The AFL’s most marketable players are building a valuable brand for themselves
THINK Dusty with Bonds and Puma, Buddy with Dior, and Dangerfield with Swisse. These are the AFL’s best players at the game of marketing moneyball — and the new wave of up-and-comers building their own brand. SEE THE TOP 10
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WHY could Phil Davis be more valuable to a brand than Buddy Franklin or Dustin Martin?
Hang on a second. Phil who?
Social media and marketing experts say the Greater Western Sydney captain is a glimpse into the future model of marketable AFL players.
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Recent work by Melbourne-based athlete publishing agency Unscriptd shows Buddy Franklin as the undisputed social media king, with the biggest following on Twitter (188,627 followers) and Instagram (326,837 followers).
Dusty is close behind on Instagram in second place (244,498) followers. Second place on Twitter is Gary Ablett Jr (152,082 followers).
So how could Davis — with his 13,900 Instagram and 10,800 Twitter followers — be more valuable to some brands? The experts say the early days of social media were about as many eyeballs as possible, but this is changing.
“In most of the endorsement deals we have been involved, there is a component that is based on a player’s social media reach. Whether Twitter or Facebook or Instagram,” John Tripodi, CEO of marketing company Twenty3 Group, which includes Eddie McGuire and Paul Dainty as directors, says.
“It is hard to recall a contract we have been involved in that doesn’t have a social media requirement attached to that player.”
But Unscriptd’s head of sports marketing Jonno Simpson — who used to work for Twitter — says increasingly it is wrong to simply look at volume of followers.
“The challenge is not follower numbers — because that is what we call a ‘vanity metric’,” he said.
“What you want to understand as a marketeer is the audience you are going to reach. A player might have the most followers but is he the right fit for your brand?”
Unscriptd helps players publish material and has about 850 athletes across numerous sports and 20 countries.
Simpson says Davis is an example of someone who is learning to build a very individual personality and transcend the limits of his club — including the GWS podcast which allows him to show an articulate understanding of the game.
“Phil Davis does a phenomenal job on social. He is building a brand, he shares his insights into football and he’s got a good broad appeal,” Simpson says. “The challenge now is for athletes to transcend team alliance.”
IT wasn’t the fact Joel Selwood made the beds and put out fresh towels for the family of a young Auskick champ he’d told to stay at his house in Barwon Heads.
After all, they drove for hours from country Victoria for the little bloke to have a training session with the Geelong captain the next day.
And it wasn’t even that he lay out little Geelong jerseys for the boy’s brother and sister.
It was the fact he did all this without a club or agent telling him to. This, as one marketing expert points out, is what makes the Geelong captain — who has been the face of NAB Auskick for nine years — marketing catnip.
For a person like Selwood there are multiple brands hungry for his stardust, witness deals with Cotton On and ASICS as well. But the cold reality is, in a league of more than 800 players in a market that also embraces other sports there are very few spots at the top of the most marketable AFL player list.
We talked to the most knowledgeable marketing people in the AFL — who advise both players and brands — to find out who are the most marketable players.
Marketing powerhouse Bastion Collective — started by former Adelaide Crows and St Kilda player Fergus Watt and including Andrew Demetriou on its board — opened to the Herald Sun its list of the best players at the game of marketing moneyball.
Think Dusty with Bonds and Puma, Buddy with Dior, and Dangerfield with Swisse.
But we also get a glimpse, as the business end of the season approaches, of the players putting their hands up to be marketing stars of the future — and at the same time get a sense of which players have enough sense to put out fresh linen for house guests.
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THE marketing blokes from the US were impressed with what they flew 12,000km to see.
A cold day at the MCG this year saw the men — used to dealing with the likes of the National Football League, National Basketball League and Major League Baseball — enjoying watching blokes crunch into each other.
“How much do these guys earn?” was the burning question to their Aussie hosts.
It was pointed out average earnings are about $370,000 a year and advertising deals are on top of that.
For perhaps a clutch of these there are riches, with industry insiders saying the best can command north of $300,000 in off-field earnings a year if they are willing to chase offers. Not bad for an young bloke under 30, was the point.
The US experts thought a moment: “Man, they are being ripped off’,” they said.
It is the young AFL stars themselves — who grew up watching NBA and NFL — who would agree most fervently with those US marketing gurus.
For some the contrast in pay has been presented in the starkest manner possible.
At an end-of-season trip in Los Angeles last year, Gary Ablett Jr — who has made cash from Gatorade and Weetbix sponsorships — rubbed shoulders with Golden State Warriors superstar Kevin Durant — who is on a Nike deal that could make him $300 million over a decade.
SIMON Garlick, chief of Bastion Collective’s sponsorship arm Bastion EBA, says the footy-loving public are getting pretty eclectic with the types of players they are warming to.
And this creates opportunities for players from more diverse backgrounds.
“We are seeing people from different parts of the world — Mason Cox is a prime example of a personality, but he is now influencing games,” Garlick says. “He is happy to put himself out there with that US approach.”
He also points to North Melbourne’s Majak Daw and Sydney’s Aliir Aliir telling a totally different AFL story.
“And this year we have seen someone like Jack Higgins for Richmond — who is just a different character who might not give traditional answers in an interview.”
Garlick says the AFLW — through players like “dual sports guns” Monique Conti and Erin Phillips, along with Katie Brennan — have been some of the most engaging finds since the league’s emergence. “It is not a novelty factor. They are approaching it in a more open way and are up for the adventure in a way we relate to,” he says.
Bastion Collective’s ratings of young players coming through also picks up on the quirky. The marketing group says Magpie ruckman Brodie Grundy has huge potential.
