Launched on 18 November, with the team’s winter tour to New Zealand under way, The England Cricket Board (ECB) primary team sponsor Natwest launch a fresh campaign leveraging the start of the away test series against New Zealand and fronted by English cricket’s newest super star Jofra Archer.
‘My First Shirt’ takes the England fast-bowling sensation back to Horsham, a market town of 55,000 on edge of the Weald in West Sussex, where he lived when he first moved to the UK from Barbados in 2015.
The initiative is spearheaded by a hero spot and the narrative arc sees Archer recall his experiences when he first arrived in Sussex, before speaking about how he felt when he first, finally pulled on an England shirt and explain why he wears the number 22.
The initiative, which builds on the brand’s ongoing ECB ‘Cricket Has No Boundaries’ activation platform, also sees the bank give customers their own ‘first England shirt’ by giving away 1000 England Cricket ODI shirts.
https://twitter.com/NatWest_Cricket/status/1196716295649148928
We’re giving 1,000 NatWest Cricket Rewards customers the chance to win an @EnglandCricket ODI shirt, making it easier for you to support England this winter
More details coming soon.
T&Cs apply. Over 18s only. Excludes NI.#NoBoundaries @JofraArcher pic.twitter.com/0ZSGEANkiB
— NatWest Cricket (@NatWest_Cricket) November 17, 2019
Comment:
Why Archer?
After the biggest summer of English cricket in a generation – which included hosting a glorious ICC One Day World Cup win and an Ashes series – Jofra Archer emerged as a genuine super star (and a social media star to boot).
This campaign sees Natwest, which seeks to support the game across all formats at all levels without boundaries (from the professional to grassroots) and has a longstanding cricket heritage spanning 38 years and which in 2017 became the lead partner of England Cricket for the first time, build on its own summer of cricket activations.
Supporting its ongoing approach of seeking to make it easier for everyone to play, experience and follow the game for all through its #NoBoundaries platform, these included July 2019’s award winning Freddie Flintoff fronted ‘Freddie vs Freddie’ campaign and ‘Pick-Up & Play’ simulator experience leveraging the 2019 Ashes series (see case study).
This saw thousands of people vote on Twitter for which over they wanted Freddie Flintoff to face on the bespoke ball simulator – they voted for Freddie to face his very own greatest over from the 2005 Ashes victory at Edgbaston – and then activated the campaign content across Facebook, Instagram TV and Twitter and those with tickets to Ashes test were offered a chance to bat against the NatWest Pick-up and Play unit which can replicate any ball in history.
Another summer 2019 Natwest initiative was ‘What’s Your Wicket’ which engaged a group of familiar cricket faces – including Ex-England Women’s Captain, Charlotte Edwards and England legend Monty Panesar – and then put them to the test with weird and wonderful kit suggestions to show just how easy it is to enjoy the game.
To kick off its latest official ECB tie-up in 2017 Natwest launched ‘Cricket Has No Boundaries’ (see case study): a campaign that showcases and celebrates the diversity and inclusion of modern cricket in England and Wales.
Another cricket marketing strand, one which sits at the heart of its official ECB partner activation, is its tie-up with cricket charity ‘Chance to Shine’.
Chance to Shine uses cricket to increase aspiration, promote social cohesion and create opportunities for young people in communities and schools across the country.
In 2019 we’re continuing our fundraising and support of the amazing work they do to allow everyone to play cricket.
Learn more about Natwest and Chance to Shine at https://www.chancetoshine.org/.
This also dovetails with the ECB’s own ‘All Stars’ programme (see case study) and with NatWest ‘CricketForce’: a grassroots utility led programme revolving around the NatWest CricketForce Weekend which sees local communities coming out in force to support their clubs and make them more accessible: see – https://nwcf.ecb.co.uk/.
Links:
Natwest Cricket
https://www.natwestcricket.com/
https://www.facebook.com/natwestcricket/
https://twitter.com/NatWest_Cricket
https://www.instagram.com/natwest_cricket/
Natwest
https://www.business.natwest.com/
https://twitter.com/natwestbusiness
https://www.facebook.com/NatWest/
https://www.youtube.com/user/NatWestVideoChannel
https://www.instagram.com/natwest/
ECB
https://twitter.com/ECB_cricket
https://www.facebook.com/englandcricket/
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