Launched in late July, a couple of months before the tournament kicked off, the South Africa Rugby Union’s official banking partner First National Bank (FNB) launched its Rugby World Cup campaign which aimed not just to demonstrate FNB’s purpose of enabling and empowering, but also to bring to life the unifying strength of rugby – through words.
The ‘Words Change The Game’ activation, which set out to create something that speaks to the heart of what it means to be a South African, is inspired by a quote from Nelson Mandela:
“Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does.”
According to FNB, nothing could be truer for South Africa so its marketing team worked with agency Grid Worldwide put this idea at the heart of its Rugby World Cup marketing ahead of the start of Japan 2019.
The campaign aims to shows how, through FNB, every South African can individually be part of a countrywide community inspiring and encouraging the Springboks.
It proposes the idea that ultimately offering the most powerful support we can to our team while they play in Japan – the power of words.
The creative is fronted by a group of World Cup winning South African rugby icons – 1995 Springboks legends Francois Pienaar and Chester Williams and 2007 stars John Smit and Akona Ndungane – who share their own most meaningful words of inspiration which changed the game for them in their careers.
The idea is brought to life through these former players who know first-hand just how words can lift up and affect our lives.
Through a series of black and white videos, the players share their own word-led experience through their own personal scrapbooks, letters and notes from coaches, captains, family, friends and strangers.
All of which have boosted their confidence and self-belief.
The initiative also involved the wider population and included an online platform for all 56 million South African to engage with the team and offer their own words of inspiration to the Boks via WhatsApp.
The campaign also acts as a call-to-action to all South Africans and invites them to submit their own personal #WordsofGreatness using the campaign hashtag.
FNB will then share these words directly with the Springboks in the lead up to and in Japan, as well as across media channels countrywide, plus these words were also pieced together into a through-the-line campaign running across television, digital, content, radio, OOH, Gautrain and in-branch.
Words have power. With them, you have helped motivate the @Springboks on the road to Japan. Keep sharing your inspirational messages with #WordsOfGreatness and we’ll make sure we get them to the Boks! pic.twitter.com/RuB6Y0T17n
— FNB South Africa (@FNBSA) September 18, 2019
Thank you to all the supporters that have shared their inspirational words with the @Springboks. Keep those messages coming with #WordsOfGreatness and we’ll share them with the Boks. pic.twitter.com/aE9VjKTiNR
— FNB South Africa (@FNBSA) September 19, 2019
It’s not about how many times we fall, it’s about how many times we get up and keep going! Let’s hold our heads up and show the @Springboks that the nation is fully behind them. Keep sharing your #WordsOfGreatness to the Boks for our upcoming game today. Good luck boys! pic.twitter.com/F48YSl6lub
— FNB South Africa (@FNBSA) October 4, 2019
The #WordsofGreatness campaign was created for FNB’s sponsorship and marketing group by a team from agency Grid Worldwide which included CEO Adam Byars, CCO Nathan Reddy, Executive Creative Director Clinton Bridgeford, Creative Diector/Writer Lauren Shewitz, Creative Director Chris Charoux, Art Director Schalk Theron, Group Account Director Jessica Wilkins, Senior Account Manager Rush Bhana, Account Manager Jarryd Buchalter andxd Agency Producer Liesl Lategan.
The production company was Spitfire Films with Director Ed Van Blerk, DOP Terence Maritz, Production House Producer Baleseng Makola, Editors Ryan Norwood Young and Gareth James, the post-production facility was: Aces Up & Ludus with music and sound design from Paul Geddes at Madhaus.
Comment:
This campaign seeks to capture and galvanize the emotional and inspirational power of words and show how words can lead to deed.
FNB, one of South Africa’s ‘big five’ banks and a division of Johannesburg based financial conglomerate First Rand Limited, has been sponsoring rugby for 17 years and has partnered the national team for more than a decade.
It’s SARU activation sets out to reflect and promote FNB’s underlying sponsorship philosophy: to provide a platform to tell the brand story and promise of help, and engage with FNB stakeholders to demonstrate the commitment to the communities we serve, and help improve their lives.
Rugby is the core of the bank’s sponsorship portfolio – which is focused on sustainable, nation-building projects that benefit the communities it operates in through an overarching theme of ‘grassroots to greatness’ – which also spans arts and culture, innovation and active participation.
Its rugby, which work ranges from the national team to varsity sports, aims to ‘help inspire greatness’ and activation themes typically include rugby as a way of life, as a source of tradition and national pride.
FNB initially became the official financial partner of the Springboks back in 2017 when its logo appeared on the back of the team’s jersey above the player’s number.
The big idea behind the tie-up is to bring to life the brand’s “How can we help you?” slogan and to link the elite international game to FNB’s work across all levels of rugby (from school to college to the national team) in South Africa from grassroots to greatness.
FNB Chief Marketing Officer Faye Mfikwe said: “As a proudly South African brand, we believe that this partnership symbolises our commitment to nation-building. As proven in South Africa over the last 20 years, sport has the amazing power to unite a nation, and there’s no better representation of this than the Springboks’ historic Rugby World Cup victories in 1995 and 2007. The ultimate dream for many young hopefuls is to be given the honour of representing their national team and our grassroots platforms are increasingly playing an important role in facilitating the realisation of such aspirations. To date, our sponsorship properties have enabled 30 young players to represent South Africa on the international stage in Springbok colours.
Links:
FNB
https://www.fnb.co.za/grassrootstogreatness
Grid Worldwide
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