Not only does a rugby sponsorship on the scale of the RBS 6 Nations offer a platform to engage with customers, rugby fans and staff, it also provides an opportunity to give back to communities and customers. Rugby clubs are often at the heart of so many communities where they operate, and RBS is committed to helping them prosper.

This year, RugbyForce has been developed with an enhanced partnership with the home nation unions, and is delivered by the bank’s retail divisions in each country.  Stuart Lancaster was there to help us launch NatWest RugbyForce at Millwall RFC recently in January, which has pledged to help nearly half of English community rugby clubs become stronger businesses over the next five years.

Synergy designed and delivered a launch event at the local London rugby club to maximise awareness of the programme in national press, and ensure the transition from RBS to NatWest RugbyForce in England was a smooth one. This year, instead of RugbyForce focusing purely on sprucing up your rugby club and giving club facilities an overhaul, the programme will provide advice and support to clubs to ensure business longevity. To this end, NatWest will now deliver RugbyForce in England and will link clubs to their local branches.

We had a huge turn out from the national and regional London sports desks, including The Evening Standard, the guardian, Daily Mirror, Daily Mail, the BBC, Sky Sports News and ITN, as well as securing two exclusive interviews with The Daily Telegraph and City A.M. The day was a fantastic opportunity to promote the NatWest RugbyForce Weekend in June and showcase the work RBS is doing in its communities. From 80 people working together at their local rugby clubs, to eight million fans watching a RBS 6 Nations match on television, RBS is working hard to making Rugby stronger at every level.

By Charlie Smith on January 31st, 2013

Tags: Default

No comments

Guinness Rugby

I can hardly believe that I was in a meeting two decades ago when it was felt that rugby wasn’t necessarily right for the Guinness brand. Doesn’t seem possible now, does it?

Synergy’s work on the Guinness Premiership was outstanding. Activation included an Honesty Bar at rugby matches which rewarded fans and reduced queue time at Twickenham, live commentary radios bringing spectators closer to the action on the pitch and even an April Fool PR stunt which created Guinness Eau de Rugby – a fragrance made from mud from Twickenham and Ugo Moyne’s sweat.

By going on to expand its relationship with rugby with partnership deals with the RFU, WRU, Scottish Rugby, the RBS 6 Nations and the Premiership Rugby,  it now means that the two are inextricably linked.

Quite rightly, the sponsorship has won numerous industry awards - including the SIA Best Sports Sponsorship, MCCA Best communications campaign featuring sponsorship, and the Hollis Best Sport Sponsorship – not only for the campaign’s creativity but for the outstanding uplift in sales generated.  

Betfair

I’ve never been a great football fan (not something I shout about in the office!), but I can honestly say that Betfair’s recent video taking Kettering Town back to the ’70s was one of the best bits of sponsorship activation I have ever seen.  It was genuinely funny.  However, more importantly, it conveyed the brand’s character – fun, irreverent and mischievous.

Added to the tremendous work on the highly celebrated Bum-vertising campaign, Betfair provides the canvas for some of Synergy’s very best work.

BMW’s Olympic sponsorship – the Films

I was fortunate to be invited to the unveiling of the four films made by BMW to celebrate its sponsorship of the London 2012 Olympic Games. Not only were they beautifully filmed and produced, but they created that ‘Olympic goosebump’ feeling that I get whenever individual athletes tell their story, show us the rigour of their training, or show us their single-minded determination to succeed.

These four films really sum up the electric atmosphere of the Olympic Games, and make us all pump the air and say ‘Bring it On’.

By Karen Earl on May 3rd, 2012

Tags: Betfair, BMW, Brand marketing, Guinness, Guinness Premiership, Rugby, Sponsorship

No comments

What better way to spend St Patrick’s Day than watching England v Ireland at Twickenham with a pint of GUINNESS in hand? Well the rugby mad GUINNESS team here at Synergy certainly can’t think of one! So after another busy RBS 6 Nations tournament, it’s time to look back on our highlights from the GUINNESS Made of More campaign.

