Emirates RWC Flag Bearer ‘Find The Flag’ Digital & Physical Treasure Hunt

Rugby World Cup sponsor Emirates promoted its tournament flag bearer programme with ‘Find The Flag’ – a campaign that links fans, famous players, the tournament and the airline via social media and a participatory challenge.

Kicking off Emirates’ RWC 2015 activation, the participatory competition offered future rugby stars (those aged between 14 and 16) a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to lead one of the competing nations out onto the pitch during the tournament.

The promotion was launched by a set of athlete ambassador rugby stars including Wales and Gloucester’s James Hook, England’s Danny Cirpriani, Ben Foden, Jamie Noon and Mark Cueto.

The players hid flags in a secret location in 11 tournament host cities around England and Wales (one each day is hidden between 9am and 9pm) and fans are challenged to locate the flags using clues posted on Emirates social media channels.

Photographic location clues are posted on Emirates’ Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages.

Find the #EmiratesFlag in #London for your chance to be a #RWC2015 Flag Bearer. TCs http://t.co/TegC76EgRD pic.twitter.com/Qg3bmkofd4

— Emirates Airline (@emirates) August 1, 2015

#emiratesflag @WildWestee pic.twitter.com/2O3si53svX

— Ollie Baggett (@Ollie_Baggett) July 18, 2015

Once a fag is found, the fan simply needs to uploaded a selfie with the #EmiratesFlag hashtag in order to be in with a chance of winning the coveted prize.

The campaign runs from 13 June to 1 August and spans Birmingham, Brighton, Cardiff, Exeter, Gloucester, Leeds, Leicester, London, Newcastle, Manchester and Milton Keynes.

With the participating player endorser typically having a local connection to the location (eg Wales and Gloucester star James Hook partook in the campaign in Cardiff and Kingsholm)

Players then surprised some of the winners: as illustrated by this introductory campaign online video showing Danny Cipriani surprising schoolboy Harry Chase with the news that he will be the first official flag bearer at the opening game.

In total, 80 young rugby fans will lead a team out of the tunnel as the official flag bearer at each of the RWC matches.

‘Emirates is connecting passionate rugby fans from across the world in the home of the sport this autumn,’ explains Emirates UK VP Laurie Berryman.

‘The Find the Flag competition will give the local fans in the host cities the chance to celebrate rugby coming home and connect them to the sport with a truly unforgettable experience.”

‘It is a great opportunity because it gives young people the chance to experience an international rugby atmosphere,’ comments Foden.

‘A great opportunity to get the excitement of the World Cup and encourage young people – the future of English rugby – to view, be involved and get first-hand experience of the World Cup. Hopefully, they will go back to their clubs with a spring in their step.

‘It is pretty hard to explain. You can feel the eyes of 84,000 people on you and the feeling is electrifying – you can never get used to it and the sense of pride that comes with representing England.

Flag bearers will really feel it because the crowd will roar them on when the team comes on. It all becomes addictive – you will want to do it again and hopefully that encourages them to become more involved in the sport.’

‘You never forget the first time you walk out with your team through the tunnel into a stadium packed full of supporters, especially for an international fixture on your home turf,’ adds Hook.

‘Now Emirates is giving fans in Cardiff the chance to follow in the footsteps of sporting greats, and be part of bringing rugby home at the Millennium Stadium.’

The campaign was developed with agency Synergy (who won the work back in March 2015 when it replaced previous incumbent Fast Track after a reported four-way pitch)

The flag programme spearheads Emirates worldwide partnership with Rugby World Cup 2015 that will also include transporting the trophy on its tour and teams to thee tournament.

High-flyer in Suite 1A. The Webb Ellis Cup onboard EK434 to Brisbane today #RWC2015 @rugbyworldcup pic.twitter.com/DLGWNmmYau

— Emirates Airline (@emirates) May 1, 2015

Emirates also is the first sponsor of the World Rugby (formerly the International Rugby Board / IRB) match officials which will include branding the match officials’ shirst on the field of play during the tournament.

The first time that Emirates sponsored the RWC was during France 2007 and it then became a worldwide partner for RWC 2011 in New Zealand.

During the latest commercial partnership negotiation round, the airline was also the first worldwide partner to sign a deal for both RWC 2015 in England and 2019 in Japan.

Its RWC partnerships are the pinnacle of a rugby portfolio that also includes the Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens, the Emirates Airline Glasgow Sevens, as well as US Rugby Sevens and XVs teams.

Like its other major deals in its extensive sponsorship portfolio, the rugby work runs under Emirates ‘Hello Tomorrow’ global brand platform.

Comment

The sponsorship community will be keen to see whether the airline fully commits to an integrated leverage plan that fully activates its RWC rights, as many market watchers feel that Emirates previous track record is one of under-activation and not fully exploiting its expensively assembled sponsorship rights.

And this is a solid start.

This campaign is a form of fan ‘treasure hunt’ – a trend that has been at the forefront of sponsorship marketing in recent years.

Interesting other 2015 activation examples of this treasure hunt tactic (which typically blends digital/social clues with physical, real-world supporter searches) include not only Emirates’ own ‘PSG Fan/Player Scavenger Hunt’ (see case study), Robinsons ‘Great Wimbledon Ball Hunt’ (see case study) and Reebok’s ‘Hunt The Pump’ (see case study).

Links

Emirates YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/user/EMIRATES

Emirates Twitter:

https://twitter.com/emirates

@emirates

Emirates Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Emirates

Emirates Instagram:

https://instagram.com/emirates

Emirates Sponsorships:

http://www.emirates.com/sponsorship