Vodafone announces its new role as an official partner of New Zealand Rugby (NZR) with a campaign showcasing a range of All Blacks ‘connectivity’ activations will stretch from powering the official team app to enhancing rugby digital experiences inside and outside the stadium.
This freshly penned four-year deal sees the global telecommunications giant become the New Zealand rugby union’s governing body’s ‘connectivity partner’: linking with the five All Blacks national teams
Vodafone will power a new All Blacks app and offer a suite of ‘cutting edge digital experiences’ for fans both inside New Zealand’s stadiums and those watching from home.
One core pillar of the new partnership will see Vodafone drive an enhanced, live stadium experience throughout the summer: kicking off on 24 June when DHL series between the All Blacks and the British & Irish Lions opens.
As the current rugby union world champions take on the Lions touring team, Vodafone’s in-ground, high-tech offering will allow fans to replay tries, view highlights, and watch alternative live footage from various camera angles using their own personal mobile devices.
While outsides the stadium, Vodafone will further enhance the fan experience by providing high speed broadband and interactive experiences in DHL NZ Lions Series fan zones (in Wellington and Auckland) and supporting a New Zealand rugby road-trip throughout the series.
As the title sponsorship of the ‘Vodafone Rugby Road-trip’ – which will start on 31 May ahead of the DHL NZ Lions Series – the telco will support video reporters from AllBlacks TV and from the UK following the players’ nationwide road trip and sharing their unique Kiwi experiences across social media from two branded campervans following the Lions Series.
The new, free All Blacks app (powered by Vodafone) is available for download from app stores and aims to be the ‘go-to’ app for all DHL NZ Lions Series information.
The tie-up and associated activation programme was promoted via a online Vodafone film first posted on its YouTube on X
In additional to the film and the traditional PR phase of the campaign led by the official announcement event at Eden Park, the deal announcement was also amplified across the brand’s digital and social platforms – including Twitter
We're proud to announce that we’re becoming an official sponsor of the @AllBlacks – More info @ https://t.co/FnINfee7cg
— Vodafone New Zealand (@vodafoneNZ) May 22, 2017
and Facebook
With further support from the team’s own channels too.
The #AllBlacks fan experience gets a boost with @vodafoneNZ partnership.
READ: https://t.co/tQqAoEMP6S#TeamAllBlacks pic.twitter.com/2hVjyS4D2f
— All Blacks (@AllBlacks) May 23, 2017
“We want to offer rugby fans the ultimate experience. This partnership with Vodafone means local rugby fans will have access to in-stadium technology that is at the forefront of what is available around the world to watch the game. It is an incredibly exciting development,” comments NZR CEO Steve Tew.
“This is a great partnership for New Zealand Rugby in terms of where we want to take the game. It is important to us that we move with the times and offer a world leading fan experience, and in this day and age that means integrating innovative technology into our fan offering. Vodafone will be helping us to connect rugby fans with the game in new ways as well leveraging Vodafone’s experience in digital transformation to grow the game of rugby.”
Russell Stanners, Vodafone CEO Russel Stanneers adds: “We are proud to be partnering with the All Blacks on a range of world leading digital fan engagement and connectivity solutions. Our sponsorship is about two of the things that are most important to kiwis: rugby and staying connected, in ways that weren’t imaginable even five years ago.”
“If you look at the major sporting franchises around the world, they are all focusing on how they engage with their player communities, enhance the experience for fans and provide new viewing experiences for more people,” Stanners continued at the launch event.
Vodafone replaces the previous NZR mobile telco sponsor Spark: who’s partnership expired several years back.
Activative Comment:
As ever when new tie-ups are announced in the rapidly merging and increasingly blurred telco/broadcast/wi-fi/tech space, some in the industry wonders whether the new deal will affect existing partnerships.
But NZR are adamant that the Vodafone alliance won’t conflict with its existing Sky TV broadcast partnership.
NZ Rugby boss Steve Tew admitted as much when he lauded the positive spinoffs of the four-year deal with Vodafone NZ as a sponsor of the All Blacks and other key national teams at the official announcement at Eden Park on Monday,
“There is nothing in here that would worry Sky, they already have a very close working relationship with Vodafone,” said NZR boss Tew.
“I talked to [Sky boss] John Fellet as recently as this afternoon, and he very happy our partnership with Vodafone has taken another step forward because he already has a strong one.”
Tew added that while Sky has taken something of a touch stance over the use of its live footage and clips by some media companies, it could not and would not object to the arrangements planned within the new Vodafone alliance.
“There is nothing we have agreed to with Vodafone that we didn’t already have the rights to do. We just haven’t had a partner who has been prepared and able to do it. That will include a significant upgrade in wifi around stadiums. But there is nothing in here that would concern Sky. This business is evolving all the time and we saw that when we negotiated the last broadcasting deal.”
Tew, in the launch press event, was very clear that the Vodafone deal was not a ‘rights deal’ but a ‘commercial arrangement with a tech partner’.
The lead-in event for this initiative is the upcoming British & Irish Lions tour of New Zealand and Vodafone isn’t the only NZRFU commercial partner activating around the series this week.
Official airline partner Air New Zealand, for example, has launched its #ProjectBlackout campaign.
This activation sees the airline launch a social media led search for ‘two seriously enthusiastic, crazy-about-rugby, All Black apprentices to support the team as they take on Manu Samoa’ (in Auckland 16 June 2017).
To find out more about these volunteer opportunities, the first of its kind within the All Blacks camp, click on the airline’s campaign page at https://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/blackout#TeamAllBlacks
The prize offer a unique, behind-the-scenes opportunity to be with the team as it prepares for a match and on game day itself.
The lucky apprentices will be involved with:
> Logistical support at the team training, including assisting to set up and carrying the team gear required for the training session, filling water bottles and setting up the team nutrition station.
> A sideline view of the team’s Captain’s Run prior to the game.
> Attending a one-on-one session with All Blacks Head Coach Steve Hansen and members of the All Blacks team on the eve of the game.
> Assisting with setting up the coaches box, field, sideline and bench areas ahead of the team’s arrival at Eden Park on game day.
> Overseeing the game from their own spot right on the sideline.
> Attending lunch with the team on the day before the game.
> One apprentice will be required to run the ball on to the field for kick-off.
> Apprentices will live at the All Blacks’ team hotel and need to be available to report for duty in Auckland on or before 15 June 2017.
> Their services will be required for 48 hours – from 8am Thursday 15 June to 8am Saturday 17 June 2017.
> Accommodation will be supplied and apprentices, as will special custom-made uniforms.
While among our other favourite recent All Blacks sponsor campaigns is shirt sponsor AIG’s Tackle The Risk’ activation which looks forward to the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan (see case study).
Links:
Vodafone NZ
https://www.youtube.com/user/VodafoneNewZealand
https://twitter.com/vodafoneNZ
https://www.facebook.com/vodafoneNZ
http://community.vodafone.co.nz/
All Blacks
https://twitter.com/AllBlacks
@AllBlacks
https://www.facebook.com/AllBlacks
https://www.youtube.com/user/nzrugby
