SYDNEY – November 24, 2025 — As the 2025–26 NRMA Insurance Men’s Ashes Series gets underway, NRMA Insurance and Accenture Song have unveiled a major new brand platform designed to literally and figuratively shine a light on Australian cricket — from backyard nets to the biggest Test stage in the world. [1]
Today, Branding in Asia became the latest outlet to spotlight the campaign, underscoring how the work blends storytelling, star players and community investments to keep cricket thriving in a changing climate and media landscape. [2]
A century of “help” meets a nation’s favourite game
The new campaign, titled “Helping the game we love continue to thrive,” celebrates NRMA Insurance’s 100-year history of helping Australians while cementing its role as a long‑term backer of cricket. [3]
Key facts behind the push:
- 100 years of NRMA Insurance – The campaign marks a century of the insurer supporting Australian communities. [4]
- Four years with Cricket Australia – NRMA Insurance is now in its fourth year as a major partner of Cricket Australia and has recently extended the deal through a new multi‑year agreement. [5]
- Naming‑rights Ashes partner – The current men’s Ashes is officially branded the NRMA Insurance Men’s Ashes Series, underscoring just how central the insurer has become to elite Australian cricket. [6]
For NRMA Insurance, the campaign is about reinforcing that long‑term commitment at a moment when cricket is both booming as a product and under pressure from extreme weather and shifting fan habits.
Inside the ‘Helping the game we love continue to thrive’ campaign
At the heart of the campaign is a new 30‑second TV commercial created by Accenture Song (via Droga5 ANZ) in partnership with Cricket Australia. [7]
The spot continues the “Lighthouse” brand platform NRMA Insurance launched in August, which used a lighthouse beam as a metaphor for the brand’s promise to “shine a light” on people who need help. In the new cricket execution: [8]
- The lighthouse keeper again sweeps a beam of light across the community.
- This time, the light lands on community cricket teams playing in the dark, symbolising how support and infrastructure can keep the game going even when conditions are tough.
- A cover of The Beatles’ “Help!” ties the spot back to NRMA Insurance’s broader positioning as “a help company.” [9]
The film is designed to connect NRMA’s century‑long heritage with a forward‑looking message about resilience — both for communities and for the sport itself.
Star players front the social and content push
The film is only the starting point. The campaign rolls out across:
- Broadcast TV and BVOD
- Out‑of‑home (OOH) and digital
- In‑stadium signage throughout the Ashes summer
- Bespoke social content fronted by Australian cricket stars Meg Lanning, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon [10]
The work is deeply integrated into Seven’s coverage of the NRMA Insurance Men’s Ashes Test Series, ensuring NRMA branding appears at key moments as millions of fans tune in. [11]
Media trade publication Marketing‑Interactive notes that NRMA’s new platform sits alongside major Ashes activity from brands such as KFC, Toyota and Westpac, with broadcasters preparing for what Seven calls its “biggest summer of cricket” after last season’s coverage reached more than 17 million Australians. [12]
At the same time, industry outlet B&T includes NRMA’s new work among its “2025 Standouts” in cricket advertising, positioning the brand alongside headline‑grabbing campaigns from VB, Westpac and others. [13]
Grassroots first: floodlights for clubs battling extreme heat
One of the most distinctive elements of the campaign is its community initiative aimed at remote and regional clubs.
According to the media release carried by Mirage News and creative press reporting, NRMA Insurance is funding temporary floodlighting installations at grassroots cricket clubs that are increasingly forced to adapt to extreme heat and changing weather patterns. [14]
- Many of these clubs have seen daytime play curtailed by high temperatures.
- The floodlights allow them to shift matches into cooler evening periods for the first time.
- The first installation will switch on at Quorn Cricket Club in South Australia, with two more clubs to follow early next year. [15]
This initiative closely aligns the campaign with climate resilience and community wellbeing, rather than treating cricket purely as a sponsorship logo or media buy.
Today’s angle: global creative press shines a spotlight (24 November 2025)
What’s new today is the global attention the campaign is receiving.
