It’s no secret that women’s sport in Australia is booming right now, and brands should not miss out on the opportunity to leverage their stardom.
From defending Winter Olympic moguls gold medallist Jakara Anthony, to the rise of the Matildas—who will return to Aussie shores on 1 March for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup—women’s sport has provides a massive platform for brands.
That’s why Talent Corp has teamed up with Lewers to release the talent index for Past and Present Female Sporting Stars.
The index scores celebrities on a scale -100 to +100, which was designed to give brands and the media a deeper understanding of audience appeal to talent. The index can be filtered by age groups, geographics, media habits, gender, best fit for industry categories and other psychographic data.
Ex-tennis superstar and Australian Open champion, Ash Barty leads the charge on awareness with 84, but she is not as highly scored in the index (55) as her predecessor, Evonne Goolagong (60). This score takes into account the audience’s likes and dislikes in a single metric.
Lisa Lewers, managing partner of Lewers, told B&T that Ash Barty’s awareness is still so high in retirement due to her authenticity, likability and success while being humble.
“She was liked for all the reasons Nick Kyrgios isn’t,” Lewers said.
Lewers explained that brands need to be aware of this index as it “gives a more informed point of view of how to optimise things like a sponsorship or ambassadorship budget”.
“We’re seeing a really nice blend of types of personalities coming through the list, which highlights that there’s so many options out there, and sometimes a lot of differentiation between them. So this helps to find ways to separate who will be best fit for a brand,” added Lewers.
For example, NRLW’s Millie Boyle and Emma Tonegato have a relatively high Talent Corp Index of 40 and 33, demonstrating their likability. They are valuable assets to brands even though they aren’t as well known as the likes of Ash Barty and Evonne Goolagong.
Regardless of how popular a female athlete is, it is also very important to note “natural environments” still need to be leveraged.
“If you’re Curtis Stone, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to put you into anything that’s not food related or supermarkets. So if you’re a sports woman, anything related to gyms, health clubs, or the right kind of consumer goods that have an obvious connection to sport,” said Lewers.
As women’s sport continues its rapid rise, the message to brands is clear: stardom alone isn’t enough. Understanding why audiences connect with athletes and where that connection makes commercial sense is how to gain a competitive edge.
