Broadcast options for Australian Rugby

[The Ghost of Raelene]

His obsession with corporate bs speak is agonising.

He's done too many RUPA inductions and the power-points have influenced him.

 

[Crashy]

Tahs game didnt make any of the FTA ratings lists on Friday night 30th show was Love at First like with 490k viewers.

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

I really want to know how many subscribers have Stan Sport because most watchers would be going through that but it is damming for Rugby in general. They just don't advertise enough. I work with a lot of people who love their NRL and sports in general and they didn't even know it started on Friday when I mentioned it. The general middle aged male sports fan had no idea the Rugby was on and then only asked if JAS was playing.

 

[Major Tom]

They mustn’t be that in to rugby. Super Rugby has always started in Feb. Agree, it still needs to be advertised. Particularly, with greater emphasis on pre season games for the afl and nrl.

 

[JRugby2]

FWIW, it (apparently) is being advertised - Super Rugby has signed on with a new creative agency to try and drive their brand. No idea who does their media buying but I've seen none of it out in the wild, or across socials - and unless I'm just blind to it, nobody seeing it makes the whole creative refresh a tad redundant...

Hopefully this turns out to be a good thing, but I have to agree with Geoff Parkes on the Roar - wtf does this even mean?

 

[Ignoto]

Hahaha bloody hell that is some bloody ordinary advertisement. The wording on the other ads is no better;

I've got no idea how Jake's "good looks" would help him when Arde Savea lines him up.

I hope Super Rugby didn't pay these guys much as all they've done is put some nonsense words on footage from games and slap a filter over the picture.

 

[LeCheese]

Nah - his take on it is pretty myopic imo (quoted below for those who haven't seen it).

His suggestion of promoting the players and 'stories' instead is all well and good, but that does nothing for anyone outside of existing rugby circles. I feel we've been doing that for years, and it hasn't done much good - Sua'ali'i being the exception, being an 'outsider'.

The new campaign is very clearly designed to get the eyeballs of the uninitiated - evocative and provocative. I can't help but feel that it invokes some of the old (and re-made) Porsche ads. I think it's great.

Geoff's thoughts:

Don’t get me wrong; more effort and investment from the Australian and New Zealand governing bodies by which to connect with and engage rugby audiences is welcome. But after a lifetime of playing, watching and writing about rugby, I genuinely have no idea what that statement even says about the game, or about Super Rugby in particular.

Perhaps the powers that be might instead have cast an eye towards Christchurch and the heightened interest on both sides of the Tasman at 64-cap Wallaby, James O’Connor’s first appearance for the Crusaders.

The genial O’Connor has been very well received by the local fanbase in Christchurch, and I guarantee that more Australian fans than normal will have tuned in to the Crusaders versus Hurricanes as a result of his involvement. That’s a winning outcome on both sides of the Tasman.

It seems increasingly obvious that a sure-fire way to bind fans together and tie them to the competition as a whole, without the need for a funky meeting room full of pony-tailed creatives, marketing grads and Kombucha, is to allow some kind of provision for player movement across national borders.

Failing that, I guess we can always fill very available bit of space with the latest on Joseph-Akuso Sua'ali'i.

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

Easy to forget it starts earlier than the others when they haven't been engaged by it since the mid 2000s. Tricky position when people are still taking kids to Cricket for another month.... I just think they need a bit more than the back of a bus. They did have ads during the Super Bowl but I haven't seen them otherwise.

 

[Slim 293]

Yeah, that's some laughable stuff from Geoff Parkes, from the JOC (James O'Connor) suggestion to this monumentally cringeworthy sentence...

without the need for a funky meeting room full of pony-tailed creatives, marketing grads and Kombucha

 

[Braveheart81]

I think a big part of the challenge is what do you watch that has ads?

I tend to think that the smattering of public billboards/bus ads combined with plenty on social media is the only reasonable option in terms of cost vs benefit.

 

[PhilClinton]

I mean, there are so many missed opportunities here. Why isn't it a Force player?

These stink of an organisation who've chosen a 'new creative direction' driven by cost, not quality.

 

[Wilson]

I think the biggest bang for buck right now is getting players and coaches onto the various pieces of local and national sports coverage - WWOS, local radio and particularly the more general sports podcasts. It is a bit of a different question to ad buy (though still related), but these are probably also the places to be advertising heavily for the competition start.

 

[LeCheese]

Yeah, that's some laughable stuff from Geoff Parkes, from the JOC (James O'Connor) (James O'Connor) suggestion to this monumentally cringeworthy sentence...

That sentence is the lowest-hanging boomer-flavoured fruit imaginable. Completely on brand for him I guess.

 

[PhilClinton]

I feel RA were trying to push Taneila into the spotlight about 3 years ago. He already had an element of being a viral YouTube sensation and seemed to be our most consistent Wallaby in terms of ability.

He just went off the boil since then, injuries and other issues from his time at the Rebels which is a shame.

 

[JRugby2]

Yeah, that's some laughable stuff from Geoff Parkes, from the JOC (James O'Connor) (James O'Connor) suggestion to this monumentally cringeworthy sentence...

Maybe I'm misinterpreting but I think he's using an unbelievable amount of word soup to push the case for open borders in Super Rugby. Hardly laughable if that's the case.

 

[Braveheart81]

I think the biggest bang for buck right now is getting players and coaches onto the various pieces of local and national sports coverage - WWOS, local radio and particularly the more general sports podcasts. It is a bit of a different question to ad buy (though still related), but these are probably also the places to be advertising heavily for the competition start.

Absolutely. The competition and the teams should be doing everything they can to have players making media appearances etc.

 

[LeCheese]

His argument is that Aus players playing in NZ and vice-versa will lead to more eyeballs across all the games - which it probably would (although a small number, imo), but it sure as shit won't get any new ones.

When our whole challenge is trying to bring fans back to the game, why would we engage in marketing strategies that only appeal to a select number of rusted-on fans?

 

[JRugby2]

I think a big part of the challenge is what do you watch that has ads?

I tend to think that the smattering of public billboards/bus ads combined with plenty on social media is the only reasonable option in terms of cost vs benefit.

Maybe - seems to be nothing on social (nothing on Ad Library anyway from the Super Rugby Pacific account) re the new creative. Outdoor for sure is a great way to build brand awareness but they may have left it a little late, no?

 

[JRugby2]

His argument is that Aus players playing in NZ and vice-versa will lead to more eyeballs across all the games - which it probably would (although a small number, imo), but it sure as shit won't get any new ones.

When our whole challenge is trying to bring fans back to the game, why would we engage in marketing strategies that only appeal to a select number of rusted-on fans?

To me, there's nothing from that excerpt that suggests open borders would specifically engage new fans. Nor anything about promoting player stories.

 

[Braveheart81]

The new creative campaign that we're discussing is purely billboards isn't it>

All the social media accounts have plenty of content.

I tend to think that if you're not seeing any rugby content on Twitter/Instagram/Facebook then you've done plenty to ensure you don't see any of it.

My view is that you're predominantly trying to engage people who are already rugby fans to some degree but might have engaged with Super Rugby for some time.

I think the concept that we're going to unlock fans who have never watched a game of rugby before with any sort of advertising campaign is wishful thinking.

The marketing budget is never going to be massive. It needs to be well directed and cost effective.