It all started back in January when a refreshed team of ambassadors were chosen to bring to life the new GUINNESS Made of More brand positioning.  The four ambassadors were picked to support the brand’s partnership as ‘Official Beer of The RBS 6 Nations’, as well as Official Partners of the home unions, England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The new (and one not so new) faces included Scotland’s Sean Lamont, England full back Ben Foden, Wales centre Jamie Roberts and Jamie Heaslip of Ireland who were all contracted to spearhead an integrated below-the-line campaign for the brand.

Working as part of a cross agency team with Ireland’s WHPR and Cybercom, Synergy co-ordinated the two day launch which included content filming, photography and media interviews. To really get rugby fans across all four home nations roused ahead of the tournament the Cybercom team created a spine tingling video featuring the ambassadors, which has since had over 100,000 views.

Synergy contracted the photographer, Hamish Brown, to create a selection of images that inextricably showed the players’ dynamism and power, also demonstrating that like the GUINNESS product, the brand’s ambassadors are made of something a little bit extra. Whether this is Ben Foden’s lightening fast feet or Jamie Roberts’ powerful charges through the midfield, we wanted to capture each of the ambassador’s individual traits which proves they are made of more.

The Synergy PR team secured national and regional coverage in England, Wales and Scotland across a range of sectors including sport and lifestyle press, online, radio and broadcast, with WHPR generating some great coverage in Ireland.

One of the key objectives of this campaign was to drive international rugby fans to the GUINNESS Facebook pages, and encourage a deeper brand engagement through the ambassadors providing a steady stream of exclusive content from inside their camps. The cross agency team also developed a unique competition for fans from each nation to win the chance to play alongside their hero in the GUINNESS Rugby Challenge at the end of the tournament. More on that later…

Throughout the campaign Synergy activated player and coach appearances including interviews with Wales front row Gethin Jenkins, Scott Lawson and Chris Cusiter of Scotland, as well as England (then interim) coaches Stuart Lancaster and Andy Farrell.

Throughout the championship, GUINNESS ran an off-trade competition whereby one lucky GUINNESS customer could win the chance to have an England legend come to their home and watch the England v Ireland match with their mates, whilst toasting St Patrick’s Day with a few pints of the black stuff! Former England star Andrew Sheridan stepped up to plate, and for our lucky winner Keith Roberts and his friends it was a completely unforgettable day.

Andy’s insight and running commentary throughout the game proved perfect considering the game was so forward driven, with the big man himself proclaiming that “all that passing nonsense is for wimps!” All in all, it was certainly an they will tell their friends about every time they have a pint of GUINNESS at the local pub.

After seven weeks of rugby the final weekend saw Wales aiming for a Grand Slam in Cardiff, but the final curtain was to fall at a sold out Twickenham on St Patrick’s Day, with GUINNESS there to join in with the craic. Thanks to the RFU, the GUINNESS St Patrick’s Day video was shown to over 80,000 England and Ireland fans live at Twickenham, in addition to over 1,000 GUINNESS hats given away to fans in the West Car Park.  All of which added up to the GUINNESS bar have its busiest day at the rugby ever!

With Paddy’s Day behind us, the Synergy team rounded off this year’s RBS 6 Nations with the GUINNESS Rugby Challenge. Winners, plus two friends, were invited to Twickenham Stoop to play rugby alongside our ambassadors, minus Sean Lamont who was gallantly replaced by Scotland’s Jon Barclay. The warm up was taken by England forwards coach, Graham Rowntree and fitness coach Calvin Morris who later went on to referee the touch rugby competition.

By Synergy on March 27th, 2012

Tags: Alcohol, Default, Event management consultants, Guinness, PR, Public relations, RBS 6 Nations, Rugby, Sponsorship, Sport, Synergy, Synopsis, Viral Marketing, YouTube

No comments

A key ingredient of great sponsorship is finding a natural role for your brand to play which enhances the audience’s experience of the event. With the RBS 6 Nations established as a huge appointment to view (averaging 4.7 million viewers per match and over 30m people watching some of the 2011 Championship), we spotted a ground-breaking opportunity for RBS to bring the ‘second screen’ to rugby for the first time ever.

The second screen phenomenon is one of the most exciting media trends: connected consumers are increasingly using a second device – an internet-enabled phone, laptop or tablet – while they watch TV. We have only just scratched the surface of the possibilities this opens up for brands. The internet hasn’t (at least so far!) marked the death of TV in the way that many predicted – instead, savvy companies are both exploiting its potential to enhance the TV viewing experience and capitalising on observed consumer behaviour. The upshot is the recent growth of companion apps – games and forums that encourage viewers to interact with the content that they are watching.

The numbers are compelling: 74% of consumers with broadband connections say they surf the internet at the same time as watching TV, 51% say they use the internet to get more news or information about the specific programme they’re watching, while 38% discuss shows on social networking services like Facebook, according to 2011 research from Ovum. Meanwhile, 2011 OfCom data shows that 81% of Brits have their phone with them while watching TV.

The combination of this strong and growing phenomenon alongside RBS’ desire to enhance the fans’ experience of the RBS 6 Nations Championship led to our creation of the RBS 6 Nations Live Challenge companion app. Throughout the match, the app challenges fans to predict the result of penalties, conversions, five metre scrums and line outs, take part in opinion polls, and answer RBS 6 Nations rugby quiz questions. The app breaks new ground for rugby fans, using dual screen interaction to revolutionise and enhance the live match experience for viewers watching at home, and is available on iPhone, iPad, Android and Facebook, ensuring the broadest possible user base. Conceived by Synergy and delivered by Jam – Engine’s social media and mobile agency – the RBS 6 Nations Live Challenge is an example of Engine integration at its very best.

The RBS 6 Nations Live Challenge launched on 3^rd February, ahead of the first weekend of fixtures. The launch of the app has been supported by a hard-hitting PR campaign across consumer, rugby and tech titles, leading to coverage in publications including The Sun, The Sunday Times, Sport magazine, Shortlist magazine, The Guardian Technology Blog, T3, Slashgear and several rugby blogs. Reception has been extremely positive and our PR push has also generated masses of organic buzz, as more and more people download and play the Live Challenge. At the time of writing, after 5 of the 15 matches, the app has reached 75,000 downloads. The app will be available for every match for the rest of the Championship – go to www.rbs6nationslivechallenge.com to try it today.

By Jessica Enoch on February 24th, 2012

Tags: Default, Digital marketing, RBS 6 Nations, Rugby

No comments

Last year we introduced you to a new rugby partnership for energy brand SSE, who began a three year deal as the National Community Partner of the RFU.

SSE is committed to supporting rugby clubs who are the foundation of the game and sit at the heart of their communities.  The first step was to really understand what clubs need, which is why we conducted a wide ranging survey of rugby clubs around the country.

As a result,  we are excited to announce the launch of the SSE Rugby website, a brand new website offering a season-long programme of rewards, resources, and opportunities designed specifically to help meet the needs of local rugby clubs across the country.

As well as offering unique insight and content into the rugby world from ambassadors such as Tom Croft and Danny Grewcock, SSE Rugby offers players, fans and coaches a range of exclusive benefits:

1. Annual Energy Reward – the opportunity for a local rugby club to win £10,000 worth of SSE energy credits or an energy makeover worth up to £8,000
2. Monthly Club Rewards – exciting rewards and prizes to be won every month, from training sessions with ambassadors to essential kit and training equipment
3. Ambassadors – Tom Croft, Danny Grewcock and John Bentley will be sharing regular blogs and videos around their thoughts on community rugby, as well as offering coaching tips and running training sessions at amateur clubs
4. Community News – exclusive news stories from the heart of the grassroots game, and regular video blogs and coaching tips from featured Community Rugby Coaches(CRCs) across England

Not only is there a huge amount of content for rugby enthusiasts, but there are also opportunities for them to win brilliant rewards for their club. The rewards range from joining Danny Grewcock to watch the England team train before the Barbarians match at Twickenham, to having legendary former British & Irish Lion John Bentley come to their rugby club to give an inspirational team talk they’ll never forget. Take a look at the video below to get a taste!

To coincide with the launch of the website and the upcoming England vs Wales RBS 6 Nations match, Synergy created three films to emphasise the healthy competition between the fans and the teams. SSE ambassador Tom Croft challenges SWALEC (sister brand to SSE) ambassador Ryan Jones head to head in 3 critical challenges set in community rugby clubs. Have a look here to find out who came out on top…

By Synergy on February 24th, 2012

Tags: community, Default, RBS 6 Nations, Rugby, Viral Marketing

No comments

On a very rainy Thursday in January, Synergy launched RBS RugbyForce at Twickenham Stadium with ambassador Tom Wood and NatWest RugbyForce at Waunarlwydd RFC in Wales with George North.

RugbyForce is a nationwide community volunteer programme which helps local rugby clubs improve their facilities and safeguard their long-term future. Last year the programme helped more than 400 clubs in the UK and Ireland and it is testament to the initiative’s development that RugbyForce now exists across all four Home Union territories – Ulster Bank RugbyForce in Ireland, NatWest RugbyForce in Wales, and RBS RugbyForce in England and Scotland.

Our role was to maximise PR exposure from the launches in order to drive more clubs to sign up for the programme before registration closes at the end of March. At Twickenham we were also launching a special initiative giving English clubs, who sign up before England’s RBS 6 Nations games at Twickenham, the chance to have their names printed on the steps of the famous stadium.

The ambassadors were chosen to demonstrate the link between grassroots and elite rugby, emphasising RBS Group’s commitment to the sport at all levels. Both took every opportunity to explain to the media that they were promoting RugbyForce and delivered all our key messages about the importance of the programme and the fantastic impact it has on local rugby clubs.

At Twickenham, Tom Wood spoke to a number of different media, including an exclusive interview with the Daily Telegraph and a live appearance on TalkSport, as well as branded pieces in the Birimingham Post and Sunday Mercury, and a host of other online and radio interviews. The campaign was launched with the names of three lucky clubs, and representatives from each were at Twickenham to provide further online media content and enable us to target local press from across the country.

Tom Wood and the lucky club members

Meanwhile in Cardiff, Waunarlwydd RFC turned out in force to see George North, with around 100 kids and 60 adults attending. Media interviews went ahead with Swansea Sound radio, Scarlett FM radio, the Press Association, the South Wales Evening Post, the Daily Express, Rugby World and BBC Wales Radio & TV.

With the aim to raise exposure of the programme and ultimately drive registration, the day was a great success, generating significant coverage that really delivered on the RugbyForce messages.

All in all it was a hectic and sodden, but ultimately incredibly successful day in both England and Wales, showcasing the RBS Group’s commitment to community rugby. The day drove coverage that will encourage clubs to register and help them to help themselves become more sustainable businesses through the RugbyForce programme.  For more information go to www.rbs.com/rugbyforce.

By Jessica Enoch on January 25th, 2012

Tags: Celebrity, community, Default, PR, Public relations, RBS 6 Nations, Rugby

No comments

Synergy, working as part of a cross agency team, has developed a rugby campaign this autumn to activate the GUINNESS brand’s rugby partnerships with the RFU, WRU, Scottish Rugby and the IRFU. Synergy contracted GUINNESS rugby ambassadors Lewis Moody, Lee Byrne and Sean Lamont (alongside Irish winger Tommy Bowe) to create an integrated campaign across TV, print, digital and PR targeting international rugby fans.