“Grundy may be a surprise to some … but anyone who follows this man on any social media platform can tell you that he oozes charisma and never strays away from the camera,” Garlick says.
Bastion also labels Hawthorn midfielder Jaeger O’Meara as another to watch on and off field if he can “get his body right and produce form to match his talent” after repeated knee injuries.
The chief of Bastion’s reputation management business, Brian Walsh, who helps train younger players as brand ambassadors — says the Hawthorn player is a natural.
Walsh says that no matter how good you are on social media, a key marketing prospect needs to be able to interact with people sincerely.
“The players who are the best brand ambassadors work as hard at a function as they do on the field,” he says.
“Watch Jaeger O’Meara walk into any room and watch the way he genuinely interacts with people and does it with interest and purpose. He doesn’t just remember names, but he asks questions and remembers the answers.”
Another bright young hope battling injury woes is Joe Daniher.
Daniher hasn’t played since Round 7, when he succumbed to a groin injury that had been troubling him. But Bastion says if he can get fit the world is his oyster.
“A tall, young, athletic, potential-filled, full forward is worth its weight in gold in the AFL these days and Essendon have Anthony Daniher to thank for blessing his son with an abundance of just that,” is how Bastion describes him.
The least surprising of the Bastion picks is Western Bulldogs premiership player Marcus Bontempelli.
“Avid ball user and thrust into the media eye from the word go. Sensible, well spoken, and already a leader,” the Bastion report says.
“(He is a) sure-fire future Doggies captain and perhaps Brownlow medallist … It’s hard to find a brighter burning star.
FOOTY stars playing up has been a constant storyline for more than a century. But the experts say the new players are so good at connecting through social media that fans are more forgiving of transgressions.
What sort of activity can cause a player turn from marketing gold to trash over night? Crashing into a row of parked cars in your Jeep?
How about losing your club a supposed $250,000 sponsorship by the Transport Accident Commission after you are caught speeding 127kmh in a 100kmh zone?
RMIT Associate Professor of Marketing, Con Stavros says the most-loved players make it easy to recover from lapses of “brand values”.
“People tend to blame the media for their intrusive ways,” Dr Stavros says.
“I am surprised how empathetic people tend to be overall and how willing they are to give athletes second and even third chances.
“The term used about the media is ‘insatiable beast’ because fans realise that they have a relentless and endless job to attract attention in a 24/7 cycle of news and entertainment. Social media has amplified that pressure.
“Fans also recognise the demands and challenges of modern players and they understand how fleeting their career is as well.”
Sydney fans saw Lance Franklin was contrite over his car accident in the Sydney suburb of Rose Bay in 2014 and paid a $405 fine negligent driving. Cats fans will point out Joel Selwood was returning from a community camp in Warrnambool on February 24 last year when he was caught speeding.
“It is easier to be angry at company or a brand than it is a human being,” Dr Stavros points out, which is perhaps why mud sticks to the AFL more than to some of its stars.
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YOUNG AFL players are fans of wearing NFL caps but the wise ones are also fans of its players’ association and what that has achieved for its 1800 members.
The NFL players’ union owns its own licensing and marketing arm which collects millions of dollars in revenue from huge marketing deals. It means the NFL itself has to pay cash to the players’ association to use their images.
While this might be a bridge too far to emulate entirely it shows the possibilities for AFL players.
The first indication of this happening was a landmark deal struck last month between the AFL PA, the AFL and Telstra in which the nation’s biggest telco works with players to produce social media content — videos, articles or images — and organise appearances by the sporting stars.
The revenue carve-up is not clear, although what is known is “every AFL player will benefit from the partnership, including through greater contributions into the player retirement scheme”.
At the moment, the most formal process around image rights is the Additional Services Agreement for things such as appearances at corporate sponsor functions — this is set at $1 million for each club annually.
A SIGN of the move to player power was FoxFooty this month handing over the reins to players for a full week of programming.
“It showed the players have an interesting take on the game and it allowed them to give their insights which are different than an ex-player or a CEO,” Unscriptd’s Jonno Simpson said.
“In the US, the athlete is more powerful — they transcend sports and teams. That is happening here — it is a smaller scale — but we are seeing the rise of the athlete influencer. If you can connect, the brands will align with you.”
While the quantum of what US sportspeople earn is out of the reach of AFL players, Bastion’s Simon Garlick says it is difficult to put a ceiling on the growth.
“If you were to say five years ago that an Instagram influencer could get a million dollars a year you probably would have been labelled as foolish,” he said
So, while AFL players kick up their feet in the off-season to watch US sport, they will be hit by a blur of big endorsement deals. Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James with $55 million. Golden State Warriors Stephen Curry with $35 million. New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees with $14 million.
At least it gives their cousins in the AFL something to dream about.
MOST MARKETABLE AFL PLAYERS
THE YOUNG GUNS
1. Marcus Bontempelli, Western Bulldogs
Sensible, well spoken and already a leader. Currently marketability without question — and he’s only 22. It’s hard to find a brighter burning star
2. Brodie Grundy, Collingwood
Social media feed tells you that he oozes charisma and never shies away from the camera. Exciting future for the 23-year-old ruckman
3. Joe Daniher, Essendon
Tall, young, athletic, potential-filled full-forward is worth his weight in gold. Essendon has Anthony Daniher to thank for blessing his 24-year-old son with an abundance of just that
4. Jaeger O’Meara, Hawthorn
Huge potential on and off field. If he can get his body right and produce the form to match his talent, the 24-year-old will be a very bankable prospect
Source: Bastion Collective
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