Cricket Australia has entered a relationship with sports consultancy Initiative Futures to provide research, especially in the area of sponsorships.

The firm will work with the national body as well as State Associations and KFC T20 Big Bash League teams.

CA says Initiative Futures “will generate deeper insights and recommendations to Australian cricket and enhanced value to its commercial partners.”

According to web searches Initiative and Futures are “sister companies” under the umbrella of the IPG Mediabrands group. A list of their services and software can be seen here.

CA said it put the consultancy business out to tender and Initiative Futures was chosen as it demonstrated:

• An ability to deliver insights and recommendations on how to maximise returns on commercial relationships in Australian cricket
• Unique technology that will measure Australian cricket on a 24/7 basis
• An internationally-accepted approach to measuring sponsorship
• A successful track record of working with international sporting bodies

 “Initiative Futures is at the cutting edge of sports sponsorship measurement and this relationship will provide cricket with market leading insights, knowledge and opportunities not currently available to other sports in Australia,” said CA Head of Commercial Marketing, Luke Bould.

 “We’ve gone outside of the traditional models to find an innovative solution that will not only allow Australian cricket to more accurately measure the value of its commercial assets but also provide an optimal return on our commercial partners’ investment in the game.

“Initiative Futures’ unique technology and digital measurement, combined with its near live reporting tools, will allow Australian cricket to be more agile to deliver a competitive advantage over other sports in this country.”

Kevin Alavy, the UK-based Managing Director of Initiative Futures, said: “We are absolutely delighted to launch Initiative’s sports research consultancy in Australia with such a prestigious and important sporting body as Cricket Australia. We have shared values in striving for excellence and believe that cricket inAustraliawill really benefit from investment in our advanced approaches to measurement and analytics and from our widely-respected consultancy services.”