The ambassadors featured in print ads showing them flying the GUINNESS flag and giving their all for their country, in doing so proving that they themselves are made of more. Point-of-sale creative was rolled out in pubs and supermarkets across the country offering fans the chance to win tickets to the RBS 6 Nations (of which GUINNESS are Official Beer Partner).

Synergy secured national and regional press, broadcast and online coverage across England, Scotland and Wales through interviews with the players. Dynamic action shots of the players accompanied the interviews linking their national flag with the flag featuring in the TV ad campaign and reinforcing the brand’s support of the home nations.

To get fans closer to the action, we sponsored the Lewis Moody app to deliver an exclusive blog. GUINNESS fans who left messages of support for both Lewis and Lee on the brands Facebook page had the chance to receive personalised messages back from the players.

For those fans that haven’t been able to follow their team out to New Zealand, our man “Hutch” has been supplying a weekly video diary of his travels and meeting the home nations’ supporters.

To engage fans offline we took England pace man Ugo Monye to Asda in Gloucester to meet fans and staff at the supermarket, allowing them to have their photo taken with the rugby star and take part in the GUINNESS Rugby Reflex game.

Finally, the campaign’s TV ad, directed by Oscar winner Tom Hooper and produced by ad agency AMV, sees our intrepid hero overcome an army to prove that he and his team are made of more. Check it out below.

By Caroline Ayling on October 13th, 2011

Tags: Advertising, Alcohol, Facebook, Food & Drink, Guinness, PR, Public relations, RBS 6 Nations, Rugby, Synergy, YouTube

No comments

Three cheers, then, to the IRB for publishing a weekly round-up of Rugby World Cup-related social media activity by fans. As I tweeted yesterday, all rights holders should be doing this – a point echoed by numerous sponsors, who contacted me to say they’d now be making the same point to the rights holders with which they contract.     

But here’s the thing. One of the IRB social media round-ups highlighted an issue I’ve had for many years with the marketing of the Rugby World Cup.

I’ve always been uncomfortable with the IRB describing the tournament as the world’s third biggest sporting event behind the Olympic Games and FIFA World Cup (which it routinely does – see the penultimate paragraph here for example).

It’s a very clever marketing soundbite (which many rugby journalists now routinely repeat) but it doesn’t stand up to detailed analysis.

The IRB anchors this claim primarily on those old chestnuts of cumulative TV viewers and TV footprint, but those are currencies which only matter to sporting officialdom: most brand marketers aren’t remotely interested in them as a measure of either audience engagement or value.

The reality is there’s a vast chasm on this notional list between the top two and the Rugby World Cup in terms of audience criteria that really matter to brands: things like the number of unique viewers, the number of fans engaging online, and the number of countries in which the event/sport has salience (mass appeal).

And against these more meaningful criteria, there are plenty of sporting events which have a bigger reach and/or footprint than the Rugby World Cup. To quote just a few examples, the F1 World Championship, the Indian Premier League, the NFL, and the UEFA Champions League.

And none of this should be a surprise because when you consider rugby’s footprint.

It’s salient in only eight major markets (the IRB Tier 1 countries Argentina, Australia, England, France, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa) with a combined population of 309 million (4.4% of the world’s population) in only one of which (New Zealand, the smallest market at 4 million) it is the number one sport.

All of which is illustrated nicely by this IRB infographic, showing the location of the last 1,000 Tweets mentioning #rwc2011 during the Rugby World Cup opening ceremony.

So, hat-tip to the IRB for blazing a social media trail among rights holders. But please, don’t play the ‘biggest’ game – play the best.

By Tim Crow on October 5th, 2011

Tags: Default, Rugby, Rugby World Cup, Social Media, Twitter, World Cup

No comments

Having spent the last 30 years working in the sports industry, I am sometimes asked, ‘what is your most memorable moment?’.

