State of Play Movie - 2009 Sleeve Sponsor
12th March 2009
The South Sydney Rabbitohs are pleased to announce that the upcoming Hollywood blockbuster movie State of Play will be the Club’s major sleeve sponsor during the 2009 NRL season. Using a successful sponsorship model introduced by the Rabbitohs in 2005, State of Play will appear on the sleeves of the Rabbitohs home, away and alternate jerseys until the end of round 11 of the NRL season, upon which time the sleeves will become free for another corporate partner to advertise on. State of Play will also receive corporate hospitality, advertising signage and Members’ activations as part of the corporate partnership. The Rabbitohs finalised the agreement with Universal Pictures Australia to advertise State of Play over the first 11 weeks of the competition this week. “We’re delighted to announce the signing of our fourth major corporate partnership for the 2009 season, with State of Play becoming our sleeve sponsor for the first half of the season,” Rabbitohs CEO Shane Richardson said. “We have agreement from the NRL to allow State of Play to adorn our jersey for the first 11 weeks of the competition, allowing us to sell the sponsorship property for the remainder of the season past round 11. “We did a similar sponsorship deal in 2005 when Cinderella Man appeared on the front of our jersey. It has been a successful sponsorship model for both us and Universal Pictures and we’re delighted to be able to partner with them again to promote one of their movies. It is a reminder that there are innovative ways to approach the marketplace when looking for companies to sponsor your Club, and this is one way of doing it. “We thank the NRL for approving the sponsorship and we particularly thank Universal Pictures Australia for seeing the Rabbitohs as a viable option when promoting their blockbuster movies such as State of Play. We’re looking forward to working with Universal to promote the movie and the Rabbitohs.” Mike Baard, Managing Director of Universal Pictures Australia commented: "Universal Pictures is delighted to support the Rabbitohs with this sponsorship. State of Play is one of our most anticipated releases this year and given it stars Russell Crowe, there is a natural fit with branding the film alongside the football club, especially as the target audience for the film is aligned with the support base of the NRL." Rabbitohs co-owner and Academy Award winning actor Russell Crowe leads an all-star cast in State of Play, a movie about a rising congressman and an investigative journalist embroiled in a case of seemingly unrelated, brutal murders. State of Play also stars Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Jason Bateman, Robin Wright-Penn and Helen Mirren. State of Play is due to be released in Australia on 28 May 2009.