A new #TrainingDay initiative from New Balance, extending its ongoing ‘Feel the Fire’ activation as kit supplier to the South African national cricket team, offers youngsters a unique, immersive Proteas training day experience.
The brief for agency Levergy on this specific strand of the sponsorship activation was to bring to life New Balance’s ‘Always in Beta’ proposition and cricket/training offering with their target audience using the Proteas partnership as the platform.
The agency thus developed an initiative based on the idea of an ultimate immersive Proteas training experience – where the target market actually get to ‘Feel the Fire’ for themselves.
The consumer competition for entry phase runs through October and November 2016, while the central experiential event will take place on 8 January.
The entry activation is fronted by a lead invite film posted in late October (coinciding with the team’s tour to Australia),
supported by social media content primarily across Twitter (@NBCricket, @NewBalance_SA and @OfficialCSA), Facebook (New Balance Cricket, New Balance South Africa, Cricket South Africa)
Cricketers aged 15-17 get ready for the #ProteaFire! Enter at https://t.co/34h7TxFr8d for a chance to train with the Proteas. #AlwaysInBeta pic.twitter.com/lrUgkXdNVW
— New Balance Cricket (@NBCricket) November 4, 2016
all aimed to publicise the experience and drive fans to enter via the campaign hub at http://www.feelthefire.co.za/.
The lucky winning entrants will find themselves put through the same rigorous training regimes as the Proteas themselves, plus the experience will be filmed both as an activation asset and as a shareable keepsake for all involved.
The event itself will see the involvement of the full Proteas team, plus its key technical staff (including the head coach, batting coach, bowling coach, fitness coach etc).
The objective behind the initiative is to continue to entrench the New Balance brand into the South African cricket landscape (using the Game Changer as the catalyst) and to maximise awareness of and engagement around both New Balance’s cricket equipment range and pedigree as well as its partnership with the Proteas.
The wider approach uses the so called ‘Game Changer’ as the campaign catalyst: New Balance’s 14 to 19-year-old target ‘aspiring cricketer’ consumer.
The work relates to agency and brand insight that young cricketers across South Africa aspire to be good enough to play for the Proteas: every youngsters’ dream is that Proteas experience, every youngsters fascination is that level of ability and performance that it takes to be a Protea.
While a very few highly talented and fortunate ones will get there, millions more will not.
So the solution to the brief is to give aspiring cricketers a chance to experience (and passively see) just what it takes to be a Protea: giving them a chance to use all the (New Balance) tools and the personal and coaching demands that come with playing for one’s country.
Plus, at the same time, the initiative will help youngsters improve their own games and shift their perspective on performance
The follow-up activation, which is scheduled for late January, will amplify the youngsters’ experience through a set of larger content pieces.
Comment:
This campaign builds upon the central New Balance Proteas kit launch campaign earlier in the year (see case study).
Its first, invite phase has seen plenty of fan engagement already as illustrated by more than 165,000 views of the call-to-action video.
New Balance is the official technical partner to Cricket South Africa and the Proteas and also has player-specific endorsement deals with Dale Steyn, David Miller, Morne Morkel, Kyle Abbot and Chris Morris.
Links:
‘Feel The Fire’ Campaign Web Hub:
New Balance SA Web:
New Balance SA Twitter
https://twitter.com/newbalance_sa
New Balance SA Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/NewBalanceSouthAfrica
New Balance SA Pinterest:
https://uk.pinterest.com/newbalancesa/
New Balance SA YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/newbalanceSA
New Balance SA Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/newbalanceza/
Cricket South Africa:
Levergy:
