At the core of the New Zealand Rugby Union’s Rugby World Cup 2015 strategy was its content-led, social media focused ‘We Belong’ campaign.
Much of the content itself was a mix of Kiwi culture, insider access to the team, everyman player positioning, everyday life visits and experiences, as well as simple, striking digital design.
The ‘We Belong’ Manifesto was something along the lines of ‘Taking the Team to the Nation – and the Nation to the Team’.
It opened in mid July with a spearhead ‘Belong Manifesto’ spot highlighting the everyman side of the players and a range of passionate fans (young and old, famous and not-so-famous).
This manifesto film, was supported by street posters (intimate player and fan portraits), plus at-ground activity in Christchurch and Auckland during the southern hemispheres 2015 Rugby Championship and some activity in the RWC host country England too.
But much of the activity then rolled out across the All Blacks social platforms – which reach a cumulative audience of around 4 million.
The above the line work drove viewers to sign up and join the team (belong) online either at the campaign’s digital hub (at http://team.allblacks.com/Membership/…) or through its social platforms such as Facebook.
And in return for signing up, they are given access to an All Blacks online clubroom which included a blend of exclusive content, unique offers, rugby related prizes, All Blacks experiences, behind-the-scenes content and information about the All Blacks throughout the Rugby World Cup.
The central campaign activation asked fans to take a photo of themselves using the All Blacks app (available via Android and iOS and developed by Wellington-based developers Paper Kite), then share it socially with the #belong hashtag.
This automatically entered participants into the draw to win signed All Blacks jerseys.
Another key strand, called ‘All Blacks To The Nation’, offered fans a chance to receive a visit from the All Blacks themselves before they jetted off to the tournament.
It simply invited fans to send in a photo or a film demonstrating how passionate they are about belonging to Team All Blacks
Other content ranged from player Q&As,
and behind-the-scenes photo call films,
Exclusive player interviews,
#TeamAllBlacks Exclusive: Hear from @juliansavea7 as the team prepare for the #RWCFinal https://t.co/5Qq8a8zoHc pic.twitter.com/g6r5gctDL9
— All Blacks (@AllBlacks) October 28, 2015
and post victory dressing room video.
As it continued to unfold through the tournament, the ‘We Belong’ campaign was careful to include culturally inclusive and diversity messages across its multiple social media touch points to connect with fans right around the world and to draw them together.
All of which is linked and driven through the #WeBelong and ‘TeamAllBlacks hashtags.
Let's go #TeamAllBlacks! Get behind the boys ahead of the #NZLvAUS #RWCFinal by making this your profile pic pic.twitter.com/HEWKbgogkj
— All Blacks (@AllBlacks) October 28, 2015
Thanks for the support @ValerieAdams84! https://t.co/0WxKwVsfH4
— All Blacks (@AllBlacks) October 31, 2015
The concept was devised by Augusto and aimed to put fans at the centre of the initiative by recognising the role fans play in supporting and being a part of the national team.
This alone isn’t that unusual, but objective behind ‘We Belong’’s social media strategy is to reach both core home fans as well as broader international audiences
Anyone and everyone is openly invited to ‘belong’ to #TeamAllBlacks – not just those from the team’s tiny nation home country.
‘New Zealand is a small country – it’s a rock in the middle of the South Pacific. It’s not on key broadcast zones in England and South Africa,’ admits All Blacks’ marketing and communications director Todd Barberel.
‘As a market New Zealand has its challenges: 4.5m people and we’re probably starting to max that out so there is a real need to look to continue to evolve the game globally.’
So, whenever the team travel to a new country, the All Blacks keep the same narrative.
This, according to Todd, is key to their global brand success.
‘We call it the All Blacks story which we define as the DNA of the All Blacks. We share it with the agencies and it talks about us being a small country at the edge of the earth producing some of the greatest legends the world has known. Into each jersey is woven the hopes and dreams of a nation and with each jersey the players pass on the guardianships of that legend.’
‘We have a program called ‘Taking the All Blacks to the nation. We introduced it in 2011 and the marketing department says it helped us win the World Cup, although the players might say differently,’ explains All Blacks’ marketing and communications director Todd Barberel.
‘We invited towns and communities to tell us why you should have the All Blacks for the day. We sent the team out to ten destinations in groups of three or four to communities that never see the team.’
But Todd also adds that the NZRU organisation believes it is vitally important to keep the All Blacks as just average, everyday people who perform superhuman deeds on the field.
Because everyone, wherever you live in the world, can relate to and engage with their everyday fellow man.
‘On the days they aren’t playing or training, they are out in local communities, visiting schools and going to rugby clubs and doing a spot of whitebaiting,’ Todd explains.
One strand of ‘We Belong’s’ RWC work was a competition asking All Blacks fans why the team should visit their community and then the winners, well, their communities were visited.
‘It’s a chance for the boys to really realise that’s who they’re really playing for. It’s a strategy for us to connect our team with the people.’
It is this blend of the everyday men being part of a legendary mystique that enables the All Blacks to sell huge numbers of jerseys all round the world.
Comment
The combination of on-pitch and marketing excellence saw the All Blacks boost the value of their brand by $32m during the Rugby World Cup – according to specialist brand valuation and strategy consultancy Brand Finance.
The brand was estimated to be worth US$132m, before the start of the tournament and $164 afterwards.
And all this despite Brand Finance describing the All Blacks approach to sponsorship as ‘conservative’.
This strategy is not simply one of building a global brand through content-led, social media marketing, but one of building a global brand through the everyman players.
Content marketing sat at the core of the All Blacks’ successful Rugby World Cup campaign and at the centre of all this content was the relationship between the everyman player and the everyday fan.
The decision to focus on social media and content marketing enabled the All Blacks to stay engaged not just with its supporters back home, but also to its wider global fan community right through the team’s tournament journey.
As the team’s media and marketing team (often in parallel with its sponsors) created a wealth of content before and during the tournament that ranged from getting inside the team lifestyle, to player stories and a wealth of information that aimed to engage through entertainment and education
This tournament has proven beyond any doubt that the All Blacks are the world’s most powerful rugby nation both on and off the pitch.
In fact, they even rival the Rugby World Cup itself in terms of social popularity,
After all, the New Zealand Rugby Union’s Facebook followers total 3.2 million, that is only just behind the Rugby World Cup Facebook page’s 3.6 million.
According to Radium One statistics, the All Blacks have the strongest ‘social score’ of all the rugby playing nations.
Combining the All Blacks Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube and Instagram channels they are engaged with 4.5 million people.
That’s way ahead of England’s 2.25 million and South Africa’s 1.36 million.
Links
All Blacks ‘We Belong’ Website:
http://www.allblacks.com/belong
All Blacks ‘We Belong’ Membership Sign Up:
http://team.allblacks.com/Membership/…
All Blacks Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/AllBlacks
All Blacks Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/AllBlacks
All Blacks Instagram:
http://www.instagram.com/AllBlacks
All Blacks Snapchat:
allblacksrugby
Augusto:
