Caledonia Best, the official beer of Scottish Rugby, is activating its national team rights around the 2017 RBS 6 Nations with a nationwide match day pub tour and onsite Murrayfield match day experiences.
Through this year’s tournament, the beer brand is running a programme of February/March participatory experiences – focusing on fun activities and led by an interactive scrummaging machine – in Scottish pubs and on game days onsite at BT Murrayfield.
The official beer partner is inviting Scottish supporters in pubs across the country to ‘Scrum and Have a Try’ to be in with a chance of winning prizes that range from match tickets, to branded merchandise or a pint of Caledonia Best.
Pub-goers will need to test their strength by pushing against two pads in order to gain their score. The interactive scrummaging machine will stop at selected pubs across Scotland throughout the tournament.
This competition focused brand experience will visit pubs across Scotland including: the Murrayfield Hotel, Polwarth Tavern, Mcsorleys, The Ballroom, Constitution Bar and The Cowshed.
The initiative is being promoted by a video amplified across digital and social channels – including the brand’s YouTube channel
and on its Facebook page.
While on match days at the team’s home stadium ‘BT Murrayfield’, the Caledonia Best ‘Up and Under’ bar will be hosting a team of past and present Scotland players (brand ambassadors) and live music to help supporters warm up for the game.
Plus, in the lead up to kick-off, fans can also challenge themselves in the brand’s ‘Up & Under Quiz’ – compared by Dougie Vipond.
This is a ‘Play Your Cards Right’ style quiz that tests rugby knowledge of rugby and offers the winning team of fans the ‘Best Seat in the House’.
Hosted by Scotland rugby icon Scott Hastings, the winners will get the chance to walk through the tunnel before enjoying pitch-side seats for the game and drinks service throughout.
The brand also used ticket-led incentives to drive engagement and boost its social media follows – particularly with Facebook focused ticket competitions.
This ‘Best Seat’ activation strand is one that the beer brand has been running for several years now.
Plus, over in the West Stand Fan village at Murrayfield, another interactive ‘Scrum and Have a Try’ machine will also challenge ticket holding rugby fans to team up and scrum against the weight of the Scotland pack to earn themselves a pint of Caledonia Best.
As the fans scrum down against the machine, they will be beamed onto a big screen as standers-by cheer them on.
The smooth draft ale’s programme is fronted by Scottish rugby icon and the country’s all-time leading points scorer Chris Paterson – who appeared at the campaign launch event at the Murrayfield Hotel last week as they kicked off the campaign.
‘This is a really exciting time to be a Scotland supporter as we head into this year’s RBS 6 Nations,’ said Paterson at the launch event.
‘There’s so much pre-match activity planned in the build up to the games whether you’re at the match or watching it in a bar. A brilliant new addition is the Caledonia Best Scrum and Have a Try machine where fans get a chance to hit a scrum machine, dig deep and test their strength to win a range of prizes including complimentary pints or even match tickets.’
The beer brand’s objective is to amplify fan passion and boost the pre-game buzz by making the most of the match day atmosphere.
‘We’re really excited for this year’s RBS 6 Nations and seeing Caledonia Best drinkers enjoy all the activity we’ve got planned for them in bars and at the stadium,’ explains Senior Brand Manager at Caledonia Best Wendy Espie.
‘We’re sure that the Scrum and Have a Try machine is going to be a real hit and the Caledonia Best ‘Up and Under’ Bar is a great place to get into the spirit for the big match. As a brand that is Made of Scotland, we wish our very best to the Scotland team for this year’s tournament.’
Toni Blackhurst, Head of Marketing and Sponsorship at the SRU added: ‘There is a real excitement at Scottish Rugby ahead of this year’s RBS 6 Nations. We’re delighted to have Caledonia Best on board to help fans make the most of the pre-match atmosphere. Fans stopping by the Caledonia Best ‘Up & Under’ Bar are in for a real treat, especially with the ‘Best Seat in the House‘ prize up for grabs and I’ve no doubt the Scrum and Have a Try machine will be one of the highlights of the day for many Scotland fans visiting BT Murrayfield over the next few weeks.’