While the obvious one was seeing England win the Rugby World Cup in 2003, the actual one was a day in 2004 as the Assistant Tournament Director for the Benson and Hedges International Open.

My mobile rang and a voice said ‘Is that Fiona?’. ‘Yes…’ I said. This was followed by those immortal words ‘This is Seve’. Wow I thought! But  before I could gather my thoughts and reply he said ‘Where’s my driver? I am in the arrivals hall at Gatwick and there is no sign of her…’

A brief conversation followed about  how drivers were not permitted in the baggage hall, but safe to say she was definitely waiting for him in arrivals…

There will only ever be one Seve. Everyone who was lucky enough to see him play or meet him will always remember that day.

By Synergy on May 10th, 2011

Tags: Celebrity, Golf, Rugby, World Cup

No comments

With the RBS 6 Nations coming to an end mid-March, you might expect the team at Synergy to put their feet-up, have a cup of tea and relax. But you would be wrong, dear blog reader. The Championship may be over, but the RBS team has had a busy few weeks as activity steps-up a gear for the 2011 RBS RugbyForce programme.

Now in its third year, RBS RugbyForce is a nationwide community volunteer programme which helps local rugby clubs to improve their facilities. It is an opportunity for clubs to gather members, supporters, friends and family for a weekend of fun-filled DIY. Registered clubs are provided with online guidance and tools to help them co-ordinate a community-wide effort to give their club a make-over. This year the RBS RugbyForce Weekend will take place over 11th/12th June – or, as we like to call it in the office, ‘proper British summer time.’

RBS RugbyForce 2011 was launched back in late 2010 in England, Scotland and Wales with the support of a few rugby friends. Ex-England international Phil Vickery kicked off proceedings with the England launch in November at Bingham RFC in Nottinghamshire. See Phil in action at the launch below:

Shane Williams launched the Wales RBS RugbyForce programme at Cardigan RFC in late November, an event which saw the entire community head down to the club to meet their hero, due partly to an earlier interview we placed on BBC Wales – a true testament to the power of PR.

Braving the snow and chilly conditions in December, the Scotland launch was held by Allan Jacobsen and Chris Paterson at North Berwick RFC. Taking the weather conditions in their stride the players still managed to hold a special training session for the youth teams and even find time to build a snowman.

But the team didn’t stop at the launch events alone. Throughout the RBS 6 Nations the Synergy press office team went into overdrive ensuring every opportunity was seized, whether it be sponsored columns, ticket competitions or contracted union player appearances.

Our aim was to ensure that every club across the UK knew they had until 25th March to register. In a nutshell, unless you’ve been on another planet over the last two months, you would be hard pushed not to have come across one of the 340 articles on RBS RugbyForce that we have generated. For those who may not have flicked to the back pages of the newspapers (tsk), below are a few highlights:

As a result of all the hard work, RBS RugbyForce 2011 received 398 registrations in total and we will be announcing the winners shortly. In addition to the three main winners, each country has secondary clubs who will receive a smaller support package and the first 100 clubs who registered will be awarded with DIY vouchers and t-shirts for volunteers to wear during the RBS RugbyForce Weekend.

However, our work doesn’t end here. In the run up to the final Weekend the team at Synergy will be looking to drum up support for the clubs taking part in the regional press and encourage the community to rally together and head down to their local club on 11th and 12th June.

If you want to register your club, it’s not too late. Log on to www.rbs.co.uk/rugbyforce where you can find out if your local club is taking part. Keep your eyes peeled in June for coverage around all three launch events and more importantly get down to your local club, pitch in and show your support.

By Jennifer Mitton on April 8th, 2011

Tags: Charity, Communications, community, Experiential marketing, grass roots sport, Media, Public relations, RBS 6 Nations, Rugby, Sponsorship, Sport, Synopsis

No comments