Hawks Sponsorship Kicks Successive Goals for Tasmania

2 January 2009

The Minister for Tourism, Michelle O’Byrne, today released an independent evaluation of the second year of the State Government’s five-year sponsorship of the Hawthorn Football Club showing Tasmania received a net economic benefit of $15 million in 2008.

Ms O’Byrne said the report reaffirmed the value of the State Government’s investment, providing an important economic boost for the State.

“This report shows that the net economic benefits Tasmania has received from its involvement with Hawthorn now far exceeds the original investment after just two years of a five year agreement,” Ms O’Byrne said.

“The comprehensive evaluation and report delivered by Repucom International shows Tasmania’s sponsorship of the Hawks has delivered tremendous value  across the key areas of economic benefits,  media exposure and consumer awareness.

“There has been a great boost in the key benchmark areas compared with 2007, reflecting the returns this sponsorship agreement is delivering to Tasmania.”

Analysis of the economic benefits and direct expenditure components of the analysis were outsourced to PricewaterhouseCoopers.

“Event research showed that on average, 30.7 per cent of all attendees at Hawks matches at Aurora Stadium were from interstate.

“This equates to about 24,000 extra tourists coming to Tasmania in 2008 as a direct result of the sponsorship,” said Ms O’Byrne.

The data also detailed that on average, interstate visitors spent $220 per day on goods and services including accommodation, transport, meals, tours and entertainment, and stayed an average of 3.2 days.

“This reflects a net ecomomic benefit of $15.1 million, more than double the benefit of $7.2 million in 2007.”

“Most significantly, the study showed that the sponsorship has created 299 fulltime equivalent jobs across the State, with around two thirds as a direct result of increased tourist visitation,” said Ms O’Byrne.

“This is almost a threefold increase on the number of jobs estimated to have been created the previous year as a result of the sponsorship.”

The equivalent value of the total media exposure generated by Tasmania’s sponsorship of the Hawks for the 2008 season - which includes the NAB Cup, the 2008 premiership series and the subsequent finals series - was in excess of $3.4 million.

“This represents a very impressive 76 per cent increase on media exposure achieved in the 2007 season,” Ms O’Byrne said.

“Furthermore, television exposure of the Hawks’ finals campaign during the month of September alone returned $1.12 million of media value, representing more than 40 per cent of the total value of television exposure across the entire 2008 season, and clearly demonstrates the media value of the Hawks’ successful finals campaign.”

Ms O’Byrne said a consumer research study conducted as part of the evaluation has also confirmed an increase in the general public’s awareness of Tasmania.

The study analysed results from 610 Melbourne-based respondents comprising Hawthorn Football Club fans, general fans of AFL and those who don’t follow AFL.

“A total of 80 per cent of all AFL fans were aware that the Hawks played matches at Aurora stadium during the 2008 Season.

“In addition, Tasmania is now the brand most associated with the Hawthorn Football Club, generating unprompted sponsor awareness of 42 per cent.”

This represents a 10 per cent increase on 2007 (32 per cent), and places Tasmania ahead of long time Hawks sponsor HSBC.

“This is particularly encouraging considering we are only two years into a five-year agreement,” Ms O’Byrne said.

The 2008 report also shows an increase in travel to Tasmania among those aware of the Hawks sponsorship.

“This shows that those people aware of the sponsorship are significantly more likely to have travelled to Tasmania for a holiday, rather than purely to watch an AFL match.”

“This is an extremely positive sign for Tasmania, as it shows the sponsorship is starting the drive visitation for reasons other than AFL viewing,” said Ms O’Byrne.”

“It also implies that promotional activity undertaken around the sponsorship – such as the ‘SMS to Discover Tasmania’ campaign run at home games at the MCG – is assisting in bringing tourists to Tasmania.”

“The evidence is conclusive – Tasmania’s sponsorship of the Hawks is an extremely worthwhile investment that is clearly delivering returns to our State.”

The Repucom report may be downloaded from Tourism Tasmania’s corporate website – www.tourism.tas.gov.au

For information on the report, please contact:
Guy Port, Group Sales Manager Repucom International: (02) 9667 0326.