Activative Comment:
This campaign follows last year’s SRU activation which included online player Q&A videos,
as well as its 2015 Rugby World Cup work.
Although YouTube views for these videos only number on the hundreds or low thousands, they were supported by additional activation including press advertising, OOH billboards, digital, social and experiential work, alongside on-site and on-trade programmes.
Indeed, Caledonia Best uses its sponsorship of the national squad to try and grow market share in the Scottish ale category based around its proposition of marrying Scottish authenticity, provenance and pride to celebrate ‘The Best of Scotland’.
Throughout it SRU leverage it aims to link the guts of the players and the blue-blooded patriotism and optimism of the fans to the craft and character of the beer.
It was back in November 2015 that Caledonia Best renewed its Scottish Rugby partnership for a further three years – ensuring its continued status as the official beer to the Scotland national team, Edinburgh Rugby and Glasgow Warriors until November 2018.
That agreement marked a major investment increase that was reported to the take the Tennent Caledonian brand’s financial contribution to Scottish rugby into seven figures over the course of the partnership.
The partnership extension sees Tennent Caledonian’s other flagship brands: Tennent’s Lager; Black T and Magners Ice Cold continue to be poured at BT Murrayfield and Scotstoun.
In addition to enhance the Scottish Ruby fan experience with innovative promotions and match-day activity like ‘Scrum and Have A Try’ and ‘Best Seat’, Caledonia Best is also supporting the grassroots club game in Scotland.
It also celebrated its renewal announcement by pledging to subsidise travel for over 1000 Glasgow and Edinburgh fans around the hotly anticipated 1872 Scottish Cup derby.
‘We are delighted to renew our partnership with Scottish Rugby, which continues to support the development of the sport, here in Scotland. With the recent performance of the national team at the Rugby World Cup, Glasgow Warriors becoming the first Scottish pro team to win a major piece of silverware and Edinburgh reaching a showcase European final, Scottish rugby is certainly on the up and we’re very excited for what the next chapter might bring,’ said Alastair Campbell, Managing Director for Tennent Caledonian Breweries, explaining the objectives behind the sponsorship.
‘We will continue to collaborate with Scottish Rugby to enhance the match-day experience for rugby fans, whether at BT Murrayfield or Scotstoun, a perfect example being our subsidised travel for fans around the 1872 Scottish Cup. We are also committed to speaking to clubs across the country to support the grassroots of the game in Scotland and continue to explore ways to contribute to the wider rugby community.’
‘We are delighted to renew our relationship with Caledonia Best and continue our great partnership. We’ve been able to do some really fun initiatives with them, such as the ‘Best seat in the House’ which let fans sit next to the team dugout at international matches at BT Murrayfield,’ said Dominic McKay, Scottish Rugby’s Chief Operating Officer when the extension deal was signed.
‘The travel offer to the 1872 Scottish Cup matches is a fantastic gesture to fans which will make these derby matches even more enjoyable. We look forward to working on similar projects with the Caledonia Best team in the coming months.’
Other sports sponsorship spaces activated by Caledonia Best include golf: where it works with ambassador and Scottish golf legend Sam Torrence.
The official beer brand is part of a solid looking list of Scottish Rugby Union sponsors that is led by principle partners BT and sportswear brand Macron, and which also includes Barr, BBC Sport, Crabbies, Dove Men+Care, Eden Mill, Gilbert, Guinness, News Scotland, Peter Vardy, RBS, Viagogo and Vitality
And yet, other than primer sponsor BT, we’d argue that SRU commercial partner rights are being under-activated (especially when it comes to innovation leverage ideas and cutting edge campaigns) – especially when compared to the sponsors of the England and Ireland teams.
Links:
Caledonia Best
https://www.facebook.com/caledoniabest
https://www.youtube.com/user/caledoniabest
Scottish Rugby Union
https://twitter.com/Scotlandteam
https://www.facebook.com/scottishrugby
https://www.youtube.com/user/ScottishRugbyonline
https://www.instagram.com/scotlandteam/
RBS 6 Nations
https://www.facebook.com/sixnationsrugby
https://twitter.com/SixNationsRugby
https://www.youtube.com/sixnations
https://www.instagram.com/sixnationsrugby/
