Amidst the rugby union juggernaut that is the RBS 6 Nations Championship, rugby brands not directly associated with this blockbuster tournament are facing one of the industry’s standard strategic dilemmas: should they attempt to leverage increased interest in the sport associated with its dominant property via ambush work, or should they go dark in terms of marketing and communications to avoid disappearing into the currently cluttered landscape and thus avoid wasting finances and resources?
This is the question currently facing northern hemisphere rugby union marketers: from rights holders and sponsors, to sports businesses, brands with player endorsers and even player organisations themselves.
As those officially associated with the 6 Nations leverage their rights and roll out their associated campaigns – from tournament sponsors like Tissot’s #RespectTheRef (see case study) and participating team rights holders like the RFU’s #InnerWarrior initiative (see case study) and England Rugby kit supplier Canterbury’s prank stunt (see case study), to team sponsors like RFU performance partner Mitsubishi’s #IntelligentMotion activation (see case study) – should other rugby partners join the party or stay out of the way?
Despite several recent conversations the Activative team has had in recent weeks with club marketers from rights holders such as Leinster Rugby and Leicester Rugby suggesting the standard, sensible approach is the latter ‘go dark’ route, the last few weeks have seen a surprising flood of campaigns taking the former route.
These include Premiership Rugby title sponsor Aviva’s app-led #Drivesafer initiative (see case study) and the Rugby Players Association’s #LiftTheWeight mental health cause campaign (see case study), to British Lions partners like Land Rover’s latest #WeDealInReal rugby work (see case study) and Gillette’s George North fronted ‘The Honest Player’ ad (see case study).
Is this the new normal, or can this year’s favoured activation strategy simply be summed up by the age old ‘if you can’t beat them, join them!’ cliché?