On 24 November 2025, Branding in Asia published a detailed feature on the work, framing it as a standout example of how an Australian insurer can use sport to tell a broader story about community resilience and national culture. [16]
The article emphasises:
- NRMA Insurance’s multi‑year expansion of its partnership with Cricket Australia.
- The idea that cricket remains the “heartbeat” of many Australian communities, which the campaign seeks to protect and celebrate.
- How the platform connects elite players and fans with local clubs who feel the impact of severe weather most acutely. [17]
For international readers across Asia-Pacific, that coverage places NRMA’s campaign within a broader conversation about how brands can back both professional sport and grassroots participation at the same time.
Part of a bigger Ashes‑era media moment
The NRMA campaign doesn’t exist in isolation. It’s launching into one of the biggest cricket marketing windows in years:
- The 2025–26 Ashes series runs from 21 November 2025 to 8 January 2026, with five Tests across Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney. [18]
- Cricket Australia is broadcasting the first ball of the series live on more than 600 public digital screens nationwide in an “Australian‑first” initiative, further boosting exposure for the NRMA‑branded series. [19]
Industry outlets note that brands are treating this summer as a major commercial battleground, with long‑term sponsorships, integrated media plans and nostalgic creative aimed at tapping into cricket’s role as a cultural touchstone. NRMA’s campaign sits at the intersection of that commercial reality and a more civic‑minded goal of protecting communities from climate extremes. [20]
Who’s behind the work? The creative and media teams
The campaign is a flagship example of Accenture Song’s integration of creativity, technology and brand experience — an approach championed globally by David Droga, who has positioned Accenture Song as one of the world’s largest tech‑powered creative networks. [21]
According to credits published today and in earlier creative trade coverage: [22]
- Client: NRMA Insurance (part of Insurance Australia Group)
- Lead agency: Accenture Song / Droga5 ANZ
- Executive creative leadership: Barbara Humphries and Damon Stapleton as chief creative officers, with Christie Cooper and James Conner as executive creative directors
- Director: Tom Campbell at production company Good Oil
- Media and activations: Initiative (media) and MBCS (brand experiences and activations)
This roster underscores how seriously NRMA Insurance is treating its cricket partnership — drawing on some of the region’s most awarded creative and media talent to turn a sponsorship into a fully‑fledged brand platform.
Why it matters
For cricket fans, the campaign helps explain why NRMA branding is now everywhere this summer — from the series name to stadium signage and social feeds.
For communities, the floodlighting trials and focus on evening play show how a commercial partnership can be structured to address real‑world challenges like heat and changing schedules, not just logo visibility.
And for marketers, the work is a textbook example of:
- Long‑term partnership thinking – Four‑plus years with Cricket Australia and a renewed multi‑year deal provide the runway needed to build an evolving platform like “Lighthouse” into different cultural moments. [23]
- Platform, not one‑off ad – The new film doesn’t replace the August Lighthouse work; it extends it into cricket, showing how a strong brand idea can flex across categories and seasons. [24]
- Community‑first storytelling – From Quorn Cricket Club’s new lights to social content with star players, the campaign keeps grassroots cricket front and centre instead of focusing solely on elite athletes. [25]
As the NRMA Insurance Men’s Ashes Series gathers pace and the cricket calendar heats up, expect this platform — and the literal floodlights it funds — to keep shining on Australian cricket long after the final ball of the summer is bowled.
References
1. en.wikipedia.org, 2. www.brandinginasia.com, 3. www.brandinginasia.com, 4. lbbonline.com, 5. lbbonline.com, 6. en.wikipedia.org, 7. www.brandinginasia.com, 8. mumbrella106.rssing.com, 9. mumbrella106.rssing.com, 10. lbbonline.com, 11. lbbonline.com, 12. www.marketing-interactive.com, 13. www.bandt.com.au, 14. www.miragenews.com, 15. www.miragenews.com, 16. www.brandinginasia.com, 17. www.brandinginasia.com, 18. en.wikipedia.org, 19. www.cricexec.com, 20. www.marketing-interactive.com, 21. www.theaustralian.com.au, 22. www.brandinginasia.com, 23. lbbonline.com, 24. mumbrella106.rssing.com, 25. www.miragenews.com
