community rugby - Australian Sports Commission

COMMERCIAL OPERATIONS
COMMERCIAL OPERATIONS
Licensing
To assist with this marketing and PR we engaged two
ambassadors: 200 metre Australian Olympian Adam
2005 was again a very exciting and busy year for the
ARU’s licensing program, which saw gross
royalties exceed $2 million.
Miller and Channel 7 presenter Shelley Craft, who
appeared in various media campaigns and gained us
invaluable media coverage, including photo shoots in
Alpha magazine, the Sunday Telegraph, Men’s Health
One of the highlights of the year was
online and the Qantas In-flight magazine.
the release of the new Wallaby jersey
that was worn by the team during their
In a continuation of refining the licensing program, we say
The ARU also appointed four external agents for the 2005
season:
• Southern Cross Sports Management
• Corporate Sports Australia
• The Cabinet
• MatchPoint
All packages sold well, with the type of packages ranging
from in-stadium fine dining to the cocktail-style Wallaby
Gold Bar and the relaxed, informal Boat parties.
The ARU also continued the traditional recognition of
players’ achievements, through the Tooheys New Super
12 Awards at a function at the Westin Hotel, Sydney
McLean and comprising two administrators (one being
the immediate past President, Peter Crittle), two Rugby
historians, the Wallaby Captain and a representative
of the Classic Wallabies was given the responsibility of
choosing from more than 700 Test match players based
on a range of on and off field criteria.
At the John Eales Medal, five inaugural Wallabies were
inducted into the Wallaby Hall of Fame:
• Tom Richards
• Col Windon
• John Thornett
• Ken Catchpole
• Mark Ella
Spring Tour. This was the first change of
the jersey design since the 1999 Rugby
World Cup, and involved years of research
and development from Canterbury
International to ensure maximum
performance for the team, as well as extensive market
research across a wide range of Rugby constituents. The
jersey was released to coincide with the Wallabies Spring
Tour and is already selling well.
The next Rugby World Cup, being held in France in 2007,
has prompted the ARU to look at avenues of increasing
our market reach in Europe through licensing, and we
have now deployed a staff member, based in London, to
maximise any opportunities leading into RWC 2007.
goodbye to a few of our licensees, including One Rugby
(online store), RTA, CorpEYEwear, Neil Lawrence and
Associates, Nottage International, Kryptx, Lombard’s and
RIC Publications. We thank them for their contributions
over the years.
Although we have refined the program, we are still
looking to fill any gaps in the market and have welcomed
Bridgestone on board for golf accessories, CA Australia
for beach and bath towels, and manchester, Licensing
Essentials for bar accessories and SupPAWters in the
category of pet products/animal accessories.
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in May and the John Eales Medal Dinner at a glittering
function at the Hordern Pavilion, Sydney in October.
With the retrospective capping of all Wallaby players
completed in 2004, the ARU continued to honour past
Wallabies by introducing the Wallaby Hall of Fame in 2005.
A selection committee, chaired by ARU President Paul
Two more Wallaby greats will be inducted in 2006 and
annually thereafter.
We also further developed our marketing and PR
initiatives in the wake of new and exciting products that
are being developed, based on the graphic artpacks
launched last year.
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Australian Rugby Union 2005 Annual Report