The Hundred unveiled a new partnership with the LEGO Group and lead tournament broadcaster Sky Sports ahead of the competition’s inaugural 21 July start through an online film featuring cricket legends and current Sky hosts Andrew Flintoff and Ebony Rainford-Brent alongside star players who will appear in The Hundred such as Ben Stokes, Heather Knight, Moeen Ali and Kate Cross all in the form of LEGO minifigures.
Rolling out on 6 July across LEGO, Sky Sports and The Hundred’s online channels, the ‘Building The Hundred’ 60-second spot reflects how the new partnership aims to highlight the ‘fun action-packed nature’ of the new competition while also introducing existing cricket lovers and young, new fans to the fresh format and rules of the competition.
Building The Hundred, in partnership with @LEGO_Group and @SkySports
Which players do you want to see in LEGO® form? pic.twitter.com/MayLGRhQck
— The Hundred (@thehundred) July 6, 2021
As well as the tie-up launch creative and supporting social content, during the tournament itself the players will be challenged to put their own LEGO building skills to the test with the help of the content creators embedded in each of the teams participating in The Hundred and the ‘creators’ will be part of ‘The Hundred Rising’ programme which has been designed to ‘uncover and support’ young talent.
Broadcaster Sky will distribute the LEGO-linked content merging from the partnership across its channels: including on Sky Kids where the partnership with LEGO and The Hundred will play a role in seeking to engage a younger audience during the summer’s competition.
The creative also aims to drive fans to sign-up on the tournament’s bespoke website at www.thehundred.com/signup to be amongst the first to hear about tickets, offers, competitions, as well as the latest The Hundred news.
“This partnership with Sky, the LEGO Group and The Hundred is so cool,” said Ebony Rainford-Brent. “We want to help even more kids fall in love with our great game and working with a partner like the LEGO Group is a fantastic way to do just that. The video gives a first glimpse into how much fun every game of The Hundred will be on Sky Sports and I can’t wait to see what the teams themselves manage to create and build during the competition.”
London Spirit captain Heather Knight added: “Who wouldn’t be excited to see a LEGO Minifigure of themselves coming to life! Everyone remembers playing with LEGO bricks as a kid so it’s pretty cool to see it link up with cricket. I can’t wait to get out on the pitch for The Hundred this summer and this partnership makes it even more exciting.”
Comment:
The new 100-ball cricket competition, which will run from 21 July to 21 August, aims to offer a fresh, fun and action-packed revised format for the sport tweaking the 20/20 iteration of the game.
The idea, according to the organisers, is to attract new, younger fans to the game and to keep them on the edge of their seats through an all-action competition featuring some of the best players from around the world competing in eight brand new city-based teams (and, of course, rival the dominant IPL).
All 68 games in the competition will be aired by primary broadcast partner Sky Sports (live on Sky Sports’ dedicated channel Sky Sports The Hundred as well as on Sky Sports Mix and Sky One), while some games will also be shown free-to-air on the BBC.
All of the competition’s women’s matches, as well as several men’s games will also be streamed live and for free on the Sky Cricket YouTube channel.
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