RWC Partner MasterCard Uses Power Data For Fan 'Tackle Like Lomu’ Challenge

In the week leading up to the final, Rugby World Cup sponsor MasterCard expanded on its ‘Turning the World Oval: Priceless’ campaign with a power and physicality ambassador-led activation stand called ‘Tackle Like Lomu’.

This phase of the payments brand campaign was based upon research conducted with Cambridge University theoretical physicist Dr John Biggins into the force exerted on a player when trying to tackle the New Zealand legend in his prime and culminated in offering an experiential opportunity not just to meet Jonah Lomu but to match his tackling force.

Using the scientific research, fans in London’s Richmond Fan Zone were given the chance to try and match Lomu’s force by tackling the BT Sport ‘Smash-O-Meter’ installation to try and compete with Jonah’s power score.

Biggins’ calculated formula behind the destructive tackling force of the 6ft 5in, 120kg Lomu – who is the joint Rugby World Cup try-scoring record holder with 15 tries – by factoring in Lomu’s statistics from the height of his career, his height, weight and speed and applying these to Newton’s 2nd and 3rd law of physics.

The result was that the force of the All Blacks winger running into an opponent was the equivalent of 6,000 Newton’s – which in laymen’s terms equates to a mass of 600kg sitting on top of you.

‘The combination of power, physicality, speed and technique is part of what makes rugby totally unique and in my eyes sets it apart from any other sport,’ said MasterCard ambassador Lomu at the event.

“It’s great to see fans from across the world coming together to celebrate Rugby World Cup 2015 in England and take on the challenge for the chance to win a Priceless surprise.”

The campaign was developed in tandem with agency Synergy.

Comment

The campaign partly aimed to celebrate the winger’s own priceless Rugby World Cup moment 20 years ago when he astounded the world by scoring four tries against England in the 1995 semi-final in Cape Town.

We only wonder whether Mike Catt was hanging around the Richmond Fan Zone at the time?

And it rain under the umbrella MasterCard’s ‘Turning the World Oval: Priceless’ campaign – which is a 44 day activation leveraging rugby taking over the world (see case study).

Links

MasterCard Rugby Website:

http://rugby.priceless.com/en/.

MasterCard RWC man Of the Match:

http://rugby.priceless.com/en/man-of-the-match.html#8YimesPouU7TRchD.97

MasterCard Twitter:

https://twitter.com/MasterCardUK

#44DaysOfCrazy

#Priceless Surprises

MasterCard Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/MasterCardUK

MasterCard YouTube: