In the pre-Ashes build-up during late June and early July Buxton Mineral Water partnered with NewsCorp-owned newspapers The Times and The Australian to launch the first ever joint Anglo-Australian campaign of its type – titled ‘Who’s Got The Bottle’.
Buxton, the England and Wales Cricket Board’s official water supplier, is running a parallel paper partner promotion across a supplement appearing in both The Times (in the UK) and The Australian (in Australia).
It sees the drinks brand provide a platform for journalists from each paper will analyse the rivalry between the two countries.
The special branded Ashes series supplement was published simultaneously on both sides of the world on 6 July.
It features a split reverse front cover: Australia’s team appeared on one side along with The Australian’s masthead, while England’s players appear on the other side alongside The Times masthead.
In each publication’s section, a set of high profile expert analysts, former players and journalists provide Ashes analysis of the teams from their country’s perspective, and cover the history behind cricket’s oldest and highest profile competition (including highlioghts of previous stand out Ashes series).
There supplement also features a centre spread portrait piece where the two teams meet.
Following on from the one-off launch supplement special, Buxton-branded Ashes analysis will also appear in both publications daily. These will include selected tweets from the campaign’s Twitter handle – @GotTheBottle.
News UK’s Solutions team worked with Mindshare and sports marketing agency brandRapport to produce the campaign.
The NewsCorps print strand is just part of a wider multimedia ‘Who’s Got The Bottle?’ campaign from Buxton, based around the intense rivalry between the two sides, which includes outdoor, print, digital and social media.
This activity sees outdoor work across London tube and railway stations, at motorway service stations and bus stops outside retail stores across the UK.
There are also outdoor digital sites at Lord’s and Old Trafford cricket grounds featuring live Twitter feeds.
The campaign also includes a special Investec Ashes packaging initiative which aims to generate excitement around the series and motivate teams and fans alike with cricket themed summer packs featuring English cricketing heroes Alastair Cook, Stuart Broad and Andrew Strauss.
The creative idea behind the pack, available from May through September, is to ‘cheer on the courage of England’s cricketers’ as they prepare to face the Australian team, also while adding to the friendly rivalry between the two teams by using the campaign tagline ‘Who’s got the bottle?’
The work also includes an on-pack and online competition that offers fans a chance to be part of the history be entering a prize draw for a chance to win one of 20 pairs of tickets to the 2013 Investec Ashes Series, or one of five pieces of signed England merchandise.
Comment
From the joint ECB/Cricket Australia ‘Fan Face Off’ digital initiative, to Australian win brand Wolf Blass’ Sky Sports Ashes sponsorship, it seems parallel Anglo-Australian campaigns are all the rage in this year’s Ashes.
‘The Ashes is a huge event in the sporting calendar and partnering with News UK provides us with an international scope with which to run our campaign,’ explains Buxton brand manager Andrea Cahill.
‘By incorporating quality and award winning journalism from both The Times and The Australian we have provided the perfect platform for Buxton Mineral Water to activate their partnership with the ECB and enhance our readers’ experience of the Ashes,’ says Charlie Bibby, a sports solution manager for News Corp UK Commercial.
Bibby said: “In the future we will look to take advantage of our international portfolio to deliver more unique and engaging campaigns for our clients.”
If deemed successful, this partnership might lead to more international, cross-border campaigns across not only different News Corp brands but also other media giants.
Links
Buxton Website
Buxton Got The Bottle Promotion Page
https://www.buxtonwater.co.uk/promotions/default.aspx
Buxton Got The Bottle Twitter
https://twitter.com/GotTheBottle
The Times
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/
The Australian
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/
News Corp
