Hello Cobbers!
Welcome to Episode 15 of the Chewsday Chew. The purpose herein is not to write something overly sagacious, complicated or mesmerising, but rather to pose a simple observation, question or proposition and let the good readers of this esteemed site share their opinions thereafter. Call it the lazy man’s attempt to fill a void by poking our collective bear of rugby knowledge to share their reflections and lift the average beyond the humdrum.
So to that end, I must say I was left somewhat perplexed over the weekend by RA’s attempts to market the upcoming English Tests. To say the hype has been somewhat underwhelming is a true understatement of obvious proportions. To be blunt, the Tupou ad trying to make some mileage out of tired cliches on tea and scones was embarrassing and served no real purpose beyond giving the rugby version of the Barmy Army some easy meat to chew on at our expense. And then on the weekend I saw grabs of Wobblies making predictions on who would win the Stat of Origin. Really? Free mileage for the other code? Is that what we are reduced to?
Where’s your pride man?
But that got me to thinking, what is the formula for a successful RUGBY advertising campaign? So to that end I put my years of academic endeavor to work to research what are the elements that go into making a good rugby ad? And this is what I came up with…
Now firstly, I confess I am no Don Draper of Mad Men fame. And aside from the midday drinking, general office décor and the general willingness of various other office accouterments, I’m not sure I would ever want to be. Frankly, many of the folk I know in Advertising and Marketing remind me way too much of Tony Packard just with more expensive suits…
But in all seriousness, I reckon you start with a bit of a story…
Then you marinade it in a bit of a dream…
And you grill it with a bit of history…
Presenting it can be visually simple…
Or perhaps it can be simply visual…
But some good old fashioned skills rarely go astray…
Sometimes, occasionally the Corporate-Marketers get it sort of right…
But then they sometimes try a bit too hard and miss the mark just a wee bit…
And we need to remember that nothing ever takes the place of a bit of a sense of humour…
But to cut to the chase, all it takes is some good footage and a bit of pulse-lifting music yeh?
And even our fellow G&GR amateurs can follow that algorithm and get it right…
So there it is; my patented formula. It’s not that complicated.
And so I have to say, C’mon RA, have a bit of a re-think and have another bloody go will ya?
And just in-case you need any more inspiration, this timely bit of artwork was without a doubt, the best rugby ad ever made…
So C’mon all you Punters, what are ads you remember? Clearly our RA mates need a wee bit of a hand. And remember; the rest of the whole rugby world is cheering for us.
