More than a logo – why experiences are the new impressions

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DILLY DILLY!

Yes, you’ve probably heard it everywhere. It has rapidly gained traction as a celebratory phrase worth yelling at almost any social event. From a Saturday afternoon in the pub to the Augusta National Golf Club where “Dilly Dilly” was banned from being shouted by golf fans at the Masters this month.

AB InBev’s recent Bud Light campaign has echoes of their famous Budweiser “Whassup” campaign from 1999, which achieved ‘‘talk value’’ – the elusive quality that converts advertising campaigns and phrases into cultural touchstones. Just like the “Whassup” campaign, “Dilly Dilly” launched during TV spots in the USA around the NFL, building towards the brands 2018 Super Bowl slot.

By January 2018 Dilly Dilly was being mentioned 175,000 times a month on social media. The term alone searched over 300,000 times on average per month.

So, what does Dilly Dilly mean?

“It doesn’t mean anything…and that’s the beauty of it” confessed Miguel Patricio, AB InBev’s CMO. “I think we all need our moments of nonsense and fun, and in a way Dilly Dilly represents that”. Love it or hate it, in a world where billions of advertising spend is invested into sales focused SEO and programmatic campaigns, Dilly Dilly provides a refreshing example of a campaign focused on being fun and improving consumer experiences with the brand.

For those Masters fans who were banned from shouting Dilly Dilly, Bud Light distributed Dilly Dilly caps at the event. They announced on social media that “if thou cannot say Dilly Dilly, thou can still wear Dilly Dilly!”.

Experiences is a key aspect of AB InBev’s brand communications. This is no more apparent than in how they are approaching their new and existing sponsorship agreements. A recent article in Forbes, which caused a stir on LinkedIn, outlined how AB InBev were launching a new incentive-based sponsorship model. True, on field incentive-based sponsorship models are certainly nothing new. But what stood out was how off field incentives, such as a new rights holder digital platform that engages fans or increases awareness, might spur larger pay outs.

So why is this?

Ricardo Marques, VP of Budweiser explained that “it’s no longer about the signage or the size of a logo in the stadium anymore. It’s about what people talk about and the experience they take away and talk about later”. Whether at the stadium, at the pub or at home alcohol brands have the perfect opportunity to provide a passionate sports fan a great experience that, at a relatively low customer acquisition cost, has the potential to capture incremental retail sales from engaged fans.

Within the alcohol sponsorship sector, technology is the key driver to improving fan experiences and ensuring vital brand affinity. Budweiser used ‘Touchdown Glasses’ to bring the NFL stadium experience to all fans, whilst XXXX Gold launched their tech enabled Goldie caps during last winters Ashes series. Both these cases highlight that enhancing fan experiences and driving engagement is far more important than logo badging.

And technology is the key.

Find out more about how InCrowd works with alcohol brands and rightsholders to improve fan experiences through technology. Please email enquiries@incrowdsports.com or head to www.incrowdsports.com

Dilly Dilly!

InCrowd appoint Dan Lipman as Business Director of FanScore

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Fan engagement specialists, InCrowd, have appointed fan marketing expert, Dan Lipman, as Business Director of FanScore. Dan is joining from leading mass participation event organisers, Human Race Ltd.

Dan joins InCrowd with over 10 years of fan marketing experience and having specialised in driving and monetising customer acquisition and engagement for major rights holders including British Athletics, the Lawn Tennis Association and Tough Mudder.

Most recently Dan has been Commercial Director of Human Race where he was responsible for managing the marketing, digital and sponsor activation teams, as well as strategically advising the development of a new market-leading ticketing and CRM platform for parent company and organisers of Le Tour de France, Amaury Sport Organisation.

Dan will head-up the FanScore business division, which uses technology and data solutions to help some of the world’s leading sports audience owners, to better know, understand and monetise their audiences.

FanScore sits at the intersection where Brands, Media and Rights Holders meet, creating digital fan engagement tools and platforms that harness the 360 degree spend and attention of the sports fan and provide ROI focused digital sponsorship solutions.

Aidan Cooney, InCrowd’s co-founder and CEO stated “InCrowd have built a fantastic and profitable fan marketing platform and with Dan now coming aboard, we are going to progress our development for our clients in order to produce the most rewarding fan experience no matter where they are.”

