Dove Men+Care has launched its 2016 #ScrumTogether 6 Nations campaign with a dramatic spearhead film that takes its rugby player ambassadors – one from each of the four home nations that the brand sponsors – to the snowy Brecon Beacons and the rugged North Berwick coast
The creative sees England winger Anthony Watson, Ireland star Connor Murray, Welshman Dan Biggar and Scotland’s scrum-half Greig Laidlaw are all shown in stunning, stark settings in the home countries ranging from the snowy Brecon Beacons to the North Berwick coastline.
The campaign launches days before kick-off in the Northern Hemisphere primary annual international tournament and leverages Dove’s rugby sponsorships with England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales Rugby.
The spot, built around the message of ‘unwavering and mutual team support makes players stronger and faster’, was initially teased socially during the week before the 6 Nations kicked off with both pan-tournament and country-specific Twitter content for Wales, England, Ireland and Scotland.
Then the core film was posted on YouTube on 3 February (three days before the tournament began) and carries the tagline ‘There are no names on our shirt, because no one is more than the team’ and the hashtag #ScrumTogether.
The footage is accompanied by a movie-style voiceover discussing team strength to reinforce the Unilever-owned skincare brand’s ‘Care Makes A Man Stronger’ brand promise.
The campaign, which has been developed in harness with Dove Men+Care agency VCCP, is also being supported and amplified across the brand’s social platforms
There are no names on our shirts, because no one is more than the team #rugby #scrumtogetherhttps://t.co/6BMFyRPX2u
— Dove Men+Care (@DoveMen) February 4, 2016
It also includes Twitter-led competitions spanning at least three different strands: including a ‘match ticket’ strand (with team-relevant clips and image content) and incentivised with fan campaign social amplification, plus a ‘player visit’ strand offering winners’ athlete ambassador appearances at their local rugby (in a Times/Sunday Times media partnership that also includes articles for the campaign website written by The Times Special Reports team)
#SCRUMTOGETHER & win a visit from 1 of these 4 players to your local club! Find out how here:https://t.co/0gMsaeYOox pic.twitter.com/PttH9qfVGs
— Dove Men+Care (@DoveMen) February 7, 2016
as well as a parallel ‘brand gift’ giveaway that asks fans to ‘Pick your w/e 6 Nations #ScrumTogether Moment * Win a @DoveMen gift pack! Enter using “#scrumtogether 1, 2, 3 or 4’.
Pick your w/e 6 Nations #SCRUMTOGETHER MOMENT & WIN a @DoveMen gift pack! Enter using "#scrumtogether 1, 2, 3 or 4" pic.twitter.com/kX7HoeWUCb
— Dove Men+Care (@DoveMen) February 9, 2016
As the tournament progresses, a social follower building campaign silo enables Twitter followers of @DoveMen to enter a ticket giveaway every Thursday through the tournament.
The whole campaign – linked through the #ScrumTogether hashtag – is further fuelled by a wide range of social media game-relevant content assets including product-focused Vines, plus player ambassador pre-game online video interviews,
@DoveMen @EnglandRugby @Courtney_Lawes come on england
— Natasha kibble (@natashakib1) February 6, 2016
and pre-game behind-the-scenes access as well as in-game social comment.
After a re-group at half-time can @Scotlandteam #scrumtogether to overcome the Auld Enemy? #SCOvENG pic.twitter.com/fuL7aOlt41
— Dove Men+Care (@DoveMen) February 6, 2016
Nation-specific clips are also being rolled out as Dove renews its sponsorships of the English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh rugby teams.
For example, to trumpet its partnership renewal with Irish Rugby, Dove Men+Care launched a separate film from the wider campaign featuring only Conor Murray.
The deal sees the brand hold exclusive rights to provide Ireland with anti-perspirants, shower gels and face products.
‘Dove Men+Care has demonstrated its commitment to rugby over a number of years, and we’re delighted to be continuing our support of Ireland ahead of what is a hugely anticipated RBS 6 Nations,’ commented Dove Men+Care brand manager Callum Galloway.
‘Examples of strength and care, often seen through teamwork both on and off the rugby field, align brilliantly with our brand, and we are excited to be launching our 2016 campaign via a new film which celebrates exactly that.’
The 6 nations work builds on the brand’s Rugby World Cup 2015 #ScrumTogether campaign (see case study) activating its rights as an Official Tournament Supplier.
Comment:
Thus far, the vanilla social engagement numbers aren’t particularly impressively.
27,139 YTVs 5 days after release, with a further 1000 views on the brand’s Facebook page helping drive a 20% rise in Facebook page Likes (taking the total to 1,541,474) and increasing Twitter followers to 26,000+ in the first week of the tournament.
But it is early days in the 2016 6 Nations tournament with time to grow its customer followings and conversations significantly.
What we particularly like about this campaign creative approach is the neatly integrated approach that enables the brand to deploy the campaign assets either as an overall tournament campaign, or for particular matches, and in specific markets, as well as in direct relevance to to individual plays and events as they happen on the field.
This is an important tactical ability when it comes to the 6 Nations – when one or two nations fracture into four different teams.
Links
Dove Men+Care #ScrumTogether Website:
http://www.scrumtogether.co.uk/
Dove Men+Care YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/dovemencareuk
Dove Men+Care Twitter:
https://twitter.com/DoveMen
Dove Men+Care Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/dovemencaregb/
RBS 6 Nations:
VCCP:
