True, but to have only 100 lorries is a bit underwhelming. The press releases have quoted the "see a Stobart lorry every 4.5mins" thing as if that justifies this deal - which to be fair would be fantastic. However, with only 100 out of 2,250 total lorries branded, that 4.5mins potentially shoots up to over 100 minutes - i.e. a good chance that most people making their standard commute won't see one at all.

But do we need to do that? I don't think we do. I think what we - ie the sport - need is to push the brand in OTHER regions. Had Stobart provided us with, say, 200 trucks then the chances of other regions seeing our lorries would have been good. With just 100 though they are a bit thin on the ground. I understand that this is a bit of a risky move for Stobart who have built their brand on being spotted but even so 100 is a low number to be really effective. Unless, of course, they are all just going to be travelling around the M60 all day!

What I thought was great about this deal is that while we have been dumped from the national print media, having massive pictures of our players and clubs on the sides and backs of lorries would help fill that gap, giving us the exposure the print media is denying us. However, with only 100 lorries, the clubs would need to send most of their lorries down south for there to be a chance of decent exposure to the uninitiated.

No good preaching to the coverted; it's the unconverted we need to reach.

However, I am simply disappointed at the number. The idea, and the way in which it is being delivered (ie the livery), is bloody brilliant. I hope they take off and Stobart increase the numbers as a result.

Really?

Wigan currently have 10,000 season ticket holders, we had an average last season of over 16k. Yet we were able to take 30,000 to both Old Trafford and Wembley. We have potential to fill our stadium every week without away fans. The sport very much needs to preach to the converted, for some reason, half of them choose not to turn up to games.

As for the sky sports factor. An add like this WILL NOT prompt someone who has never watched RL to tune in for a game. They will probably assume it is Rugby Union and look around to see if Jonny Wilkinson is still on there. However, it could prompt the people who have watched before but do not do so on a regular basis.

To be honest, I think the reason all this expansion etc. doesn't work properly is because the game has not reached it's full potential in the heartlands yet. Expansion also does not have to be 'down south'. Why will people 'down south' change from their football, rugby union and cricket routine just for rugby league? They won't.

IMO advertising super league at the moment should be for people who already like the game, with a focus on getting the highest persentage possible going to the games or watching the game on TV. Then we might get ourselves into a position where it is much more reasonable to expand.

Lets be honest, the marketing in Rugby League is terrible. Only Wigan have shown real ingenuity and creativity when marketing. Why arn't other clubs not showing local TV adverts etc? They expect people to just turn up. If every club in super league can market themselves properly and then get into decent stadia (almost there) then the product will be much easier to market and the sport will find it easier to expand with it's advertising.

Finally the RFL should look at a clever 'Ambush Marketing' campaign for the Olympics in London. That would really put us on the map bigtime!

There's also the popular tv documentary that will further widen the exposure, with plans for at least one episode to include a feature on the Stobart sponsorship of Superleague in much the same way they did for F1 in the last series.

lorries look great but surely the RFl would have been better taking the money from betfair instead of 100 lorries worth of advertising and no money?

Anyone out there any idea as to how much it would cost for the advertising such we are getting through Stobarts?
I suppose that cost is the amount, in reality, we are being sponsored.

I wonder how much Sky Sports paid stobarts?

Disapointing thats its 100 lorries and no cash.

An advert trailer on the side of a main motorway I've seen quoted at £1,000pcm. That's £33ish a day.
Other motorways are £750pcm (about £25 a day) and main A-roads £500pcm (about £17 a day).

So if you average that off at £25 per day, that's £25 x 100 lorries x 365 days https://www.motorwayadvertising.com/images/trailers.jpg" >

Not huge Stobart trailers, so that makes the deal significantly greater.
These trailers may be in the same place all day and night, as opposed to a Stobart lorry that may be parked up at times, etc. but at the same time they may also be passing areas that are very expensive to advertise in (some can cost £1,000 a day, not a month!), so it more than evens out.

Whilst I'm disappointed that there will only be 100 rather than the reported 300 (sounds like the tease that was my tax return, which was predicted £500 and then knocked down to £100!), I still think it's potentially a really good deal. The advertising itself is definitely worth more than what BetFair offered, and may be worth more than what engage gave us a year (mine is a rough guess at the end of the day). It all depends on whether we can capitalise on this extra advertising. The fact that we're advertising Sky Sports could see our viewing figures go up and increase our deal with Sky (which is worth FAR more than the title sponsorship is worth). Sponsorship with Heinz Big Soup could also be worth a lot more now that it's on the side of 100 more lorries.

A lot of "ifs" but that's what happens when you take a risk. We'll see if it pays off. I'm staying positive.

I wonder if these will be adapted for the international series as well? Will England, Australia and New Zealand (and A.N.Other) be plastered on the sides of lorries at the back end of the year (not this year obviously, but in the future)? International advertising is something we've lacked in recent years, and this could be VERY good for it... especially the up coming RLWC.

Me too.

Anyone know what Keith Senior is banging on about on Twitter?

Apparently Stobart got the sponsorship for free....

"Someone's not daft at Eddie Stobart. Free advertising from the 2nd most watched sport behind premiership football,what did RFL charge ZERO"

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stobart have utilised a full 4.4% of their fleet to this deal! hardly a massive commitment. Id be amazed if anyone sees one although their rarity value maybe of some cachet to lorry spotters. This is a great deal for stobart with huge tv exposure for an investment of bugger all. They obviously have a very canny marketing dept who seem to be able to get advertising for free. still the lorries look nice.