Supercars Australia has appointed sports and entertainment agency Gemba as its research and insights partner, starting from the 2020 Virgin Australia Supercars Series season.

The three-year partnership will see Gemba providing Supercars and its competing teams with rich fan insights and brand health tracking research to inform commercial and fan engagement strategies.

Supercars general manager – commercial, Jamie Black said: “Gemba presented a comprehensive approach and a quality team, and we’re looking forward to working with them over the next three years as our research and insights partner.

“Data is increasingly critical for our business to understand our fans and develop strategies to add value to our commercial partners. We wanted to partner with an agency that can help us understand the insights and strategy in the data.

“Gemba’s history and credentials in this market, and the quality and experience of its people, gave us great confidence that we’re partnering with the right organisation to help us going forward.”

Gemba’s head of strategy & insights, Craig Roberts, said: “We’re excited to be working with Supercars over the next three seasons. It’s a powerful statement of confidence in Gemba’s Insights division, and our recent appointment of Haydn Northover as Gemba’s Insights Divisional Manager. We’re looking forward to going even deeper into what drives fan connections with
Supercars and unlocking new opportunities to grow the sport.”

Gemba’s Global CEO, Rob Mills, adds: “Our new partnership with Supercars is another great motorsport acquisition to complement our recent work with Formula 1, Toyota Racing and Williams. We have invested in proprietary sport and entertainment research for over a decade, and that gives us the ability to provide benchmarks for Supercars from 25 other major markets globally, in addition to rich consumer and commercial insights in the Australian and New Zealand markets.”

The appointment extends Gemba’s client base among top-tier sports rights holders, which includes National Rugby League, Paralympics Australia, City Football Group, and the Australian Grand Prix Corporation. Gemba also provides sponsorship strategy and effectiveness research for major brands that sponsor sports and entertainment properties, including Toyota, McDonalds, Coca-Cola and Sanitarium.