CASE STUDY
Rebuilding a partnership & commercial architecture for a major association.
Client: A peak cultural organisation representing a large, multi-segment membership base.
Region: Perth, Australia
Date of completion: December 2025
Services:
Commercial & strategic partnerships
• Partnership strategy development
• Commercial model & deal structuring
• Brand design strategy
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57% increase
in total defined partnership and advertising inventory value.
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$500k+ AUD
in sellable commercial properties unlocked.
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One unified commercial logic
governing pricing and benefits, and replacing reactive deal-making.
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A single source of truth
established across strategy and pricing decisions.
THE OPPORTUNITY
To transform partnership activity from reactive deal-making into a coherent, governable revenue system.
The not-for-profit association services a large membership base and holds deep institutional authority and community trust. Despite their presence, commercial conversations pertaining to sponsorships and advertising lacked rigour and repeatability. Partnerships came in from multiple avenues, without shared logic for how those relationships were valued, priced, or prioritised.
As such, partnership deals were negotiated in isolation, often reactively and ad-hoc, creating inconsistencies, internal friction, and leaving revenue on the table.
The opportunity lay in designing a business development framework and commercial architecture that leadership could confidently govern, thereby bringing portfolio-level clarity across revenue drivers.
This engagement marked the first consolidation of all six partnership categories (both existing and newly identified) into a single commercial system.
CONTEXT OF BUSINESS & CONDITIONS
$6M total revenue annually.
77% of revenue generated from core business activities, including member subscriptions, services, and activities.
3% of total revenue, on commencement, resulted from sponsorship and advertising deals. After this engagement, sellable commercial properties (sponsorships and advertisements) rose to a potential 8% of total revenue.
Revenue growth was constrained, not by demand, but by the absence of a strategic approach that aligned cultural value with defensible commercial logic.
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Before intervention
Partnerships were previously managed on a case-by-case basis, requiring fresh negotiation, internal debate, and once-off pricing decisions.
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After intervention
Teams could draw from a repeatable structure that elevates sound decision-making, and reduced internal negotiation.
THE INTERVENTION
This engagement was delivered in two deliberate phases:
Phase 1: synthesis & strategic architecture (inputs)
We produced the operating assumptions and commercial logic that would govern all future decisions, including how deals were assessed and composed.
The focus was on surfacing and naming the realities of how business development was conducted, defining value concretely, and setting the commercial ceiling — such that the deal-making process was replicable and consistent.
Surfaced the implicit assumptions that underpinned every negotiation.
Mapped all partnership and advertising properties (both existing and potential).
Built a defensible valuation framework grounded in market norms, audience reach, exclusivity, and demand dynamics.
Designed pricing logic, revenue forecasting and portfolio distribution models.
Anchored everything in a narrative that linked cultural positioning to commercial value.
Phase 2: brand & design storytelling (outputs)
Once the commercial partnerships architecture was established, we packaged it into tangible marketing and sales tools for application.
Designed a sponsorship & advertising prospectus deck, integrating their brand expression, cultural value, and pricing logic.
Created a brand narrative structure translating commercial logic into partner-facing storytelling.
Developed a refreshed interim brand identity*, aligning to the organisation’s evolving brand.
* At the time of engagement, this organisation was anticipating a full rebrand project the following year. For the meantime, an interim brand refresh served to elevate sponsor-facing materials without pre-empting a full brand upheaval.
THE IMPACT
57% increase in defined commercial inventory. By structuring sellable properties and rationalising pricing, the organisation’s commercial potential leapt forward.
$500k+ AUD in articulated sellable value. Deals that were previously invisible or under-leveraged became clearly defined.
5% uplift in total organisation-wide revenue. Opened solely by restructuring the business development arm’s commercial logic.
A single source of truth across all business development decision-making. Leadership now has the same language about value, pricing, and prioritisation of future opportunities.
Clearer commercial conversations. Pricing, packaging, and negotiation became faster and simpler to justify, both internally and externally.
A prospectus sales deck which frames confidence and coherence to partners. The first of its kind for the organisation, it can also be modelled for all externally facing sales tools.
A scalable base for future revenue activity.The frameworks and tools produced are designed for internal alignment, repeatability, and long-term usability, ensuring the commercial system can evolve without persistent reinvention.
Like many peak sports and cultural institutions, the association relied heavily on historically negotiated sponsorships and advertising placements that evolved organically over time. As the business evolves, so it often outpaces the strategic rigour to sustain it.
Now, organisations like this can develop the means to sustainably to underpin efficient, scalable business development functions.
Ready to replace reactive partnerships with scalable commercial logic?
Let’s create great work together.