Dan Lipman stated “I’ve witnessed first-hand how digital and social media has influenced the way in which brands look to activate to sports audiences, and the subsequent challenges this has created for Rights Holders in their ambitions to commercialise their assets.

I believe with our FanScore proposition we provide a genuine solution that will transform the ability for our partners to compete in a modern digital world. InCrowd have an unrivalled proposition and team to lead the way in revolutionising this space and I am delighted to have come on board to build on the great success the team have already achieved.”

InCrowd work with some of the biggest names in the sports industry including Premiership Rugby, 16 individual clubs, Toyota, Rugby Football League, Heineken and the ICC. To find out more information on InCrowd, please visit their website www.incrowdsports.com or contact us now via enquiries@incrowdsports.com

About InCrowd:

InCrowd provide a fan engagement & sponsorship activation platform. Our understanding of the avid and emotional mindset of a fan is combined with in-depth data analysis and ground-breaking digital technology to offer rights holders and brands a unique opportunity to reach out to sports fans in the moments that really matter. Many of the world‘s top rights holders & brands use InCrowd’s fan marketing platform to collect more fan data, sell more tickets and increase sponsorship revenue. We also help sponsors connect with new customers and convert fan interaction into revenue & advocacy. Find out more – www.incrowdsports.com

Rugby League – A Sport Like No Other.

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In my 10 years working in the sports industry I have been lucky enough to work on a variety of sports including football, motorsport, rugby union, tennis and cricket. One sport that had evaded me until last year was rugby league, a sport that I only had a passing knowledge of. Since June ’17 I have immersed myself in all things rugby league through InCrowd’s relationship with the Rugby Football League (RFL). I’ve attended the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup Final, Betfred Super League Grand Final, visited most of the grounds in the Super League and met some great people along the way.

To say this sport has been a breath of fresh air to me would be an understatement. Rugby League can boast an enviably diverse fan base, competitiveness & entertainment, passion & pride and down to earth, approachable players invested in growing their sport.

So what makes rugby league so special, and how are we working with the RFL to engage their already voracious and loyal fans? Let me tell you about my most recent experiences with the sport….

Membership

I project managed InCrowd’s development of the RFL’s free membership platform and app, named Our League. The platform that encapsulates all things Rugby League, launched on the 16th October 2017. Our League evolved quickly providing a second screen experience during the Rugby League World Cup 2017 with exclusive live streaming and behind the scenes footage. It also produced over 1,000 winners via the “predict & win” competition including tickets, signed shirts and a trip to Australia to watch the World Cup final between England and Australia.

Since then, the benefits have extended to loyalty schemes, ticket discounts, more exclusive content and a recently created a player dashboard for players to see their stats and compared themselves with others in their league. The successful predict and win competition has extended in to the Betfred Super League season with nearly 14,000 players to date, while Our League members have control of the Betfred Man of the Match vote as presented during live Sky Sports broadcasts. Development is also underway to extend the match centre to include community leagues and there is far more to come in the near future to engage all corners of the Rugby League audience.

Season Launch

In January this year, I was lucky enough to attend the RFL season launch. Our League, and its importance in growing the sport between now and the UK hosted 2021 Rugby League World Cup featured in Interim CEO Ralph Rimmer’s keynote speech. Super League representatives from all clubs were in attendance. Players and coaches from all clubs were in attendance including 2017 Man of Steel Luke Gale, England World Cup star Jermaine McGillvary and Harry Sunderland Trophy winning Danny McGuire. After photos and press interviews the players took part in sponsor led challenges whilst coaches were quizzed on their hopes and expectations for the coming season.

I got the chance to speak to some of the World Cup predictor winners; Rob, James  and Antony. They told me that they had played for fun and love of the game. They were extremely surprised to hear that their engagement in the predictor had culminated in such an amazing prize. That prize was 2 premium tickets to every major event this year including the England vs New Zealand series. The guys also recalled several pieces of content and polls that were published during the World Cup and spoke highly of the app’s user experience.

Antony said “my wife didn’t believe I had won and thought it was a scam. It’s a good job I didn’t win trip to Brisbane. I’d have had to choose between my wife and son!”

James took to Twitter to post the following:

 The Future of Rugby League

I feel that one of the biggest challenges facing rugby league in the UK is the lack of awareness and engagement in the south. Rugby union dominates there and the annual Challenge Cup Final provides only a glimpse of what this sport has to offer. I took my 10-year-old nephew to the Challenge Cup Final, teaching him the rules on the journey and he thoroughly enjoyed the whole occasion. However, without my involvement he would not have known that this event, or maybe even the sport even existed.

The road ahead is challenging but I think that rugby league is on the cusp of grabbing more attention from media and commercial partners. This will be rewarding to see for the players and fans of this entertaining and inclusive sport and I am excited to join the RFL on this journey. 2018 is already shaping up to be an incredible season with entertaining matches and some unexpected results already. I’m very much looking forward to the remainder of the season complete with drama, passion and an ever growing audience.

To get involved in the action, you can download the Our League app now:

Google Play:  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.incrowdsports.rugby.rfl

App Store: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/ourleague/id1292250629?ls=1&mt=8

OurLeague Website: https://membership.rugby-league.com

The Rugby Football League partner with InCrowd to launch their Our League membership platform

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In 2017, InCrowd partnered with the Rugby Football League (RFL) in order to build, launch and deliver priceless experiences for fans in time for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup and the 2018 rugby league season.

The Rugby Football League (RFL) approached InCrowd to realise their ambitions to build a world leading membership platform for spectators, viewers and participants of rugby league. Plans for a membership website and mobile apps included exclusive content, member benefits, participation features, a ticketing integration, gamification and polls to help drive fan experience and return on investment for the RFL. The launch was planned to perfectly coincide with the 2017 Rugby League World Cup (RLWC2017) in Australia, giving new members the chance to support England in their quest for glory.

InCrowd provided the necessary resource and expertise to ensure the deadline was met, resulting in the on time launch of the official Our League app and website. InCrowd worked with many of the RFL’s partners integrating Tickethour, and a loyalty scheme via Rewards4 Rugby League. Working with StreamAMG, the platform also saw live streaming of a match 4 days post launch, which proved a successful addition to increase registrations with over 40,000 live views of England’s warm up fixture against Affiliated States. Live streaming was also delivered for the Women’s Rugby League World Cup (WRLWC2017).

Fans were able to fully immerse themselves in the RLWC2017 and WRLWC2017 for free, including behind the scenes content and huge prizes, including Ladbrokes Challenge Cup Final ticket discounts, signed England shirts and premium tickets to all major UK rugby league events in 2018. The Grand Prize was an all expenses paid trip for two to Australia, to watch the RLWC2017 final. One lucky member, Neil Cunliffe, and is wife were flown to watch England in the final in Australia as a result of finishing top of the membership leaderboard after the Quarter Finals.

 

2018 Rugby League Season

After RLWC2017, work was extended to the 2018 Rugby League season. In the first seven weeks of the season the Our League platforms powered by FanScore had already seen nearly 12,000 participants in the Betfred Super League predictor game and consistently receives 3,000 – 4,000 Betfred Man of the Match votes, thanks to InCrowd’s first live participation TV initiative with Sky Sports. Since launch, over 12k Our League members have voted for their Man of the Match.

“Membership is a significant step forward for the Rugby Football League. In September we didn’t have anything and now in February we have a membership system with over 36,000 active members.”

Richard Donlon, Systems Manager, The RFL

Working with Sports Technology Group (STG) and FluidCM we have been able to deliver a rugby league player dashboard showing stats and comparison to other players within a player’s division.In addition to this, InCrowd and the RFL have big plans for the future of Our League. These plans include a wider ranging comparisons within the player dashboard, a Betfred Super League to community leagues match centre, private predictor leagues, head-to-heads, coaching content and personalised membership experiences. We are excited about our continuing work with the RFL to engage the rugby league audience.

For more information, or for details on how InCrowd can help you reach out to your fans, please contact enquiries@incrowdsports.com

Visit the Our League website here

Download the iOS app

Download the Android app

 

About InCrowd

InCrowd provide a fan engagement & sponsorship activation platform. Our understanding of the avid and emotional mindset of a fan is combined with in-depth data analysis and ground-breaking digital technology to offer rights holders and brands a unique opportunity to reach out to sports fans in the moments that really matter. Many of the world‘s top rights holders & brands use InCrowd’s fan marketing platform to collect more fan data, sell more tickets and increase sponsorship revenue. We also help sponsors connect with new customers and convert fan interaction into revenue & advocacy. 

Fan Behaviour – what we can learn from Google Search and Daily Active User trends

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At InCrowd, we constantly look into how we can best utilise our data and visible trends to understand fan behaviour; this analysis is beneficial to both us and the rights holders we work with. Most recently, we looked into what we can learn about our fans from Google Search and Daily Active User(DAU) trends.

We did the necessary research to produce viable and informed answers using three of our main clients – Lets call them Club A, Club B and Club C. For each club we compared the DAUs and the number of Indexed Google searches on all days in the season so far, and in doing so, noticed that the standard (and expected) trend was that Google searches spiked on match days as did the DAUs – no surprise there.

However, two things stood out to us:

One
On match days, the magnitude of the Google Search spike was much greater than the DAU spike.

Two
On the days where there was a decrease in users for both platforms, the dips for Google search queries were far more pronounced than the DAUs on the app; we actually noticed that apps maintained a decent number of DAUs on a daily basis, even on non-match days.

 

These observations suggest that the Google platform is a choice source of information on match days. However, Google users could be classed as non-reciprocal, one-off connections that are likely to disengage. Perhaps an away team fan or casual supporter looking for facilities info like travel and parking etc. App usage is clearly fan driven. These fans have an invested and consistent relationship with the app as their lead source of club content, on any day of the year and at any time.

We also asked ourselves what else could affect Google search and DAUs trends:


How about “Big Name” opposition?

Would playing a league leader, or a club from a higher league, have an effect on activity?
For Club A, the largest spikes were for matches against the biggest clubs in the country and those spikes came from Google. DAU numbers did not spike significantly higher than they would have for matches against smaller clubs. We can also speculate that a decent percentage of the Google queries will be coming from the big club supporters.

How about club rivalries?

Would a match against another local club, with storied rivalry, have an effect on usage?
For Club B there were some pronounced Google Search spikes, the largest of which occurred on the days that came up against their biggest rivals. However, once again, DAUs fluctuated only a little. This lends weight to the theory that Google Search numbers were again affected by outside sources. Oppositions fans, media picking up on the storied rivalry for their articles and other interested parties from outside either club.

Both of these mini case studies suggest the same thing – big club opposition and rivalries have little impact on DAUs.

Your fans care about the club, the team and the game, no matter who they are coming against.

What does all this mean?

Simple really. Clubs shouldn’t just rely on the internet and their website to give their fans what they need. Don’t make them search for it. Give fans a direct 24/7 portal to the club and you will see fan engagement and club advocacy improve significantly. To find out how we can help you and your club, contact us now via enquiries@incrowdsports.com or head to www.incrowdsports.com

Leeds United FC focus on fan engagement with their official app built by InCrowd

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Leeds United FC are continuing their focus on fan engagement with the ongoing success of their official LUTV mobile app in partnership with InCrowd, available to download on the Apple Store and the Google Play Store.

LUFC fans have access to a new two-way channel between themselves and and the club. The Official LUTV mobile app enables fans to engage with a host of different features no matter where they are.

Fan features include:

  • Full LUTV including highlights, interviews, features and more. Subscriptions are available to be purchased here.
  • Once logged in, UK subscribers will be able to access live audio commentary, while international users can watch the full match.
  • All the latest news & breaking news supported by the InCrowd push notification system.
  • A full 2017/18 campaign fixtures & results list.
  • Live league tables.
  • Official player & club Twitter account feeds .
  • Integrates official club social media accounts.
  • Access to ticket purchasing and merchandise.

“From a media perspective, providing content to our fans was one of our biggest challenges. However, this has been a smooth process as a result of the perfect cooperation between Leeds United FC and InCrowd.” Emanuele Montoneri, Head of Media at Leeds United FC.

What does this mean for the club?

The LUTV app currently holds a 4.5/5 rating across both the Apple and Google Play app stores. Furthermore, the app has over 170 five-star reviews. From the point of view of the club, Leeds United will now be able to:

  • Segment, target and send personalised messages to their fans using the powerful InCrowd push notification system.
  • Collect, grow and utilise rich behavioural and location based fan data.
  • Market new sponsorship inventory to existing and future commercial partners.
  • Showcase official club content on a much improved digital platform to fans around the world.

