Cricket smells cash with unique Rexona deodorant sponsorship deal

Call it the sweet smell of commer­cial success for Cricket Australia as Rexona commits to branding umpires’ armpits.

Umpire Greg Davidson raises his Rexona-protected arms at Makuka Oval in Canberra. Picture: Sean Davey

Call it the sweet smell of commer­cial success for Cricket Australia.

On Thursday evening, cricket administrators will unveil what they think is one of the most unique sponsorship deals in Australian sport yet: the branding of umpire’s armpits with the Rex­ona deodorant brand.

While cricket is in the middle of an ugly court battle with domestic­ free-to-air broadcaster Seven West Media, summer’s No 1 sport claims to be coming up roses when it comes to clinching sponsorship deals.

Cricket Australia will generate a record $70m in commercial sponsorship revenue this summer, a 23 per cent growth since the controversial 2018 ball-tamp­ering incident had cricket on the nose with sponsors such as Magellan Financial Group, who abandoned the sport as then captain Steve Smith and players David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were banned from international and domestic cricket.

While the sport receives a huge uplift in international broadcast rights when India tours Australia, as it currently is for limited-over internationals and four upcoming Test matches, the increase in commercial deals has come during COVID-­19 and general belt-tightening by many corporate firms.

“The work we have done on the revenue side has really helped us stabilise (Cricket Australia’s financial) situation,” said Stephanie Beltrame, CA’s executive general manager of broadcast and commercial.

“We’re grateful to have partners stick with us and we’ve brought on a number of new partners … most of them have been at a slight increment to previous deals, and that has allowed us to offset some of the costs that we will incur.”

Ms Beltrame is referring to the $30m cost for COVID-19 biosecurity protocols Cricket Australia will shell out over the summer, part of a previously forecast $100m fall in revenue this financial year.

As coronavirus numbers fall nationwide though, crowds for Test matches and Big Bash League games, which start on Thursday, should increase and help improve the bottom line.

Rexona will be the 22nd sponsor to join cricket’s stable of commercial partners as part of its strategy to “own the underarm space” during summer and shed some positive light on umpires, a group often overlooked or maligne­d.

“We are constantly on the lookout for brands that want to innovate and do things differently,’’ said Nick Thodey, CA’s head of commercial development.

“We don’t believe this has been done anywhere in the world, and there has been a strong collabor­ative effort with the broadcasters as well.

“There will be a Rexona logo just under the underarm, and there will be an integration with the broadcast as well that the cameras will focus on (the logo) during the play.”

As well as being sighted when an umpire raises his finger to give a batsman out, the Rexona brand will feature on cardboard cutouts of umpires in supermarkets and retail outlets.

“We’re always looking for differe­nt opportunities and inno­vations,’’ Ms Beltrame said.