Vodafone blog

7 June, 2012 (SYDNEY): Vodafone today announced a strategic shift in its marketing and sponsorship spending, with plans to concentrate its investments in rolling out the new Vodafone mobile network and improving its customer service capabilities. 

Vodafone will honour its commitment to sponsor the Australian Test Cricket Team during the 2012/13 season, but will not renew the sponsorship when the current contract comes to an end in March 2013.

Vodafone has also confirmed that after six consecutive seasons at the pinnacle of Australian motorsport, TeamVodafone will finish its record-breaking run in its current livery at the end of the 2012 V8 Supercar Championship. Vodafone continues to explore ongoing sponsorship opportunities with Triple Eight Race Engineering, Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup.

Vodafone expressed its thanks to Cricket Australia and all current and former Australian Test cricketers who have been associated with the relationship over the last 11 years. Vodafone’s management and employees offered their collective thanks to the team and wished them every success in the future.

Noel Hamill, Consumer Business Unit Director at Vodafone, said: “It’s been an absolute privilege and honour to be the major sponsor of Australia’s summer of cricket over so many years.”

“We’ve been fortunate to be the major sponsor of the Australian Test Cricket Team during an era that has featured some of the true greats of the game, including the Waugh brothers, Warne, McGrath, Gilly, Ponting, and Michael Clarke. We wish the team every success in the future,” added Hamill.

“Our sponsorship of the Australian Test Cricket Team has delivered exceptional value and great experiences to many of our customers, so the decision to conclude the sponsorship at the end of the 2012/13 summer has not been taken lightly. We feel that it’s best to refocus our investment and attention on delivering the best possible network and service experience to our customers.”

Mike McKenna, Executive General Manager, Commercial at Cricket Australia, said:
“We have enjoyed a fantastic partnership over more than a decade, which has involved  constant innovation to bring cricket to more viewers than ever before through smartphones and tablets with Cricket TV, and forever changed the way fans interact with the commentary team through the Vodafone Viewers’ Verdict.”

Vodafone also confirmed that it has reached the end of its TeamVodafone sponsorship agreement and the company does not plan to renew the sponsorship at the end of the 2012 V8 Supercar Championship.

TeamVodafone has raced to three King of the Mountain titles at Bathurst, and won the Driver’s Championships in 2008, 2009 and 2011, making TeamVodafone the most successful team of the last six years and firmly imprinting it into the record books as one of the greatest ever teams in the history of Australian motorsport. 

Vodafone wished to acknowledge the incredible determination and professionalism of Craig Lowndes, Jamie Whincup and team boss Roland Dane who have made TeamVodafone one of the most successful and high-profile sponsorships in Australian sport.

Roland Dane, owner of Triple Eight Race Engineering, said: “Vodafone has always been an integral part of our team. By working together as TeamVodafone, we feel as though we have set a new benchmark in Australia for how a brand lives and breathes its sponsorship and how it brings that sponsorship to life.”

Noel Hamill added: “TeamVodafone has been an incredible, high-octane, excitement machine that has thrilled and inspired motorsport fans and our own employees around Australia. Thank you Roland, Craig and Jamie and the entire Triple Eight Race Engineering Team for a wild ride and for making TeamVodafone such a high profile success.”  

Ends