When Youi started on its Footy. Made by fans. concept, the goal was to deliver a simple and powerful creative platform that would materially demonstrate its commitment to supporting footy in Australia, moving the national insurer beyond the logo on the guernsey to something more substantial.
In the latest campaign, Youi handed over the keys to its Brisbane Lions sponsorship to Scott Villiers, a father of three and diehard Lions fan.
“At the heart of the creative brief, we recognised the currency of footy fans is passion, and if they get it right, sponsors have the opportunity to tap into fans’ emotional connection with the game,” Youi chief marketing officer Angela Greenwood told AdNews.
“We knew from the AFL Fans Association’s annual survey that ‘the atmosphere at the games’ and ‘the passion of fans for their club’ rated in the top responses to the question ‘what is the best thing about the AFL?’”
Since 2017 Youi has been the Official Insurance Partner of the NRL, which gives the insurer exposure in every single NRL sanctioned match, across the men’s and women’s home and away season, Finals, State-of-Origin and more.
In 2020 Youi started its relationship with the Brisbane Lions Football Club.
The team had been a part of the fabric of footy for a while, but they had a challenge and an opportunity to make our involvement more tangible and meaningful, Greenwood says.
Research showed that the shared camaraderie of watching or cheering for high performance athletes and teams has a strong impact on developing community cohesion.
From there, Youi’s in-house creative team started deep diving on the role of fans in footy.
“They came across a quote from Brendan Fevola who pointed out the huge impact of empty stadiums during Covid, saying that 'fans make the game'. Without the crowds and the atmosphere, the experience really lacked excitement and soul,” Greenwood says.
“The insight that sparked our creative approach was that whether you’re a player, coach or fan – footy shapes you. But it’s not a one-way relationship. Whether you’re part of a team that wrote history, or a fan that cheered through the highs and lows, or one of the many parents, junior coaches or volunteers that make local footy possible week in and week out – you help shape footy.”
The company saw an opportunity to create something ownable for Youi in a very crowded and cluttered sponsorship landscape.
“Showing up as the ‘official partner of footy fans’ simply hadn’t been done before and gave us a unique and interesting role to play,” she says.
“But we also knew that with this positioning, we needed to be able to really walk the talk and not be solely advertising-led; that was also reinforced by our CEO Nathaniel Simpson when we presented the idea to him. He loved it, but he wasn’t willing to support it unless we could truly demonstrate to fans that we’re a genuine partner to them."
For Greenwood, the biggest challenge, but the most rewarding, was the breadth of what Youi delivered in year one.
“We run a predominantly in-house creative and media agency model, so the ability to pull this off required laser focus and strong execution,” she says.
“In hindsight, we probably bit off more than we could chew, but we chewed through it anyway and couldn’t be prouder of how we came together to achieve the ambition.”
Youi drove activity across four different dimensions. From the advertising perspective, the team delivered six bespoke TVCs (3x NRL, 3x Brisbane Lions), 5x AFL front bar TV (Hall of Fans) integrations, NRL Broadcast sponsorship and presence in all the biggest moments, and a host of digital and in-game assets.
To further bring the platform to life, Youi created a content series called ‘#1 Fans’ where it brought players across NRLW, AFL and AFLW together with their biggest fans – family members, coaches and supporters that have been by their side throughout their careers, Greenwood says.
“We supported and showed up for communities by launching a tailor-made program with the NRL called the Youi Community Scrum, developed to support regional communities still feeling the effects of previous significant weather events,” she says.
“The Youi x Lions Community Hill and Canteen at Brighton Homes Arena was created to support the Lions’ community partners, and to date has raised a total of nearly $40,000 for local clubs and initiatives with Youi matching every dollar, totalling $80,000 raised in the 2023 AFLW season alone.”
But the biggest and most exciting element of this was when Youi pulled off an Australia-first in partnership with M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment, and handed over its Brisbane Lions sponsorship for a round to Scott Villiers, father of three from Melbourne and Lions superfan.
“Our in-house creative team developed the idea as part of the initial creation of the platform and we knew we had to make this happen no matter what as the ultimate demonstration of our commitment to fans,” Greenwood says.
“As part of the handover, Scott received access to Youi’s sponsorship benefits, and more, for Round 21 of the AFL Premiership Season. One of the feats we had to pull off was to gain approval mid-season from the AFL for Scott’s name to replace Youi in our logo on an all-new, commemorative away guernsey that the Lions wore in their winning clash against St Kilda on Sunday, August 4 at Marvel Stadium.”
Key target and KPIs for the campaign were predominantly brand-led and centred on building consideration, likeability and relevance with footy audiences.
“We’re in this for the long game. YouGov mid-season results in July showed a notable uplift in Youi’s brand consideration amongst NRL Fans, and a major YoY increase in ad awareness amongst Brisbane Lions fans within the first 90 days of season ‘24,” Greenwood says.
“An importantly, our own Kantar creative testing showed that our creative suite outperformed both category and insurance norms for enjoyment by over 12%.”
Greenwood says from the outset, Youi has been deliberate in making "Footy. Made by Fans" the foundation of a multi-year journey. This inaugural season has been focused on establishing the platform's core message and embedding Youi's presence within both AFL and NRL.
With the approaching finals series and AFLW season, Youi will continue to enhance brand visibility and solidify its role as a partner to footy fans.
“Looking ahead, future seasons will offer opportunities to further evolve the platform, with fans at the heart of this evolution. We aim to deepen fan engagement through meaningful storytelling and by creating experiences that allow fans to have a more significant influence on the narrative of the sports they love,” she says.
“We still have plenty of amazing and creative ideas left in the tank, so each season we aim to evolve our brand’s story, ensuring that the platform remains relevant and meaningful to fans. By continuously evolving it and staying true to its intent, we hope to cement Youi’s role as a true partner to the fans and the codes themselves.”
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