Tech giant and Facebook parent Meta, an official sponsor of the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France, released an ‘New Dimension’ Augmented Reality (AR) campaign leveraging its tournament tie-up which allows fans to showcase their eclectic passions for their national teams.
Meta, which is also the tournament’s official social media services supplier, has developed a series of social experiences that will run across its flagship owned brands Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
The initiative, which launched in January 2023, hyped the first activation strand to launch – an Avatar Creator with six special RWC filters that enable fans to transform themselves into their favourite team mascot.
Developed via agency BETC Paris with the experience developed by Havas Play, Havas Events and Unit9, as well as Meta Creative X (the integrated global agency that drives the creative vision for all Meta brands), the activation was promoted through a digital campaign spearheaded by a trio of 15-second spots which showcase how the platform’s technology can help reflect and share fan excitement for the tournament and their team via AR.
The other five strands of this activation phase will roll out later in the year.
“It has been a pleasure working with the teams at Meta on these augmented experiences,” explained BETC Paris Creative Director Oliver Apers. “While the metaverse isn’t here yet, we’re excited by its potential to bring excitement for the fans around the Rugby World Cup 2023.”
The campaign was commissioned and briefed in by Meta Brand Manager Katie Ilharreborde and developed by a team at agency BETC Paris which included Agency Managers Guillaume Espinet, Hector Amis and Pauline Gomis, Chief Creative Officer Stephane Xiberras, Executive Creative Director Olivier Apers, Art Director Jeremy Treccani, Copywriter Baptiste Szuwarski, Strategic Planner Philippe Martin Davies, Traffic Manager Celine Laporte, Creative Producer Guillaume Denecker and TV Producer Slim Trabelsi.
The project’s production company was General Pop with Agency Producer Jeremie Vitard and Post Production handled through Digital District.
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The overall strategy behind the partnership sees Meta support the tournament’s mission ‘to make the Rugby World Cup a moment of celebration and sharing across France and around the world’, while opening a window into the metaverse for fans.
Indeed, Meta’s PR around the tie-up announcement stated that the company hoped to become “the place where rugby fans around the world will come together to follow their favourite team and players.”
One challenge for the brand to meet is that research suggests many rugby fans don’t really see a role for high tech and social in their love for rugby. A recent study found that it was the excitement of the game, the in-stadium atmosphere and interactive fan-to-fan fans which are the key to rugby fandom.
So Meta’s activation needs to show how technology can expand this passion
The 2023 Rugby World Cup, a tournament held every four years, will be held in nine stadiums across France between 8 September and 28 October.
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