When Adelaide Thunderbirds lifted their third premiership in four seasons at John Cain Arena earlier this month, they closed out the tenth season of Suncorp Super Netball. It also turns out to have closed out Suncorp’s era as title sponsor: Netball Australia is in talks to find the league’s next naming-rights partner.

As it does so, it’s worth asking what ten years of investment actually bought Suncorp.

Our consumer data has the answer – and it’s a strong case study for any rightsholder building a sponsorship deck, or any brand deciding whether to sign one.

The figures below compare the general Australian population against those who rank Super Netball as one of their interests.

Twice the love, twice the trust

Just 5% of Australians overall rate Suncorp a 10/10 for brand love; among Super Netball fans, that more than doubles to 10%. Trust follows the same pattern – 8% overall versus 16% among fans, double again.

Fans aren’t hearing bad news.

Ask fans what they’ve heard about Suncorp lately and 39% report positive news, against 22% of the wider population – nearly double again. Negative recall, meanwhile, is close to non-existent either way (2% among fans versus 3% overall). That combination – high positive recall, negligible negative recall – is what a decade of visible, well-managed sponsorship has bought.

A relationship play, rather than a reach one

When a brand is as established as Suncorp, sponsorship is rarely about reach or recognition. Instead it tends to be about deepening the relationship between an audience and a product or service.

That looks to play out in this case. Prompted brand awareness of Suncorp as a banking/financial institute is almost identical among the general public and Super Netball fans.

But Suncorp has earned a bump in its customer base. 16% of Super Netball fans have used the brand’s banking services, compared to 13% of the general public. That’s a good advert for both the League and Suncorp’s marketers.

Suncorp walks away with a bigger customer base, as well as brand affection, while Netball Australia has earned a useful sales tool: proof that a long-term, high-visibility partnership with this fanbase can convert into measurable love, trust and purchase intent – not just logo impressions.

For any brand weighing up a sponsorship at this scale, it’s the return on ten years, quantified.