The start of November saw Cricket Australia (CA) roll out a new brand campaign called ‘Made Of Cricket’ which aims to reinforce cricket’s unique position in the hearts and souls of Australians. The marketing initiative, developed in a collaboration between CA and its new creative and media agency partner Apparent, focuses on all the things that Aussies love about the sport.
Objective:
For the start of the summer season, CA challenged Apparent to come up with an idea that demonstrated that cricket is more than a game, but rather part of the country’s soul and one which plays an important cultural role in a society made up of individuals who are full of character, determination, pride, fun, competitiveness, resilience, optimism and grit (the traits that define CA believes defines Australians.
The aim was to create a campaign which inspires all Australian’s to have fun by getting involved with cricket: whether by simply turning on the TV, or attending a match in person, or just having a hit in their backyard or at the beach.
Activation:
The approach is one based around storytelling and the hero television commercial features a strong line up of national stars (including Ash Gardner, Ellyse Perry, Tim Paine, Nathan Lyon and Marnus Labuschagne), as well as dedicated club cricketers, back yard enthusiasts and even beach cricket.
The integrated campaign takes a multi-channel approach: Ash Gardner’s ‘Made of Pride’ is the first of several content pieces that uncover a set of personal stories around cricket.
A ‘Made Of’ campaign web hub will feature these stories and many more from Australian cricket history and will also offer functional utilities such as where to play, where to watch and how to attend cricket this season.
Further campaign strands will roll out to leverage the launch of the men’s international and KFC BBL seasons.
“This campaign is a culmination of an 18-month journey that has seen us make a significant transformation in how we promote Cricket and connect with the hearts and minds of all Australians,” explained Cricket Australia Head Of Brand Marketing Natalie Davey.
“We’re excited to have found a partner in Apparent, who share in our passion for Cricket and the important role in providing light relief to Australians this summer in what has been a tough year. People connect and engage in Cricket in so many wonderful ways so it was important for us to feature our players at all levels, volunteers who make it happen, fans, our employees and the wider cricket family who enjoy the game across the nation.”
Apparent General Manager Suzy Smiley added: “Apparent is very excited to be working with Cricket Australia. CA have had a clear mandate from the outset – to inspire more people to love Cricket and to remind those who already love it why they do. This campaign tells the story of the people who make the game of cricket by stepping up and doing what they love, whether it be players, supporting as a parent or volunteering.
“The focus in cricket can often be about the best batter, or the quickest bowler, but ‘What we’re made of’ will continue to uncover the deeper stories within the game, whether it be the volunteer of 50 years, the night watchmen who plays such an important role, or the amazing work cricket’s charity partners such as the McGrath Foundation are doing.”
The campaign was created for Cricket Australia by creative agency Apparent who also ran media and the team included Creative Director Michelle Turchini, Senior Creative Cameron Montgomery, Senior Writer Charlie Lawry, Designers James Neilsen, Ilya Arnovich and James Algeo, Client Services Director Brook Miller and Group Account Director Hayden Mead.
The Executive Producer was George Saada of Get George Films with Senior Producers Michael Debach and Coco Caspersz, Head of Strategy & Media John Halpin and Media Client Partner Jaclyn Ely, plus Channel Planners Jen Jones, Amy Gyurasits and Phil Spurden.
The production company was Sedona Productions with Director Phillip Sage, Producer Helen Morahan, Executive Producer/MD Kim Wildenburg, DOP Campbell Brown and Production Designer Aaron Crothers.
Offline was handled by The Editors, Online by Heckler, with Sound Design and Music Supervisors from Squeak E Clean Studios.
Comment:
This initiative marks the first major new brand platform and repositioning project since Cricket Australia’s autumn 2018 ‘healing’ marketing work which sought to reconnect the national team and its fans following the previous year’s scandal through a coordinated rights-owner/sponsor/broadcaster marketing burst celebrating the passion Australians have for cricket and promoting the start of the new 2018/19 season.
This began with September 2018’s ‘It’s Your Game’ and followed by the ‘Watch Me Play / Watch Me Grow’ women’s cricket initiative.
These were backed up by a series of partner re-set/re-engage initiatives by sponsors and broadcasters such as ASICS ‘Move As One‘ and Fox’s ‘Cricket Like Never Before‘.
These were then followed by the late October 2018 integrated ‘League Of Heroes’ campaign aimed at driving ticket sales ahead of the start of the KFC Big Bash League.
Links:
Cricket Australia
Apparent
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