Mazda Extend North Melbourne FC Sponsorship

North Melbourne Football Club, herbal one of the oldest Australian Football League (AFL) teams, has renewed its partnership with Mazda Australia.

Kangaroos players will keep the Mazda logo on their guernsey until at least the end of the 2016 AFL season, an extension of the sponsorship agreement that started in 1999.

Mazda said in a statement that by the end of the new agreement, the Japanese car-maker will have been the club’s major sponsor for 18 years, marking a new record for a North Melbourne sponsor and making it one of the longest corporate relationships in the AFL. 

However, it cannot match the record of Ford’s sponsorship of the Geelong Football Club that, at 88 years and counting, is said to be the longest unbroken sports sponsorship in the world.

Mazda Australia marketing director Alastair Doak commented on the extension: 
“Mazda and North Melbourne share a common DNA; both are youthful, innovative, energetic, stylish and sporty. Sharing these attributes makes staying on as major sponsor an easy decision,” he said.

“Our research tells us that there is a direct correlation between our sponsorship of North, improved brand awareness and familiarity, and increased purchase intent – our partnership has inspired more people to buy a Mazda.”

Since Mazda took over as major sponsor in 1999, North Melbourne has taken home the 1999 AFL premiership, significantly boosted its membership base and built a state-of-the-art training facility at its base in Arden Street, North Melbourne. 

North Melbourne chairman James Brayshaw was at the announcement and said it was “an honour” for the club to be involved with Mazda. 

“To have a global brand like Mazda aligned with our club is something that has always been humbling for us,” he said.

“Mazda has been incredibly loyal to this club over a long period of time and we value our relationship extremely highly.”