With the second installment of State of Origin looming, it is only fitting we detail the 4 Origin Truths we learnt on our Suncorp State of Origin Shield Tour. In April, Suncorp and the NRL hit the road to bring newly appointed Queensland Maroons Coach – Kevin Walters, former origin greats and the State of Origin Shield to Cairns, Townsville and Rockhampton. As part of the tour, children aged 5-13 had the opportunity to register for an NRL development clinic and learn from former Origin Greats such as Justin Hodges, Brent Tait, Michael Hancock, Gary Belcher, Matt Bowen and Lote Tuqiri. Locals were able to see the shield and get autographs from some of their NRL heroes. We also had Johnathan Thurston, Matt Scott and Michael Morgan pop down and make an appearance on our Townsville leg! Here are some of the truths we learnt on our tour to regional Queensland;
1. Sponsorship
Sponsorship has always proved to be a lucrative and viable form of advertising, with an overall aim of increased sales and profitability, sponsorship serves two main purposes; to increase brand awareness and to establish, change, or strengthen the image of the brand. Standing beside QRL, Suncorp was able to attract the attention of thousands of people regionally that may not have considered them as their bank provider of choice. Suncorp was also able to raise brand awareness across print, radio and broadcast media as the media had a very strong interest on these former greats!
2. Impact on the local children
We learnt that the children in regional QLD live and breathe the footy and majority would only dream of perusing a career in the sport. These former origin greats taking the time to visit these smaller communities, proved to impact these children more than we expected. The children idolised these guys and having the ability to train alongside these professional athletes inspired and motivated these kids to push harder than ever before.
3. The Power of the Run sheet
If we groaned and moaned and didn’t appreciate the power of the run sheet before, we most certainly do now! This was no small project management task, we coordinated everything from labour to the face painting to promo staff to a media call with the players with print, radio and broadcast media (not to mention we had to MC two legs of the trip on top of this…).
4. Cockroaches
You must always have a strong desire to ‘squash those cockroaches’!
