June and July saw Canterbury and England Rugby roll out an innovative, two-phase launch campaign for the England Rugby World Cup kit that initially used Thunderclap to ensure that committed fans themselves amplified the launch content in return for an exclusive early shirt reveal and then moved on to a more traditional shirt launch that included a skydiving stunt film and a player-led event unveiling.
The first phase, which kicked-off on 12 June, offered supporters who signed up through the platform an exclusive opportunity to reveal the shirt to their own digital cohort before anyone else on 6 July.
Find out how you can launch the @EnglandRugby shirt with the players. #CommittedToEngland http://t.co/cnPH7f17LP pic.twitter.com/4JIPOeaSfd
— Canterbury (@canterburyNZ) June 12, 2015
Using the innovative Thunderclap ‘crowdspeaking platform’ technology, fans who chose to sign up via the Canterbury Facebook site, Twitter feed or Tumblr then all automatically posted or tweeted the very first video images of the new kit at 8am on the launch day – before the official Canterbury and England Rugby unveiling event at Twickenham Stadium.
The unique reveal initiative, developed in harness with agency Synergy, was open to everyone and Canterbury initially looked for 2,015 committed fans to sign-up for the launch.
As fans sign-on they are emailed details of how the campaign is developing, how many supporters have signed-up and what percentage of the overall goal has currently been reached, how much time is left to achieve the total and the current combined ‘social reach’.
It also encourages signed-up supporters to ‘Spread the word. Invite friends to join the Thunder’.
The target number was reached, so at 8am on launch day (6 July) a video reveal of the shirt will appear on the social feeds of the signed-up supporters.
To further incentive fans to sign-up and thus to maximise the supporter social amplification, the campaign also ran with a parallel competition to win a backstage pass to the official Twickenham launch and to meet the players
Pre-order the new @EnglandRugby shirt for a chance to meet the players at the official launch #CommittedToEngland https://t.co/5sbHgZRsuR
— Canterbury (@canterburyNZ) June 9, 2015
and a surprise experience-of-a-lifetime with a skydiving strand of the shirt launch.
The Twickenham unveiling event took place with a launch video and several England players including captain Chris Robshaw, James Haskell and Dan Cole.
*Announcement* The lights have been turned on. Here is the @EnglandRugby #RWC2015 shirt. #CommittedToEngland pic.twitter.com/5p1n6oYKPp
— Canterbury (@canterburyNZ) July 6, 2015
#OutOnTheFull – @canterburyNZ release @EnglandRugby's #RWC2015 shirt http://t.co/uTWs5alsc8 #CommittedToEngland pic.twitter.com/NCC6gDNHLC
— Emma Thurston (@EmmaThurston23) July 6, 2015
‘The rose and the shirt unites the players and the fans. You cannot underestimate the power of the nation’s support and commitment and the effect it has on the squad,’ commented England head coach Stuart Lancashire at the launch.
‘The players value the relationship they have with the fans and it will be great to have them join us when the new shirt is unveiled in July.
Some of our Twitter friends chatting with players at the England #RWC2015 shirt launch yesterday #CommittedToEngland pic.twitter.com/XvYahpo9oc
— Canterbury (@canterburyNZ) July 7, 2015
‘This unique shirt launch continues to demonstrate how the fans are at the heart of our campaign as the nation commits to the rose,’ outlines Canterbury CEO Chris Stephenson.
‘We share their passion for rugby and are proud to continue Canterbury’s commitment to the game in an innovative and exciting way’.
Canterbury, which has a global headquarters in Stockport and has racked up more than 100 years of rugby equipment expertise, has designed a shirt for England’s home World Cup that is the brand’s most lightweight ever.
It includes contoured ‘ball deadening’ grip placement and it features a 3D injection moulded rose created using 3D body-mapping (to support the varied physiques of a modern rugby player).
Our most innovative @EnglandRugby shirt ever!
Committed To The Rose #CommittedToEngland pic.twitter.com/MX3mI61LrE
— Canterbury (@canterburyNZ) July 8, 2015
The new home and away kit
Here is a close up of the 3D Red Rose on the. Ew @canterburyNZ shirts. #rugbyunited pic.twitter.com/lrKJ85xBfY
— #RugbyEngland (@RugbyEng) July 6, 2015
became available for pre-sale on 6 July, but won’t be released in-store until 17 July.
Replica versions cost from £70, while 2,015 commemorative shirts (identical to those that will be worn by Stuart Lancaster’s side) will retail at £120.
The campaign is part of a four-year, £5m deal between Canterbury and England Rugby.
Canterbury is also the overall official sportswear supplier for Rugby World Cup 2015 itself and thus will create kits for the officials, as well as for the England, Ireland, Japan and Namibian national rugby teams.
The sportswear outfit has previously had kit partnerships with both Australia and New Zealand’s national rugby union sides and it is also currently has deals with leading club teams like Leicester Tigers, Leinster and Cardiff Blues (as well as being a kit and apparel supplier to hundreds of schools and club sides in the UK.
This inventive shirt launch ran with the #CommittedToEngland hashtag and is part of Canterbury’s ‘Committed to the Rose’ push (which aims to bring to life the sportswear brand’s commitment to the RWC home nation) and also fits within its fresh, global umbrella ‘Committed To The Game’ positioning h=which itself launched just three days before the England kit reveal.
Canterbury’s new ‘Committed To the Game’ global positioning will feature on all its product and brand campaigns through the year and was unveiled with a new brand video spot.
Commenting on the launch, Canterbury CEO Chris Stephenson, said: ‘Commitment to anything is an inclusive and powerful quality,’ said Canterbury CEO at the unveiling.
‘Within rugby it is our pledge to connect everyone involved in the game; whether on the field or during a rigorous training regime, through to each fan’s dedicated and loyal support for their team.’
Comment
While the Thunderclap target was 2015 sign-ups (get it?), by the 6 July more than 3,600 tweeted or posted the first images of England’s RWC shirt giving the campaign a fan-amplified 1,937,915 social reach.
This use of Thunderclap isn’t innovation for its own sake, but rather using the technology to put the shirt launch into the hands of the most committed supporters.
By offering hardcore fans the chance to reveal the shirt is both a reward and a route to tightening the bonds between the supporters and England Rugby (and Canterbury of course).
Thunderclap, a free service, is a so-called ‘crowdspeaking’ platform that enables individuals and organisations (and, of course, fans, sponsors, teams and property owners) to rally people together to spread a message.
Those who sign-up to a Thunderclap campaign donate their social reach – tweets and posts – rather than money.
Thus amplifying the campaign – which typically range from activism, fundraising, films, creative projects, product launches, as well as promotional and marketing initiatives.
Like other digital platforms such as Kickstarter, the site uses an ‘all-or-nothing’ model – so if the campaign does not meet its desired number of supporters in the given time frame then the organiser receives none of the social reach donations.
Thunderclap is owned NYC development studio De-De and is backed by Australian ad superstar David Droga who heads the agency Droga5.
Previous brands who have used the platform range from Major League Baseball, to Levi’s, Durex and even The White House and The United Nations.
Links
Canterbury Website:
Canterbury Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/canterbury
Canterbury Twitter:
https://twitter.com/canterburyNZ
Canterbury YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialCanterbury
England Rugby Website:
Thunderclap Website:
Synergy Website:
http://www.synergy-sponsorship.com/
