Late October sees the launch of a joint Cricket South Africa (CSA) and New Balance initiative called #WornAsOne: a campaign that promotes the new One Day International (ODI) kit and which aims to celebrate the diversity of the team and the fans and to showcase the strength that this brings.
Pushing the new Proteas ODI strip, the jersey has been specifically designed to reflect and represent this diversity and it sits at the creative core of #WornAsOne.
“The shirt’s seven colours not only mirror the seven letters in the word Proteas, but also symbolise shared values which have emerged over time and have been contributors to making the team great,” explains New Balance South Africa country manager Craig Bowen.
The creative includes a series of call-to-action straplines such as ‘Display Your Passion’, ‘Show Your Resilience’, ‘Seize Your Opportunity’, ‘Trust In Each Other’, ‘Pursue Excellence’ and ‘Be Authentic’ and ‘Own Your Style’.
The copy continues: ‘Our hope is that every time a Protea or fan pulls on this shirt, they will remember these values and give their all for the team.’
According to the campaign, which was developed in harness with creative agency Levergy, the jersey itself has been created to be worn as a symbol and a show of ‘a common bond and purpose between all South Africans – backing our national team’.
The campaign was initially teased through a social build-up phase led by still images,
The word Proteas has 7 letters. Our new kit range has 7 shades of green. To celebrate our strength in diversity, we’ve created the most colourful kit range ever. Each shade represents a shared value across the team. Here’s the first theme – #passion. #WornAsOne #ProteaFire pic.twitter.com/DvBGVl5ZeF
— New Balance SA (@NewBalance_SA) October 16, 2018
The new Proteas kit range has 7 shades of green with each representing a shared value. #Resilience is the second of these values that unifies the team. #WornAsOne #ProteaFire pic.twitter.com/PIgE2MJDhC
— New Balance Cricket (@NBCricket) October 16, 2018
which ran a week before the full campaign launched on 22 October with the release of the hero film.
The creative channels viewers towards the purchasing platforms for the new Proteas supporters’ range at https://www.newbalance.co.za/ (and via retailers) and it was supported with a PR phase that included radio promotion,
A busy morning for the guys as they’ve hit the airwaves across the country, talking #WornAsOne pic.twitter.com/ErTXqPkEnV
— New Balance SA (@NewBalance_SA) October 22, 2018
as well as an offer incentive to further boost list building.
Get exclusive insight into our latest product
news and promotions when you sign up to our
online newsletter here: https://t.co/eviPaJCvM6 pic.twitter.com/0biy3knqnW— New Balance SA (@NewBalance_SA) October 22, 2018
The background to the shirt’s development and that of its accompanying campaign is based on the idea that the Proteas story is full of individuals who contributed to building this bond through the legacies and values they left behind.
The idea, developed with agency Levergy, is that #WornAsOne will itself be a celebration of these legacies and also will act as a reminder of the long journey the team has travelled since independence.
The campaign was created for New Balance SA marketing manaager Katharine Tromp buy a Levergy team led by Struan Campbell andd Rob Garden.
Furthermore, the initiative is positioned as a challenge to the current team and today’s supporters to honour this legacy and remember that although we may be different, we’re all playing for a common purpose.
“South Africa, The Proteas and cricket bring us together, creating unity through shared passion,” said Clive Eksteen, a former Protea ODI star and CSA’s current head of marketing.
“The current team is consistently ranked as one of the top sides in world cricket – this is a result of this team unity, a process which started back in 1992 and continues to this day. I urge all South Africans to follow the example set by the Proteas, to come together and back the team and to be a part of this generation’s legacy.”
“The individuals which make up our team are all from very different backgrounds, cultures and upbringings. This is unique in international cricket. We consider this a massive strength and differentiator. Passion for, and commitment to the Proteas is our bond, a bond that has been created through the legacies left by previous generations of Proteas players,” added current Proteas skipper Faf du Plessis.
“Through different ideas, different approaches, different personalities, all playing under shared values and for a common purpose, our uniquely South African bond is cemented. This is also true for our supporters, we are proud to have South Africans from all walks of life behind us every time we take to the field. We hope that this new kit, the most colourful ever, will be a reminder of this strength for the team and a catalyst to bring all South Africans together as one voice of support for the Proteas.”
as the campaign evolves through its next stage there will be personalised social media videos from various New Balance players: first going out to media and influencers and then to the public spontaneously when they engage with the campaign.
The agency also created the sound track specifically for the lead commercial piece (working with well known South African artist Ard Matthews) and this song will be playing at stadiums over the summer home series’ against Pakistan and Sri Lanka, ahead of the World Cup.
Comment:
Surely this is one of the most colourful national team cricket shirts ever to hit South Africa’s sports shops?
Perhaps this kind of design approach is also influenced by the striking success of Nike’s Nigerian national football strip at this summer’s World Cup.
This powerful and smartly structured campaign offers up more than one reason to engage and to purchase.
It builds on last year’s ODI ‘Be Proteas’ kit campaign,
and it follows in the footsteps of previous CSA, New Balance aand agency Levergy campaigns such as 2017’s ‘Training Day’ (see case study) and 2016’s ‘Feel The Fire’ (see case study).
Links:
New Balance
http://www.feelthefire.co.za/
http://newbalance.co.za/
https://twitter.com/newbalance_sa
https://www.facebook.com/NewBalanceSouthAfrica
https://uk.pinterest.com/newbalancesa/
>https://www.youtube.com/user/newbalanceSA
https://www.instagram.com/newbalanceza/
Cricket South Africa:
http://cricket.co.za/
https://twitter.com/officialcsa
https://www.youtube.com/user/cricketsatv
https://www.facebook.com/CricketSouthAfrica
Levergy:
www.levergy.co.za
