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Guinness Leverages Rugby Rights Around RWC Via Long-Form Film Player Stories
This is just one of many campaigns featured and analysed by Activative in its sponsorship monitoring service Activative Source. For more information, please visit www.activative.co.uk.
Guinness continues to activate its multiple rugby rights with long-form film story-telling in the form of two new stories – Gareth Thomas’ ‘Never Alone’ and Ashwin Willemse’ ‘The Right Path’ – focusing on individual players and revolving around the values and the culture of the sport.
As the spotlight shines on England (and Wales) for the 2015 Rugby World Cup, the first week of September saw a Guinness brand campaign celebrate the character and integrity of rugby and rugby players.
With messages about courage, empathy and resilience, the work continues the approach the stout brand took to activate its home nations and tournament rights through this year’s 6 Nations.
‘Never Alone’ tells the story of former Wales captain Gareth Thomas’ fear of rejection because of his sexuality before, during and after his decision to come out.
The film comes in both a lead 1-minute, 15-second version,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBOTKSQ89M8
and a longer form, 4-minute webfilm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUoHcwR6FwU
The spot was directed by John Hillcoat, with music by Warren Ellis and Nick Cave.
‘The Right Path’ celebrates the choice that South African World Cup winner Ashwin made to defy the gang culture of his upbringing and the challenges of his circumstances and the support of the rugby community around him that empowered the player to be who he wanted to be.
Again it comes in both shorter,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHqa-ajnboQ
and longer versions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxrvtKXt6lg
The campaign, running with the #MadeOfMore hashtag, has, like its previous 6 Nations iterations, again been developed with agency Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO.
The beer brand’s rugby work around the tournament also includes on-pack and in-store promotions and offers with various outlets (including retailers like Tesco and in-pub through initiatives like its Match Pint alliance).
The work continues the long-form, story-telling approach Guinness adopted its the RBS 6 Nations (see case study).
Whilst not an official Rugby World Cup partner (Heineken and William Grant & Sons are the closest competitor official tournament sponsor/provider in the drinks category), Guinness has as strong a heritage in rugby partnerships as any brand.
After all, its official rugby sponsorships include being the Official Beer of the RBS 6 Nations through a four-year partnership with Six Nations Rugby Limited (SNRL) that includes its designation as ‘Official Responsible Drinking Partner of the RBS 6 Nations’.
The Diageo-owned beer brand is also a sponsor of England’s Rugby Football Union (RFU), Irish Rugby (IRFU), Scottish Rugby (SRU) and the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU).
Guinness is also the official beer partner of Premiership Rugby and the title sponsor of the Pro12 tournament, as well as a sponsor of several leading provincial teams and clubs including Leinster, Munster and London Irish.
Comment
New platforms and more economic technology enables brands (and consumers) to offer engagement through longer form storytelling than was the case when traditional media, 30-second TV ads and print executions were the dominant format.
After all, telling great stories in just 30-seconds or via a one-directional statsic press ad is particularly challenging.
Thus storytelling through long-form ads on digital channels is increasingly popular for sponsors and the key objective behind this set of Guinness stories is to drive fan passion around the Rugby World Cup and connect the brand to the values of the sport.
‘We have a long and proud association with rugby,’ explains Guinness’ Western Europe marketing director Stephen O’Kelly.
‘These stories demonstrate the inspirational character and integrity that is central to the sport and the values of the Guinness brand.’ Links
Guinness YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/GuinnessEurope
Guinness Website:
Guinness Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Guinness
Guinness Twitter:
https://twitter.com/guinnessgb
Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO:
Premiership Rugby:
http://www.premiershiprugby.com/
RBS 6 Nations:
Pro12:
WRU:
RFU:
IRFU:
SRU:
Leinster Rugy:
Munster Rugby:
London Irish:
