Guinness Rugby Area 22
The Brief:
As a proud sponsor of Irish Rugby for over twenty years, Guinness embarked on an entirely new campaign, entitled Guinness Area 22, for the 2010 RBS 6 Nations.
The brief was precise and focused – we were tasked to demonstrate how Guinness could potentially deliver a new and exciting perspective of Irish Rugby; one which would involve and engage consumers on a whole new level for the duration of the 6 Nations, and help fuel the success of Irish Rugby.
The Solution:
The Guinness Area 22 campaign had to do a number of key things:
- Encourage fans to engage with the game in a deep and robust manner
- Engage with consumers and match the skill, commitment and passion of the game
- Create touch-points where the fans were placed at the heart of the action on match day & in the pub
A PR campaign, with Digital at the forefront, was conceived to achieve all objectives and bring the Guinness Rugby sponsorship to life in a way that connected fans to the heart of the game. WHPR worked closely with Cybercom to deliver this campaign.
- Create a website and a Facebook page that would encourage online consumer dialogue, whilst communicating brand ‘authenticity’ via rich online content and unique social media currency
- Get the nation (not just rugby fans) talking about rugby, and ensure that Area 22 is seen as both an inspiration and a catalyst for that conversation
- Deliver on and offline PR opportunities over the key three month period that makes up the 6 Nations.
- The campaign would position the brand as “front of mind” with all rugby fans for the duration of the 6 Nations.
The Idea: Guinness Area 22
The overall strategy was to integrate the Area 22 idea and theme into every element of the campaign. This would be done via the launch, via the website, via Facebook, through the experiential aspects of the Area 22 Today FM Supporters events, as well as any opportunities that would arise during the campaign.
The PR strategy was clear - excite and engage rugby fans by allowing them to co-create with Guinness via the Area 22 team. PR would reinforce just how credible Guinness is – everything PR did was in a modern and audience-relevant way. We conversed with consumers primarily via Facebook and via the Area 22 Supporters event, so we were in their territory, where they are comfortable and where they are happy to co-create with a brand.
To bring Area 22 to life a number of key elements were deemed as must do’s. The following will outline these initiatives:
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The Guinness Area 22 Team
The core PR idea was to recruit three Irish players who would form the Guinness Area 22 team; with Jamie Heaslip, Tommy Bowe and Jerry Flannery coming on board as the Guinness Area 22 campaign ambassadors. After announcing the team, the players kicked off the Guinness Rugby Facebook activity by providing regular updates from behind the scenes at the Irish camp.
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www.Guinness.com/Area22
The website was designed to be very visually appealing and impactful to create the ‘wow’ factor for Area 22. The site provided fans with the latest news and stats on the Irish Rugby team, as well as complementing the player insights from inside the Irish camp that featured on Facebook.
Fans were also able download a unique iPhone app which included a pub finder for all Ireland’s away matches, and all the anthems for the competing nations. The app became a fast favourite with fans, and at the start of the 6 Nations was the number 1 free sports download on the App Store.
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Guinness Rugby Ireland Facebook
All activity with the Guinness Area 22 team had to encourage online consumer dialogue and communicate brand ‘authenticity’ – it was vital that from the start that the fans knew it really was the players that were communicating with the fans, not a marketing person sitting at their desk!
Fans of the Guinness Rugby Facebook page could engage with the players by checking out their behind the scenes updates online, posting comments and starting a conversation with the players. This activity was taken a step further with fans uploading their own photos, without prompt or incentive.
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Guinness Area 22 Supporters Events with Today FM
Building on the success of previous Guinness Rugby events, WHPR worked closely with Today FM to host a series of five supporters events during the 6 Nations. These events brought to life the experiential aspect of the Guinness Area 22 campaign. Matt Cooper acted as MC at each event, whilst the Last Word Rugby panel, Frankie Sheahan, Liam Toland, Neil Francis and Paul Wallace were also in attendance, allowing for ‘Tom’ to connect with former legends of the game in a comfortable manner in his local!
On the night of the events, a live OB took place from a pub in the selected city, which was also streamed live on www.TodayFM.com, as well as via the Guinness Rugby Facebook, allowing for even more interaction and engagement between Guinness and Irish Rugby fans. Over 300 fans turned up for each event, whilst anywhere in the region of 100-200 fans would be posting questions to Facebook on the night of the events. On average over 2500 people were tuning in online at TodayFM.com to hear the goings-on.
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Ignite Area 22 with Francois Pienaar
To further enhance the level of consumer and brand engagement around Area 22, WHPR arranged for former South African captain, and rugby legend, Francois Pienaar to visit Dublin to check out Guinness Area 22. There was a huge media and consumer response to the visit, and this served to enhance Guinness’ credibility once more amongst the key stakeholders and how, as a brand, Guinness knows each time what Rugby fans want and desire.
For more information on Guinness Area 22 go to: www.guinness.com/en-ie/area22/
