand solutions – collaboration is one of the best parts of the role. Agencies allow us to tap into resources that we wouldn’t usually have access to from a strategy, insights and activation perspective.
B&T: What was your favourite campaign you’ve worked on, your favourite that you didn’t, and why?
In 2023, we launched a ‘Retro Guernsey’ campaign, driven by our apparel partner ISC and our wonderful Marketing team here at the club. It was incredible: engagement was through the roof, consumer sentiment was sky-high, and the guernsey itself was magnificent.
Prior to my time at Hawthorn, working on the Olympics at Seven was certainly a highlight early on in my career.
As for a campaign I didn’t work on, where do I start?! I’ve long admired the work that the wonderful Lisa Little-Cain and her team do with Aldi – anything that takes a leap to be bold is a big tick in my books. Telstra’s This is Country Footy deserves a shout out as well – outstanding by Brent Smart, Alita McMenamin and the team. And last but certainly not least, Lindene Cleary and the latest evolution of Tourism Tasmania’s Come Down For Air.
B&T: What are your personal goals for the next five years?
I’m getting married in October, so in five years, I hope to be a five-time winner of some kind of ‘husband of the year’ award, if that exists.
Otherwise, my goals for the next five years revolve around doing everything I can to continue to grow and develop as a person and as a leader while ensuring I’m supporting and elevating those around me. I’m determined to innovate and question the status quo, willing to get comfortable being uncomfortable and push myself while enjoying the chaos. Also, a Hawthorn premiership would really top it all off.
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