Sponsorship bodes well for national brand
Following a successful member vote and the official merger with People’s Choice Credit Union, Heritage Bank has secured naming rights to the home stadium of AFL club the Gold Coast Suns.
The five-year sponsorship deal was signed in February, resulting in the stadium being rebranded to Heritage Bank stadium.
Based in Carrara on Queensland’s Gold Coast, the stadium is set to become synonymous with audiences on the Gold Coast and throughout Queensland and Australia, with a wide range of events to be held over the next 12 months.
Heritage Bank CEO Peter Lock (pictured above left with People’s Choice Credit Union chairman Michael Cameron) acknowledged the AFL as one of Australia’s most popular sports.
The potential for audience reach – including people attending the stadium and watching the game – is very high, Lock said.
“The Suns play the other teams in the AFL, so when there is a game at the stadium with an away team, people are travelling,” Lock said. “The benefit of being on the Gold Coast is that people make a weekend of it.”
Referring to the stadium as a “live asset”, Lock said brand recognition would continue throughout the year. In addition to AFL games, 50,000 people attended Harry Styles in February, and P!NK is booked to perform at the stadium in February 2024.
The Heritage Bank brand is featured on the stadium itself (see below) and is also displayed on the AFL tickets, the stadium grounds and the scoreboard.
“This is great brand recognition for us … on the Gold Coast we have eight branches, all in proximity around that stadium,” Lock said.
As a Queensland-domiciled bank, the stadium is located at the heart of Heritage Bank’s home territory. The sponsorship bodes well for the eventual unveiling of a new national brand campaign, Lock said.
Stadium to reflect Heritage Bank’s new national brand
Discussing the official merger of Heritage Bank and People’s Choice Credit Union, Lock confirmed that dual head offices had been maintained in Adelaide and Toowoomba.
The joining of the two banks is “true merger of equals”, Lock said, noting the balance sheets of both banks were similar. There was no duplication in geographies, and no branch closures or redundancies as a result, he said.
The two brands, Heritage Bank and People’s Choice Credit Union will continue to operate for an interim period of around 12 months.
Acknowledging that most mutual banks operate within a geography, state or around an industry, Lock said the merger of Heritage Bank and People’s Choice provided an opportunity to create a “truly national mutual proposition”.
“Creating a national brand gives us the foundation [and] the size of the bank gives us the scale to start to offer a true national alternate to the listed banks,” Lock said. “With the national brand, [the stadium] is going to be the platform for a national brand recognition program.”
The integration of two banking systems and creation of one national brand will result in one core banking system. Lock said this would generate secular products and quicker service.
In choosing what type of financial organisation to bank with, Lock said Australians have two main options: a listed bank model or a mutual model.
Unlike a listed bank model, a mutual bank does not have shareholders. As mutuals, Lock said Heritage Bank and People’s Choice operated to a “profit for purpose” model, which meant noticeable differences for customers.
“It is a proposition that extends from South Australia, Victoria, NSW, Queensland and the Northern Territory, so it’s a very good geographic proposition,” Lock said. “We do believe that brokers will embrace it and more of their clients will be interested in the proposition.”
