Early August saw Cricket Australia roll out a powerful new marketing campaign for women’s cricket called #WATCHME.
The creative aims to be both a bold celebration of Australian women’s cricket, an exploration of how much work and effort it takes to be an elite female cricketers, a rallying cry for Australians to get behind their national team and a ticket sales call to action.
The initiative was launched to raise awareness around the Australian Women’s Cricket Team and the Rebel Women’s Big Bash League and was timed to coincide with the start of ticket sales for the upcoming 2018-19 Women’s International Cricket Season and particularly the upcoming Trans-Tasman series against fierce regional rivals New Zealand.
#WATCHME challenges doubters, offers a unity message for believers and provides a platform for telling stories about the game, its stars and characters and also aims to make more Australian women’s players household names.
Created in tandem with sports agency Blood UTD, the campaign began with a teaser phase led by 15- and 6-second video clips promoted across the digital and social channels of the national governing body and several leading players.
The teasers are supported by digital and social content to further raise awareness and drive sales amplified by the ACB
Tickets for the summer ON SALE NOW! Check out the launch of our #WATCHME campaign as we prepare to resume our Trans-Tasman rivalry against New Zealand
MORE: https://t.co/itnutRoyfV pic.twitter.com/jODcvmRJIa
— Australian Women's Cricket Team (@SouthernStars) August 8, 2018
and some of the players too.
This summer we are taking on the Kiwis around the country on the biggest stage yet. It would be awesome to see you there! @SouthernStars @CommBank pic.twitter.com/ajfaE4gnPY
— Ellyse Perry (@EllysePerry) August 8, 2018
This opening phase will be followed by a hero, 60-second film in mid-August which will be supported by a 30-second television commercial which will air nationally from 1 September.
#WATCHME will then roll out across multiple channels and platforms including print, outdoor and digital, while a series of social videos will showcase the stories of several star players (such as captain Meg Lanning, Ash Gardner, Alyssa Healy, and Megan Schutt).
The launch is timed to promote ticket sales for the upcoming Trans-Tasman series against rivals New Zealand in the form of the Commonwealth Bank Women’s International Series: with the two sides to compete across three T20 Internationals (INTLs) and three One-Day Internationals (ODIs).
#WATCHME will evolve through the Rebel Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) when the tournament’s fourth season gets under way in December.
“As we saw with the positive public response to the Women’s Ashes last year and the ever-growing popularity of the WBBL, women’s elite cricket is going from strength to strength and we believe the #WATCHME campaign reflects this momentum and a fitting celebration of our athletes,” commented Cricket Australia executive general manager of events and leagues Anthony Everard.
“It has been amazing to see the growth in support for the Australian Women’s Cricket Team over the past few years, and with #WATCHME we want to tell our players’ stories in a compelling way and in so doing mobilise all Australians to show their support for the team.”
David Smith, executive creative director of Blood UTD, added: “Women’s elite cricket has been growing in prominence and popularity in Australia over the past few years and this campaign harnesses this momentum and potential to showcase these incredible athletes and their hard work to more people than ever before. It is a wonderful time to be involved in the sport.”
The campaign was created for Cricket Australia marketing manager Catherine Andruchowycz, by a Blood UTD team led by executive creative director David Smith, client partner Grant Oorloff, executive producer Luke Coulson, with design handled by Thom Davy.
The video was directed by Bill Irving, the DOP was Kieren Fowler, the first AD was Cameron Mellor and the editor Chris Brown.
Comment:
Yet another strong campaign in the current avalanche of women’s sport marketing activity and sponsorship activation space.
This latest campaign follows on from November 2017’s ‘Levelling The Playing Field’ women’s cricket diversity drive by ACB sponsor Commbank (see case study)
Links:
Cricket Australia
https://twitter.com/CricketAus
https://www.instagram.com/cricketcomau/
https://www.facebook.com/cricketcomau
https://www.youtube.com/user/cricketaustraliatv
Blood UTD
WBBL
https://www.bigbash.com.au/wbbl
