Mitsubishi Leverages RFU Autumn Matches Via Hartley ‘Intelligent Motion’ Wind Tunnel Skills Challenge

Mitsubishi Motors UK, the Official Performance Partner to England Rugby, leveraged its RFU rights and its ambassador deal with Dylan Hartley to launch its latest ‘Intelligent Motion’ campaign.

The initiative, launched ahead of the upcoming Old Mutual Wealth Series games, was spearheaded by a stunt that saw the auto brand put England Rugby captain Hartley and teammates Jonny May and Alex Goode through a series of performance tests in a wind tunnel.

The three rugby stars battled winds speeds of up to 40mph as they undertook a series of intuitive performance tests – from quick feet drills to hand-eye coordination exercises – at the MIRA Transport Technology Centre in Nuneaton.

The challenge, which aimed to blend the brand’s innovation and hi-tech heritage in innovation and technology with the players’ reactions, accuracy, and agility, were all performance tested, filmed and posted on the car company’s YouTube channel.

The content was also amplified socially – linked with the campaign’s #DrivingEnglandsPerformance, #MMRugby, and the brand’s umbrella #IntelligentMotion tagline – on the auto marque’s Twitter feed and Facebook page.

All the executions and content piece drive viewers online to visit the car brand’s England Rugby web hub at http://www.mitsubishi-cars.co.uk/rugby/england

Northampton Saints star and England captain Hartley, 30, was first announced as a new athlete ambassador for Mitsubishi Motors UK earlier in October.

The deal sees Hartley drive a Mitsubishi L200 Series 5 and join England Rugby head coach Eddie Jones as a brand endorser.

Mitsubishi Motors in the UK welcome Rugby star @DylanHartley as a new Brand Ambassador #IntelligentMotion #DrivingEnglandsPerformance pic.twitter.com/Yi32ABash3

— Mitsubishi Rugby (@MitsubishiRugby) October 27, 2016

Hartley is also supporting the initiative across his own personal social media channels.

Thank you @MitsubishiUK https://t.co/ZIhwr04Nse

— Dylan Hartley (@DylanHartley) October 27, 2016

Comment

This Intelligent Motion campaign aims to build on the brand’s England Rugby partnership: an alliance that the auto company aims to use to ‘shine a light on the smart thinking and play within the team and the brand’.

Mitsubishi’s rugby partnerships aim to support for the game from grassroots to elite level as England Rugby builds towards the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

Indeed, as the RFU’s ‘Performance Partner’, Mitsubishi will be supporting the next generation of England players: indeed it is also principal partner and front of shirt sponsor of the England U20s, U18s, and elite player pathway.

In addition to England Rugby and endorser deals with its coach and captain, Mitsubishi also has rugby partnerships with Gloucester Rugby, Salford Devils and Edinburgh Rugby.

Mitsubishi’s England Rugby’s Official Performance Partnership was unveiled in September and followed the April 2016 announcement that Mitsubishi was announced as the RFY’s England U18/20 sponsor (and at the same time to car company unveiled that it was further expanding its rugby partnerships by sponsoring the Exeter Sevens tournament).

‘We are thrilled to confirm Mitsubishi Motors as an official partner of the RFU,’ said RFU chief executive, Ian Ritchie at the time the deal was unveiled.

‘As a globally recognised brand with strong heritage in innovation and high quality performance, Mitsubishi Motors is a great fit for the RFU. We look forward to the exciting initiatives that we will work on together throughout the partnership.’

Lance Bradley, managing director at Mitsubishi Motors UK, added: ‘It’s not only great news for us, but for our dealer network, our customers, and all rugby followers. The ethos and values of the game align perfectly with our own and the partnership announcement comes as a natural development of the work we are doing, and have already done to support some of the UK’s leading rugby clubs and players.’

Links

Mitsubishi Motors Web:

www.mitsubishi-cars.co.uk

www.mitsubishi-media.co.uk

www.mitsubishi-matters.co.uk.

Mitsubishi Motors Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/MitsubishiUK/?fref=ts

Mitsubishi Motors Twitter:

https://twitter.com/Mitsubishirugby

England Rugby Web:

http://www.englandrugby.com/

England Rugby (RFU) YouTube: