04/09/2015

Lucozade Sport’s Cheeky #HandsOff ‘Home Nations Only’ RWC Campaign

With two weeks to go before the Rugby World Cup, Lucozade Sport kicks off its tournament-led activation with an integrated, comic campaign welcoming players and fans from around the world, but warning them that Lucozade is ‘Strictly for the Home Nation’s Only’.

 

Whilst not a RWC sponsor, the GSK brand is an official partner of the England, Scotland and Ireland unions and this multi-platform, multi-piece campaigns reinforces these relationships by suggesting that Lucozade Sport is the ‘secret weapon’ of the home nation rugby teams.

 

Running with the #HandsOff hashtag and spanning PR, TV, digital, social, on-pack, in-store and sampling, the initiative is spearheaded by a central TV commercial that is fronted by an impressive line-up of international rugby stars and features overseas players trying to get hold of a bottle and home nations stars trying to keep it away from them.

 

The promo’s plot sees overseas players going to great lengths and showing comical cunning to pretend to be British – from wearing rubber masks and having elocution lessons, to dressing up in kilts – to get hold of a Lucozade.

 

Featuring a raft of rugby names (including Chris Robshaw, Leigh Halfpenny, Conor Murray, Stuart Hogg, Drew Mitchell and Bryan Habana), the ad is being aired in 60 second and 30 second versions

 

 

The initiative blends nationwide UK content with local market variants (using specific players, teams and tournament match-ups)..

 

Thus, supporting the central commercial are a series of local variant versions focused on specific home nation markets which are rolling out on Lucozade Sport’s social channels: including ‘Welcome To England’,

 

 

‘Welcome to Cardiff’,

 

 

and this Scottish ‘Welcome To Newcastle’ video.

 

 

An additional media partnership strand opf the campaign sees Lucozade Sport link with Sky Sports to make a faux formal announcement about the ban on the drink’s sales to visiting international nations.

 

These spoof spots, which aim to ‘get people talking’, mirror the classic ‘look and feel’ of breaking news stories.

 

 

This phase also includes a ‘Behind The Scenes’ version of the joint commercial too.

 

 

They run on both the brand’s own platforms and on Sky Sports’ distribution channels – thus further extending the campaign’s reach.

 

  The campaign is also being amplified across digital and social media using the localised approach and pushing the initiative various strands: from the TV creative,  

 

to a shirt giveaway,

 

 

 

  and a ticket competition.  

 

It is even being supported by some of the player endorsers’ own social channels.

 

 

The reported £5m RWC Lucozade Sport initiative – running from August through October – also includes PR, national sampling, on-pack and in-store activity.

 

Indeed, it was back in late July Lucozade Sport announced its plan to give away a rugby shirt every 80 minutes for 90 days as part of its Rugby World Cup 2015 campaign.

 

On-pack work sees bottles of Lucozade Sport badged with a code that customers can enter online for a chance to win an official rugby shirt every 80 minutes.

 

Point-of-sale activity also focuses specifically on assets built around each of the four home nations teams – enabling retailers to choose which works best for each store.

 

Comment

 

This clever national/local campaign neatly mixers the brand’s own playful side with the classic camaraderie and banter so often associated amongst rugby players around the world.

 

Thus demonstrating genuine rugby relevant insights!

 

Interestingly, this RWC campaign has a slightly lighter tone than most previous Lucozade Sport marketing and this seems designed to link the brand objectives to the aim of the overall RWC2015 – namely to reach as broad an audience as possible.

 

‘With the tournament landing on home soil we’re expecting a lot more people to engage with the sport… The opportunity feels quite big this year,’ outlines Luzade Spport marketing manager Vicky Morgan.

 

‘We decided to create a tongue in cheek campaign that brings to life the light hearted rugby banter tone.’

 

The fact that product has a sports endurance benefit may make it a sensible fit for RWC-related marketing, but this is not the specific focus of this campaign.

 

The RWC work follows previous rugby activity from the brand including its #KitOut grassroots initiative led by former England centre Mike Tindall.

 

 

The rugby push is just part of a significant increase in marketing spend – reported at £9m in media investment alone – for Lucozade in 2015 that also includes the core brand’s ongoing ‘Find Your Flow’ campaign.

 

Links

 

Lucozade Sport YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/lucozade

 

Lucozade Sport Website:
http://www.lucozadesport.com/

 

Lucozade Sport Twitter:
https://twitter.com/lucozadesport

 

Lucozade Sport Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/LucozadeSport

 

Lucozade Sport Instagram:
https://instagram.com/lucozadesport

 

Lucozade Sport Ireland Website:
https://www.lucozadesport.ie/rugby-instant-win/

 

Irish Rugby:
http://www.irishrugby.ie/

 

England Rugby:
http://www.englandrugby.com/

 

Scottish Rugby:
http://www.scottishrugby.org/

 



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