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Gemba and St.George Bank have claimed their first ever win at the global Leaders Sports Awards, winning in the Sponsorship category for the St.George Footy Grants Program.

To win in this highly competitive category, campaigns needed to showcase an effective and collaborative partnership between brand and rights-holder to create a unique activation during COVID-19.

The St.George Footy Grants program was created to help everyday people achieve their NRL dreams, providing funding to break down barriers and make the game more accessible to all.

In its first year in 2019, the program helped 35 grassroots clubs and their communities fund a range of initiatives, including the upgrade of training equipment for a rugby league team with mental and physical disabilities, as well as subsidising player registrations for low-income families at a grassroots AFL club.

Following the initial success of the St.George Footy Grants program, the program was again opened for the 2020 season. However, within a fortnight of the campaign going live, the impact of COVID-19 saw professional and community sport thrown into disarray and community sports clubs across Australia facing an uncertain future.

With the support of St.George’s partners, Queensland Reds, St George Illawarra Dragons and GWS GIANTS, the Footy Grants program was quickly repurposed from helping clubs to play, to helping them to survive financially during uncertain times.

This saw St.George double their commitment, increasing available funds from $100,000 to $200,000. The sole objective became helping 30% more clubs than in the previous year. The bank wanted to fast-track their commitment to the grassroots footy community, and help the clubs hit hardest by the COVID-19 crisis.

Partner-led video content encouraging footy participants to apply for a grant ran on St.George and partner channels with a huge 3.6 million reach, and over 765,000 engagements.

 This reach translated into action, with an average click through rate of 1.04%, 2.5 times higher than campaign benchmarks. Ultimately this led to a 50% uplift in grant applications, with grant recipients appreciative of the assistance.

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