Late August saw US Tennis Association apparel partner Ralph Lauren activate around the 2019 US Open through an integrated, digital-first #WinningRL campaign led by short form spots on TikTok which aims to engage a new generation of consumers.
The campaign, which began at the end of August and runs until 8 September, features a range of amplification strands within the platform including ‘custom content’ and ‘organic influencer activation’ in partnership with TikTok content creators.
This hashtag-led campaign, called #WinningRL, is fronted by Diana Silvers and incentivises users to post videos of winning a real-life challenge with an in-platform competition and also includes shoppable posts and Giphy stickers.
At the core of #WinningRL is a set of custom videos fronted by Booksmart actress and tennis enthusiast Diana Silvers. The spots feature Silvers showing her tennis skills in a match where she visualizes on-court wins through native-design type effects on the platform.
The short films roll out in phases: the first is a three part series starring SDSilvers – which includes one 15-second video and two eight-second videos – which wrap up with Silvers winning both in life and on the court and include a call to action asking users to participate and show off a time they won a real-life challenge.
Ralph Lauren is now on @TikTok_US. And so is actress, model and skilled tennis player @DianaSilvers13.
Show us how you’re #WinningRL with a challenge found exclusively on TikTok. Join the challenge at https://t.co/DckTSt2qzK#PoloRalphLauren #USOpen pic.twitter.com/0MWT6r1JLn
— Ralph Lauren (@RalphLauren) August 31, 2019
The campaign also sees the brand’s marketing team tie up with between four and six ‘musers’ (TikTok creator influencers with at least 11 million followers) who are also posting their videos as well.
Plus, through TikTok’s ‘Hashtag Challenge Plus’ users are also encouraged to create their own #WinningRL videos inspired by Silver’s spots.
The consumer-created videos with the highest engagement will be rewarded with a package of official Polo Ralph Lauren US Open apparel.
The sponsored Hashtag Challenge Plus campaign format also enables users to shop a selection of apparel and accessories from the Official Ralph Lauren US Open Collection within the app itself.
An additional strand of the campaign sees Ralph Lauren launch a custom set of US Open themed stickers on Giphy and these are offered to TikTok users through TikTok’s recent Giphy Sticker integration in order to enable users to use incorporate Giphy stickers to enhance and personalise their own TikTok videos.
As well as Tik Tok, Ralph Lauren is running paid media efforts linking the brand and the US Open on other digital channels as well running content on the brand’s own social channels.
Spotted at the @USOpen, actress @ImMegDonnelly wears #PoloRalphLauren to #AAKD 2019. pic.twitter.com/fcDdqfCPf3
— Ralph Lauren (@RalphLauren) August 30, 2019
The 2019 @USOpen Collection features performance garments crafted from yarns made with recycled plastic bottles—part of Ralph Lauren’s global goal of recycling 170 million bottles by 2025.
Shop the entire collection at https://t.co/vg46pQnTIM#PoloRalphLauren #USOpen pic.twitter.com/91U6waDnxZ
— Ralph Lauren (@RalphLauren) August 21, 2019
#PoloRalphLauren is proud to be the Official Outfitter of the @USOpen, which begins August 26th
Since 2005, we’ve had the honor of designing official uniforms for all on-court tournament staff
See the collection at https://t.co/vg46pQnTIM#USOpen pic.twitter.com/MMaauPBxiK
— Ralph Lauren (@RalphLauren) August 20, 2019
“As part of our brand strategy, we have two really core ambitions: Winning over a new generation and leading with digital,” said Ralph Lauren Chief Digital Officer Alice Delahunt.
“TikTok is the fastest-growing social media network, so we’re testing and learning on it. TikTok is such an exciting new platform that we’re really looking forward to experimenting on. We see a new, active engaged demographic. This is a real opportunity, specifically to be first to market with some of the experiments that we’re doing. I think that puts us in a leadership position.”
She also commented that the platform’s demographics are the key appeal to activating on TikTok with 70% of US users and 75% of global users older than 18 and 56% of them unique to TikTok (and not active on any other social platforms).
“We really see this as a full-funnel campaign,” continued Delahunt.
“We think the merging of both [the hashtag challenge and the U.S. Open] is a nice intersection of culture and a unique place that Ralph Lauren gets to play in,” Delahunt added.
Comment:
Ralph Lauren’s PR work around the campaign claimed that this was the first time a luxury brand has run a campaign on the platform specifically tied to a sports event.
Whether this is the case or not, what is clear is that a growing number of sports sponsors and rights holders (such as La Liga – see case study) are experimenting on Tik Tok making it the current on-trend marketing platform.
But for how long?
Delahunt, for one, says that Ralph Lauren plans to use TikTok for future activations.
“The consumers and users decide to the life and death of a platform. Brands don’t get to do that. We get to participate. We’ll participate and grow as this platform grows. We’re looking at key moments, we’ll look at our show in September, we’re looking at Pink Pony in October, holiday in November and December, and maybe even Lunar New York in January. We plan to test, measure and iterate our success.”
Polo Ralph Lauren first became the official US Open outfitter back in 2005 and the tie-up sees it provide the uniforms for all on-court officials and ballpersons as well as offer a US Open collection of men’s, women’s, and children’s apparel and accessories.
Links:
Ralph Lauren
https://www.youtube.com/user/RLTVralphlauren
https://www.facebook.com/RalphLauren
https://twitter.com/ralphlauren
https://www.instagram.com/ralphlauren/
USTA
https://www.instagram.com/usta/
https://www.facebook.com/USTA/
US Open 2019
https://www.facebook.com/usopentennis
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