In this morning's second piece of rugby related news (see our piece on Jack Whitehall's rugby school experience with BBH for Samsung HERE) Grey London has hooked into our love of the game (and our national pride) with a new campaign for Lucozade Sport that positions the energy drink as “Strictly for the Home Nations Only,” and the secret weapon behind our home nation's success. As part of a £9 million spend for the brand this year, which takes full advantage of the rugby fever set to descend across the country this autumn during the 2015 Rugby World Cup, the fully-integrated activity will include a 60 second TV spot, a host of digital content, national sampling, in-store activation and an on-pack promotion, to ensure engagement and awareness levels remain high throughout the period.
Grey London has hooked into our love of rugby with a new campaign for Lucozade Sport
The campaign launched this week with three content films: “Welcome to England,” “Welcome to Cardiff” and “Welcome to Newcastle,” from the English, Welsh and Scottish squads respectively, welcoming their opponents to the location of their opening fixture. More content films will be launched in the build-up to the tournament itself, while the TVC will be airing in the build-up to and during the tournament. Media for the campaign was handled by Mediacom, whilst MPC took care of the post production work on the spots.
The TV ad shows international rugby stars from across the world pretending to be players from the home nations in order to fool shopkeepers around the UK into selling them Lucozade Sport. This includes putting on accents and dressing in some rather flimsy disguises – from Drew Mitchell, Australian Rugby star, having English elocution lessons, to Bryan Habana, the South African winger, dressed in a kilt learning a Scottish accent. At every step though, the home nation heroes are on hand to foil their attempts to get their hands on the merchandise, with Chris Robshaw, Leigh Halfpenny, Conor Murray and Stuart Hogg coming to the rescue. Commenting on the experience, Halfpenny said: “Alun-Wyn Jones and I were asked to give Jacques Burger a crash course in the Welsh accent, and he coped extremely well. It was a great day where we could all have a bit of fun and not take ourselves too seriously!”
The campaign posits the energy drink as the secret weapon behind our home nation's success
Vicky Morgan, marketing manager for Lucozade Sport, said: “The campaign idea is centred around a bit of a heist; the overseas players are trying to get their hands on Lucozade Sport. It’s the type of campaign that will leave a lasting impression with people far and wide, as it’s a different tone for the brand as it champions the banter and sportsmanship that rugby is renowned for.” Darren Wright, creative director at Grey London, added: “Sports advertising can often take itself a bit too seriously. With this campaign, we wanted to bring a bit of levity to the tournament. And when we found out the French Rugby Federation had asked to be supplied by Lucozade Sport for the duration of the tournament, it gave us our opportunity. So with our tongues firmly in our cheeks we banned Lucozade Sport from any visiting teams: giving the home nations the advantage they're probably gonna need to beat them.”
