Early November sees the Newcastle Knights launch its 2017 membership campaign, called ‘Sacred Ground’, which gives supporters the opportunity to sponsor a patch of grass on the team’s home ground pitch.
The Australian Rugby League club has split its Hunter Stadium field into 30,000 square-foot sections: with 1000 patches combining as 30 major regions (each region represents a memorable moment from the team’s 30-year history).
This integrated campaign, hubbed around a bespoke web platform (at http://www.sacredgroundnk.com.au/), aims to get fans behind their somewhat ‘beleaguered’ team through the new ARL season.
Working with creative agency Enigma, and production outfit Infinity Squared, the concept is that Sacred Ground will not just enable supporters to show their commitment and backing for the team, but they will also get something valuable in return – their own sacred patch of turf.
In an immersive web platform, the stadium turf has been divided into 30,000 square foot patches, with 1,000 patches making up 30 major regions.
The campaign invites fans to claim a patch, discover the history associated with that patch and also add memories of key moments in their own history with the club.
The immersive web platform also enables the supporters to learn more about the history of the regions: all of them are represented by a specific event, key moment or famous piece of action from the last 30 years of the Knights history.
It also enables them to share these highlights with other fans and friends online.
The campaign is being promoted by a spearhead TV spot (shot by Dylan Duclos from Infinity Squared),
supported by radio work, print executions, OOH posters, as well as a significant social component spanning Twitter,
Stay tuned for our official launch of #SacredGround this morning #goKnights pic.twitter.com/9dT64nm93F
— Newcastle Knights (@NRLKnights) November 7, 2016
Get your piece of "sacred ground". @NRLKnights and Enigma join forces for a innovative new membership campaign today. pic.twitter.com/t39oqCpH5q
— Barry Toohey (@BarryToohey) November 8, 2016
and Facebook.
While club legend Mark Sargent, a club icon (and an Australian international) in the 1980s and 1990s, along with former Australian front-rower and fellow Knights icon Mark Hughes were at the stadium to front the campaign launch – part of the Knights’ 30th anniversary celebrations for 2017.
‘Go back 30 years and the first season [1988] was a tough one too,’ Sargent recalls.
‘So there are some similarities between where the club stands in its 30th year and where it started. For the current coaching staff and playing group it’s a good opportunity to recognise that and use it as some form of inspiration to get about the task of climbing the ladder.’
‘I thought it captured the Knights history and spirit really well and I think people will get right behind this,’ added Hughes.
‘There are so many wonderful memories at this club.’
‘This the biggest campaign idea we’ve rolled out as a Club and in our 30th year, it’s even more important that we get it right and give the fans something special,’ explains Knights CEO Matt Gidley.
‘We get great support from our fans and we love Enigma’s idea because it is innovative and original.’
‘We needed an idea that would pull at the heartstrings of the loyal fans and their connection with the team,’ outlines Enigma executive creative director Pete Ogden.
‘We hope the thirty years of history that has seeped into that grass will prove to be irresistible to them.’
Lisa Sutton Gardner, managing director of Enigma, adds: ‘We’re delighted to be helping The Knights on this important project. They’ve been an incredibly brave and supportive client from the get go and I think it’s resulted in some really fresh work for the category. We’re certainly proud of it and expect it to work hard to drive a commercial result for the club. I’ll personally be buying a few patches for my family as soon as the campaign goes live.’
The initiative has been developed for client Newcastle Knights CEO Matt Gidley and COO Wendy Charmichael and an Enigma agency team that included ECD Pete Ogden, exec director Peter Chapman and a creative team that includes Matt Dawe, Matt Plummer, Luke Duggan, Lucy Edison, Dan Stephens and a digital group including John Kouris, Will Brown, Abhishek Das and Quan Do, with account management by Simone Whalley and planning by Gerad Pethabridge.
The agency producer was Baz Milas and the photography was handled by Ange Maloney
Comment
Despite a season to forget that saw the team consigned to back-to-back ‘wooden spoons’, Newcastle has already managed to maintain a membership base of around 8,000 and hope this campaign will significantly boost the numbers.
Knights CEO hopes that the ‘affordable’ $30 offer and the project’s ‘interactive’ nature would assist surpassing this year’s figure of around 12,500.
The club’s on-field talent may be a little low, but the marketing work is impressive.
Links:
Newcastle Knights ‘Sacred Ground’ Web:
http://www.sacredgroundnk.com.au/
Newcastle Knights Web:
http://www.newcastleknights.com.au/
Newcastle Knights Twitter:
https://twitter.com/NRLKnights
Newcastle Knights Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/NRLKnights/
Enigma:
