KOJO appoints former Australian cricketer Aiden Blizzard to drive Tasmanian market

A market leader in creating fan first sport experiences, KOJO has expanded into the Tasmanian market, appointing former Australian cricketer, Aiden Blizzard as business director and securing Cricket Tasmania, Blundstone Arena and Hobart Hurricanes as its launch partners.

Over the summer, KOJO has delivered sports presentation and inhouse venue production and technical services at Blundstone Arena for all Hobart Hurricanes WBBL and BBL games, as well as Cricket Tasmania’s senior men’s and women’s matches. This work builds on KOJO’s experience as Australia and New Zealand’s leading Stadium and sports event specialists, with long-term experience across major sports codes and at two of Australia’s leading venues, Optus Stadium and Adelaide Oval.

As part of its competitive offering, KOJO has developed a unique FanX strategy which provides sporting venues, sports bodies, clubs, major tournaments and brands with a strategy blueprint across the full fan journey. This allows organisations to deliver against key outcomes at each step of the fan journey and build greater internal collaboration, efficiency and transparency.

A former Australian cricketer who played for the Hobart Hurricanes, Adelaide Strikers, and Sydney Thunder as well as the Mumbai Indians in the IPL, Blizzard understands first-hand the importance of creating unrivalled fan experiences. As business director, he will be responsible for driving creative and business outcomes for clients across Tasmania and Victoria, developing new talent pathways and contributing to agency growth.

Says Blizzard: “In a country that prides itself on world-class sporting events, KOJO has developed an unrivalled offering to continually provide fans with highly engaging experiences. Drawing on my innate knowledge of sport and experience with key industry stakeholders, I’m looking forward to working closely with our partners to enhance the live sporting experience and drive maximum engagement through creative executions.”

When expanding into new locations, KOJO focuses on appointing experienced local teams which are then supported by an integrated wider business. This provides partners with deep local knowledge, combined with relevant insights and experience from a range of other markets across Australia and New Zealand.

Along with Blizzard, the team in Tasmania includes Samantha Gill, who has recently returned from the Birmingham Commonwealth Games as sports producer and Sam Ebert as technical specialist.

Says Stephen Lord, CEO of KOJO: “Tasmania has a highly engaged sports community and with that comes an opportunity for organisations to deliver world-class events and drive maximum fan engagement. We are excited to have Aiden, Samantha and Sam at the helm to grow our presence in the Tasmanian market and build on the amazing work our team has delivered across Australia and New Zealand.”

With 25 years’ experience as a leading fully integrated sports presentation and marketing business in Australia and New Zealand, the team has been Cricket Australia’s sports presentation partner since 2018 and in 2020, produced and delivered sports presentation for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup – the most successful women’s cricket event ever, culminating in over 86,000 fans at the MCG. In 2022, KOJO delivered the Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia.

The team also runs sports presentation for five AFL sides – West Coast, Fremantle, Adelaide, Port Adelaide and GWS and in 2022, created Australia’s first ever stadium mixed reality experience for the West Coast Eagles.