Over the next few weeks, any brand that has a remote connection to the world of rugby (officially or not) will undoubtedly be attempting to bask in the limelight of the RBS 6 Nations Championship, kicking off at Twickenham on 7th February.

One such brand, who has every right to be there, is Nike.

For the last month or so I have greatly enjoyed my twice-daily sojourn past the Oxford Circus Niketown store, gazing with slightly too much interest at that particular Regent Street window display: a 13ft high, wall-to-wall image of five top England players, all exhibiting the latest Nike offering in men’s tight-fit rugbywear.

Imagine my surprise (and, let’s face it, immense disappointment) when I noticed today, three weeks out from the start of the Championship, our England rugby boys had been removed from the Niketown display and replaced with something completely unrelated to the sport.

Not entirely sure what the thinking was behind the timing of the Niketown visual merchandising switch-over, but surely, at a time when sports fans will be so focused on the rugby world, it would make sense for an official rugby sponsor to capitalize on that partnership at every outlet?

Nike’s brilliant advertising creative around the 2007 Rugby World Cup (as displayed in the Oxford Street store in the above image) was delivered through ATL and retail platforms concurrently – so why not replicate the strategy during the build-up to the top rugby tournament in Northern Hemisphere?

You don’t get much more consumer-facing than a London flagship store, so for consistent messaging, it would make sense for brand sponsorship and retail to be on the same page – or rather, window display.

By Lucie Bartlett on January 19th, 2009

Tags: Brand marketing, Rugby, Sponsorship