What the Warriors know about brand building that you wish you did

Let me tell you a story about a sports team that learned the most important lesson in brand development - no it’s not about the All Blacks.

It's the NZ Warriors. A team that for most of its history, has been average on the field. Sometimes entirely worse than average (still never got the spoon though!). Yet over the past three years, they've built something most consumer brands can only dream of. A genuine cult following.

Let’s dive into how they did it, what happened at Magic Round 2026 (I was there, it was epic!), and what it means for founders trying to build brands people actually want to belong to.

The numbers

In 2019, the Warriors averaged 16,146 fans per home game. By 2025, that number had soared to over 25,300. That's a near 90% increase.

In 2024, they became the first club in NRL history to sell out every single home game in a season. Since 2023, 26 of their last 31 Auckland-based games have been sold out. Their average home attendance of 23,863 in 2025 was the highest in the club's 30-year history. The game for next month in Christchurch sold out in mere hours after the tickets went on sale.

They now have 26 commercial partners, a record number. Corporate hospitality sold out for the 2025 season before Christmas in 2024. Merchandise sales have broken records in back-to-back years including recently at magic round where it’s reported the merch sales bought in $500,000 in revenue over a few days.

Their social media audience sits at 1.3 million and is growing 30% every year. They have the largest marketing team in the entire NRL but here’s the kicker, most of this growth happened while they were a fairly average team.

That's not a marketing story. That's a brand strategy story.

The brand strategy that changed everything

So how did a team with a 30-year history of mostly disappointment build something this epic? It comes down to one strategic decision.

Glenn Harris, the Warriors' General Manager of Marketing and Business Development, put it this way: "Our whole strategic premise was to take the variability of football and results out of the brand framework." Read that again. They made a conscious decision to stop letting the scoreboard define their brand identity.

Most sports teams let their brand live and die on results. Win a few games, the brand feels good. Lose a few, the brand feels flat. The Warriors decided that was a terrible way to build anything sustainable. So they flipped it. The experience of being a fan had to be great regardless of the result.

Harris said: "The fans are actually the stars of the show. They are the ones that bring the energy, that buy the tickets, that wear the merchandise, that show that sense of belonging and unity. They effectively have control of our brand now. When you do that, it's a pretty special place to be."

That's the core insight. They handed their brand to the people who love it then had the confidence to let them keep it.

A masterclass in brand community

The "Up the Wahs" phenomenon is this brand philosophy at its most visible. Here's what's crazy - the club didn't create it. They don't even know where it came from. Media manager Richard Becht has been open about that. It emerged from the fan base organically.

When it started spreading, the club had a choice. They could have controlled it. Trademarked it aggressively. Monetised it. Corrected it. Told people it wasn't official. Instead, they let the fans keep it.

Harris said: "We didn't fuel it, it just happened organically, but nor did we quell it or try and correct it. It was something the fans owned. It's not our place to say that's right or wrong." The club eventually did trademark the phrase, but only after a brewer had already made an unauthorised tribute beer. Their stance was clear: we're not stopping anyone from using it.

That willingness to give up control in exchange for cultural relevance is rare. It's exactly why the phrase became a nationwide craze that crossed into parliament, got tattooed on bodies, had a cell network renamed in its honour, and even had NBA coach Steve Kerr and UFC’s Bruce Buffer saying it on live television.

When your brand community starts doing the work for you, you've built something real.

From product brand to an experience brand

The Warriors stopped thinking of themselves as a football club. They started thinking of themselves as a sports entertainment brand.

That distinction matters. A footy club relies on results. A sports entertainment brand relies on the quality of the experience it delivers. One is passive the otheris proactive.

During COVID, when the Warriors were stranded in Australia for three seasons and couldn't play in front of their home crowd, they had to find a new way to stay relevant. Harris described it as transforming "from being wholly reliant on seats and suites as an in-person product to a remote product that was based on clicks and eyeballs."

They started doing Zoom calls with small groups of fans. Five or six at a time. Players just talking to people. Behind-the-scenes content. Fly-on-the-wall streaming. Training, the gym, Waitangi Day. One unique piece of content per day.

Engagement rose 20% in one year. Then 40% the next.

When they finally came home, the fans were more connected than ever to their favourite team. The sell-out streak began almost immediately.

Unapologetically themselves

Most sports teams in New Zealand skew older and more male. The Warriors don't.

Commercial Manager Thomas Harris noted: "Our largest demographic is 16 to 34 year olds, and we have a 52/48 male to female split. Aside from the All Blacks and Black Ferns, it's the closest gender split you'll find in a sport in New Zealand. And the age bracket is a lot younger than most sports."

Their brand is perceived as trendy, fun, and young. They lean into that relentlessly. They don't try to be everything to everyone. They know exactly who they're for.

That clarity is not a personality trait. It's a brand strategy.

So what does this have to do with your product brand?

More than you'd think.

Decouple your brand identity from your product's performance.

The Warriors didn't let their scoreline run their brand. Most founders make the same mistake. Sales are up, brand feels great. Sales dip, panic. Your brand should stand for something bigger than one launch, one quarter, or one product. A clear point of view, a community, an experience. That's what gives it staying power when the numbers aren't playing nice.

Let your customers own part of it.

"Up the Wahs" happened because the Warriors built a brand community that was invested enough to create something of their own. When it showed up, they didn't kill it with control. Founders can do the same. Create space for customers to tell their stories with your brand as the backdrop. The more they own, the harder they'll fight for it.

Be a brand experience, not just a product.

The Warriors don't sell football. They sell belonging. The games are just the excuse to gather. Your product is the excuse. The brand is the experience. If you only show up to sell, you won't build this level of brand loyalty. Show up to entertain, educate, and build culture. The sales follow.

Know who you're for, and serve them without any apology.

The Warriors know their audience is younger, more gender-balanced, and more digitally native than most NZ sports fans. Everything they do is built around that. If you're trying to reach everyone, you're reaching no one. Pick your people and go hard.

Magic Round 2026: where brand loyalty shines

Magic Round 2026 at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane is the best recent proof of what a strong brand can do.

This was a regular season game. Round 11. The Warriors against the Brisbane Broncos. At Suncorp Stadium. In Brisbane. Where the Broncos are the home team.

More than 50,000 fans packed into the stadium. The Warriors didn't just show up. They took over with a hikoi down Caxton street, it was crazy to be a part of. The Warriors pop-up store in the Queen Street Mall had massive queues snaking down the road. They never got any shorter, I waited quite patiently to get a magic round shirt and promptly gave up!

The atmosphere was so wahs heavy it was described as a "rare hostile atmosphere for the Broncos in Brisbane." The Warriors went on to win 42-12. A New Zealand team, playing a regular season game in Brisbane, drew enough of their own supporters to turn the away stadium hostile. That's not a fan base. That's a brand community.

The bottom line

CEO Cameron George said: "We want to be New Zealand's greatest brand in sport."

They're not there yet. The All Blacks' brand is valued at US$282 million (around NZD$452 million) and sits on a century of dominance and it’s not a competition but there is a critical difference. The All Blacks' brand is inherited. Built over 100 years by results alone. The Warriors have had to build theirs from scratch, with limited on-field success, financial pressure, and an audience that had every reason to walk away many many times.

They did it by understanding that brand equity is not about what you sell. It's about what people feel when they're part of it.