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Cricket South Africa And New Balance’s #WornAsOne Celebrates Diversity And Promotes New Proteas One Day International Kit - Activative Campaign Of The Week
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Late October sees the launch of a joint Cricket South Africa (CSA) and New Balance initiative called #WornAsOne: a campaign that promotes the new One Day International (ODI) kit and which aims to celebrate the diversity of the team and the fans and to showcase the strength that this brings.
Pushing the new Proteas ODI strip, the jersey has been specifically designed to reflect and represent this diversity and sits at the creative core of #WornAsOne.
“The shirt’s seven colours not only mirror the seven letters in the word Proteas, but also symbolise shared values which have emerged over time and have been contributors to making the team great,” explains New Balance South Africa country manager Craig Bowen.
The creative includes a series of call-to-action straplines such as ‘Display Your Passion’, ‘Show Your Resilience’, ‘Seize Your Opportunity’, ‘Trust In Each Other’, ‘Pursue Excellence’ and ‘Be Authentic’ and ‘Own Your Style’.
The copy continues: ‘Our hope is that every time a Protea or fan pulls on this shirt, they will remember these values and give their all for the team.’
According to the campaign, which was developed in harness with creative agency Levergy, the jersey itself has been created to be worn as a symbol and a show of ‘a common bond and purpose between all South Africans – backing our national team’.
The campaign was initially teased through a social build-up phase led by still images,
https://twitter.com/NewBalance_SA/status/1052122183202430976
https://twitter.com/NBCricket/status/1052134539651375105
which ran a week before the full campaign launched on October 22nd with the release of the hero film.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFqXQh7zvPo
The creative channels viewers towards the purchasing platforms for the new Proteas supporters’ range at https://www.newbalance.co.za/ (and via retailers) and it was supported with a PR phase that included radio promotion,
https://twitter.com/NewBalance_SA/status/1054303645959942144
as well as an offer incentive to further boost list building.
https://twitter.com/NewBalance_SA/status/1054299574213533696
The background to the shirt’s development and that of its accompanying campaign is based on the idea that the Proteas story is full of individuals who contributed to building this bond through the legacies and values they left behind.
The idea, developed with agency Levergy, is that #WornAsOne will itself be a celebration of these legacies and also will act as a reminder of the long journey the team has travelled since independence.
The campaign was created for New Balance SA marketing manaager Katharine Tromp buy a Levergy team led by Struan Campbell and Rob Garden.
Furthermore, the initiative is positioned as a challenge to the current team and today’s supporters to honour this legacy and remember that although we may be different, we’re all playing for a common purpose.
“South Africa, The Proteas and cricket bring us together, creating unity through shared passion,” said Clive Eksteen, a former Protea ODI star and CSA’s current head of marketing.
“The current team is consistently ranked as one of the top sides in world cricket – this is a result of this team unity, a process which started back in 1992 and continues to this day. I urge all South Africans to follow the example set by the Proteas, to come together and back the team and to be a part of this generation’s legacy.”
“The individuals which make up our team are all from very different backgrounds, cultures and upbringings. This is unique in international cricket. We consider this a massive strength and differentiator. Passion for, and commitment to the Proteas is our bond, a bond that has been created through the legacies left by previous generations of Proteas players,” added current Proteas skipper Faf du Plessis.
“Through different ideas, different approaches, different personalities, all playing under shared values and for a common purpose, our uniquely South African bond is cemented. This is also true for our supporters, we are proud to have South Africans from all walks of life behind us every time we take to the field. We hope that this new kit, the most colourful ever, will be a reminder of this strength for the team and a catalyst to bring all South Africans together as one voice of support for the Proteas.”
As the campaign evolves through its next stage there will be personalised social media videos from various New Balance players, first going out to media and influencers and then to the public spontaneously when they engage with the campaign.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RoIcFMJSXk
The agency also created the sound track specifically for the lead commercial piece (working with well known South African artist Ard Matthews) and this song will be playing at stadiums over the summer home series’ against Pakistan and Sri Lanka, ahead of the World Cup.
Comment:
Surely this is one of the most colourful national team cricket shirts ever to hit South Africa’s sports shops? Perhaps this kind of design approach is also influenced by the striking success of Nike’s Nigerian national football strip at this summer’s World Cup. This powerful and smartly structured campaign offers up more than one reason to engage and to purchase. It builds on last year’s ODI ‘Be Proteas’ kit campaign,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdQTTePRzg8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1Br0F0NI8Y
and it follows in the footsteps of previous CSA, New Balance aand agency Levergy campaigns such as 2017’s ‘Training Day’ and 2016’s ‘Feel The Fire’.
Links:
New Balance
http://www.feelthefire.co.za/
http://newbalance.co.za/
https://twitter.com/newbalance_sa
https://www.facebook.com/NewBalanceSouthAfrica
https://uk.pinterest.com/newbalancesa/
https://www.youtube.com/user/newbalanceSA
https://www.instagram.com/newbalanceza/
Cricket South Africa:
https://twitter.com/officialcsa
https://www.youtube.com/user/cricketsatv
https://www.facebook.com/CricketSouthAfrica
Levergy:
This case study originally appeared on Activative Source: the intelligence tool featuring the most creative and effective ideas in sponsorship activation, rights holder marketing and sportsbiz campaigns from around the world. Activative Source helps anyone in the world of partnership marketing understand why and how the landscape is evolving (and with what success). www.activative.co.uk
