The Ascot Park Hotel Southern Steel

The ANZ Championship burst onto the sports scene in 2008 as the first semi-professional netball competition in Australasia, pitting ten elite netball teams against each other in a head-to-head series to determine the best of the best.Netball has the highest participation rate of any women's sport in both countries with Australia and New Zealand having dominated the international history of netball, between them winning every World Championship title since 1963 *

Each of the ten teams - five from Australia and five from New Zealand - have a strong netball heritage, evolving from the teams which contested regional competitions in their respective countries. Here in New Zealand, the amalgamation of two South Island teams, the Rebels and the hugely successful Sting, resulted in the formation of the Southern Steel to contest the new competition.

To create a dynamic brand identity, website and promotional collateral worthy of such a formidable sporting powerhouse, the Southern Steel turned to Yellow Pencil. We were honoured to take up the challenge - as we have done each season since.

Working in close partnership with the Steel's own Marketing and Communication team, Yellow Pencil has extended our support to include a part sponsorship of the team.

Today, the Ascot Park Hotel Southern Steel is a competitive force contesting the 2012 ANZ Championship.

Throughout the season and beyond, the team will be supported all the way by a distinctive brand identity and an integrated communication strategy built around the incredible support from the team's loyal fan-base who - like Yellow Pencil - STAND BEHIND THE STEEL.

* The World Championship in 1979 resulted in a three-way shared title between New Zealand, Australia and Trinidad and Tobago

Click to visit the Southern Steel website