Cricket Australia has begun activating ahead of its summer cricket season with the launch of a campaign positioning its diverse fan base as the real Australian team.
The underlying message is simple – inspiration and unity through a shared love of cricket.
The initiative, aimed primarily at driving ticket sales and generating excitement around its summer series’, opens with a hero commercial championing the diversity and unity of Australia’s 24 million fans
The creative captures cricket lovers across the land – young and old, male and female, urban and rural and spanning various ethnicities, cultures and even religions – all preparing for the summer: from children making banners to farmer fans, local amateur players and even Sikhs wearing Australian flag turbans.
Each of the images includes a related caption suggesting it is the fans who are facing off against South Africa in the first test of the season in Western Australia.
In addition to the TV spot (launched on 18 September and initially airing in SA, WA and Tasmania, where the first summer Tests take place against South Africa in November), the campaign spans radio, press, outdoor, digital, social strands – all offering a way to show off Australian stories.
Gee it's a MASSIVE summer ahead! More on the great ticket deals and new ad campaign HERE: https://t.co/t3ppfGPquS pic.twitter.com/02kgRiITWK
— cricket.com.au (@CricketAus) September 19, 2016
Developed in harness with creative agency M&C Saatchi Melbourne, Cricket Australia’s marketers and it6s agency team turned to the public to seek out some of the country’s biggest cricket fans.
And the end result aims to tell the cricket passion stories they uncovered from right across the country – stories which collectively show how cricket unites and inspires the whole nation.
M&C Saatchi Melbourne executive creative director Paul Taylor says that the idea behind the campaign plays on the simple fact that the Australian team does not have a nickname (unlike its rugby ‘Wallabies’ and even football ‘Socceroos’ counterparts).
‘Unlike our other national sports teams, our cricket team doesn’t have a nickname. They’re just Australia,’ Taylor explains.
‘Because the 11 players on the field don’t just represent themselves; they represent all of us. So this summer, we wanted to show that the whole country is taking on South Africa, Pakistan and New Zealand.’
Cricket Australia executive general manager of media, communications and marketing Ben Amarfio adds: ‘Cricket is a part of the fabric of Australian culture and this new campaign shows the passion so many people have for the game and builds the excitement for what is set to be a highly exciting and entertaining summer of cricket’.
The Cricket Australia team includes general manager, media, communications and marketing Ben Amarfio, the head of marketing Sonia Bijelic and marketing manager Panayiota Ward, while the M&C Saatchi Melbourne group was led by managing director David Dahan, executive creative director Paul Taylor and creatives Paul Taylor and Tony Banks, plus senior broadcast producer Jessica Norton, strategy director Lucy Cochran, account directors Adam Brami, Pia Christiansen and Sarah Bailey, designer Adriano Russo.
The production company was NB Content, the directors Adam Ciancio and Oliver Waghorn, the executive producer Sheridan Wadelton, while the directors of photography were Cesar Salmeron and Aaron Farrugia, the photographer Josh Robenstone, sound was handled by Phil Kenihan, music by Dmitri Golovko and the media agency was Mediacom.
Comment:
This smart and inclusive ad celebrates diversity and aims to show cricket is everyone’s game: inclusiveness is one of sports marketing and sponsorship’s most valuable commodities.
Particularly in present day Australia where contemporary socio-cultural issues, political games and economic factors are causing more people to ask whether it is a land divided.
But Cricket Australia clearly believes that nothing unites the nation quite like cricket and wants all potential fans to feel they are welcome.
Interestingly, these very themes of diversity and unity also form the core of the current Virgin Australia AFL season climax campaign (see case study).
The work marks a significant change of approach from last year’s comic campaign ‘Don’t be a Daryl‘ ad – which split opinions both among the marketing and cricket fan communities (see case study).
Australia will play South Africa, Pakistan, New Zealand and Sri Lanka during its long summer season and, with interest in other sports like the AFL Finals high among the Australia sporting public it is vital to start generating excitement around the sport and to start driving ticket sales early.
Links
Cricket Australia Website
Cricket Australia YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/cricketaustraliatv
Cricket Australia Twitter:
https://twitter.com/CricketAus
Cricket Australia Instagram:
https://instagram.com/cricketcomau/
Cricket Australia Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/cricketcomau
M&C Saatchi Australia:
