Heineken leveraged its title sponsorship of European Professional Club Rugby’s ‘Champions Cup’ in Spring 2023 through an integrated ‘Love Rivalry’ campaign spearheaded by audio-enabled outdoor billboards offering fans a chance to playfully celebrate club rivalries.
‘Love Rivalry’, which spans OOH, digital, social, influencer and PR strands, invites supporters (and non-sports fans) to enjoy some friendly rivalry this Spring as the tournament moves towards a climax.
Ahead of the Heineken Champions Cup Ulster vs Leinster clash on Saturday, 1 April, interactive billboards were erected to ‘give fans the power to push their opponent’s buttons’ on game day by sending teasingly annoying voice messages to their rivals. The messages were collated and then played on game day through audio billboards set up in their rival team’s city across Ireland including Dublin, Belfast and Limerick and even further afield in Durban (South Africa). The activation incentivised fans to leave messages by offering VIP tickets to May’s Heineken Champions Cup Final for the best entries.
The campaign was hubbed around a bespoke website at https://love-rivalry.com/ and promoted via PR and social content including online video. To amplify the initiative beyond committed rugby fans, Heineken teamed up with fitness influencer Paul Olima and celebrity influencer and podcaster Vogue Williams (both Leinster fans) and comedian Shane Todd (an Ulster supporter) as brand ambassadors to fuel healthy inter-province rivalry through their personal channels.
The activation, which was conceived and created by an inter-agency partner team of Publicis Dublin, Thinkhouse, Red Star and Allied Global Marketing, rolled out through the later stages of the tournament which will culminate in Dublin’s Aviva Stadium (the home of Ireland Rugby) which will host the 2023 Heineken Champions Cup Final on Saturday, 20 May.
The campaign evolved from a research study about how much friendly rivalry is embedded into Irish culture carried out by Thinkhouse and Bounce Insights. The study found Ireland to be a fiercely competitive nation with over 85% of Irish people confessing to ‘loving a good rivalry’.
Other findings from the research included that 90% of people in Ireland believe the Irish to be a competitive nation, more than 80% of people considering themselves to be ‘competitive’ and 70% support some type of sports team.
“‘Love Rivalry’ is about enjoying some friendly rivalry on match day. With the final in Dublin coming up on the 20th May, we want everyone in Ireland to feel included in the excitement surrounding the Heineken Champions Cup this year,” explained Heineken Ireland Marketing Manager Ronan McCormack. “Seeing the billboards come to life for the Ulster V Leinster clash, and the fans’ reactions to the voice notes, really captured the essence of the campaign. We’ve more exciting things to come as we look towards the big final in May”
The initiative was created for a client team at Heineken which included Marketing Director Wojciech Bogusz, Marketing Manager Ronan McCormack and Brand Manager Rachael Crawley by creative agency Publicis Dublin and Allied Global Marketing, with media handled by Red Star, PR by Thinkhouse and research by Bounce Insights.
Comment
Heineken, which boasts a string of top tier sports partnerships in its sponsorship portfolio including UEFA Champions League and Formula One, has a strong track record of inventive rugby union activations with standout campaigns ranging from 2021’s ‘The Perfect Match’ to 2019’s ‘The Delay’ and ‘Water Cooler’, plus ‘England and Ireland Rugby Club Rivalry’ from 2016.
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