“We are extremely proud to be in partnership with one of the most prestigious football clubs in the UK. This new venture with LUFC means InCrowd now work with over 20 rights holders across four sports.’ Aidan Cooney, CEO of InCrowd.

Please check InCrowd’s and Leeds United’s Twitter feeds twitter.com/InCrowd_Sports and twitter.com/lufc for news of further updates to the official Leeds United app or get in touch via Enquiries@incrowdsports.com

About InCrowd

InCrowd provide a fan engagement & sponsorship activation platform. Our understanding of the avid and emotional mindset of a fan is combined with in-depth data analysis and ground-breaking digital technology to offer rights holders and brands a unique opportunity to reach out to sports fans in the moments that really matter. Many of the world‘s top rights holders & brands use InCrowd’s fan marketing platform to collect more fan data, sell more tickets and increase sponsorship revenue. We also help sponsors connect with new customers and convert fan interaction into revenue & advocacy. Find out more – www.incrowdsports.com

 

Cardiff City FC launch first multi-lingual UK official football club app in China with InCrowd

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Available to download on…

Apple – https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/cardiff-city-fc/id1021992485?mt=8

Google Play – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.tribehive.fli.cardiff&hl=en_GB

The new, InCrowd built, Cardiff City FC app now enables fans to access official club content in Mandarin – the first of its kind for a UK football club in China.

Fans can also now access the official Cardiff City FC video sharing social media account Youku and microblogging social media platform, Weibo, from within the main menu of the app – another first for a UK football app in China.

These new integrations within the Cardiff City FC app now allow the club to build stronger and more tailored relationships to a new and vast addressable fan market as well as increasing their sponsorship opportunities and value in multiple territories.

Cardiff City FC Executive Director & CEO, Ken Choo, commented on the launch, saying: “The International Development project at Cardiff City FC continues to be something that’s very important to us. As such, we’re pleased with the new integration of Mandarin on our official app, allowing us to produce multi-lingual content on the platform for fans around the world.

“The development has seen InCrowd provide us with an official channel to communicate directly to followers in Mandarin, alongside our pre-existing social media platforms. We also currently have a number of coaches delivering football education to youngsters in Beijing, as we continue to spread the Bluebirds’ brand on various fronts.

“This latest development has been fully supported by Tan Sri Vincent Tan, and we wish him and his family a very happy and prosperous Chinese New Year.”

Aidan Cooney, co-founder and CEO of InCrowd commented that “the new multi-lingual ability for Cardiff City FC represents the continuing evolvement of InCrowd’s cutting edge fan engagement platform. We look forward to working with Cardiff City FC to capitalise on this new opportunity.”

The Cardiff City FC app has an average score of 4.7/5 on both the Apple and Google Play app stores with over 100 five star ratings.

More information on the launch of the new Bluebirds app can be found here https://www.cardiffcityfc.co.uk/news/2018/february/cardiff-city-fc-launch-first-multi-lingual-official-rights-holder-app-in-the-uk-with-incrowd/

For further enquiries on how multi-lingual official rights holder apps can help transform your fan engagement platform, please contact enquiries@incrowdsports.com.

InCrowd Cast powers LED displays at ISE2018

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InCrowd Cast have partnered with leading, global LED products and solutions provider Unilumin, providing the software to power and plan content for their extensive LED display at the Integrated Systems Europe 2018 Event in Amsterdam. Examples of advanced programmed and dynamic display include perimeter boards, centre “jumbo-tron”, ribbons and big screens.

InCrowd Cast puts user excitement back into multi-tier LED display planning. Our unique software solution allows faster, easier playlist creation for sponsor and brand content, giving you the valuable time needed to deliver unique and unforgettable stadium experiences. Spend more time enjoying our integrated live interactive content features and plugins to create an event that every fan will be sharing and talking about.

  • Create the ultimate fan experience with real time interactions including betting odds, final scores, live match statistics, live social media updates and interactive gamification content.
  • Meet the requirements of big brands looking for innovative promotional ideas by offering unique sponsorship opportunities through live activations, creating new customer connections and revenue streams.
  • Keep internal resource requirements to a minimum by implementing this multi-functional, user friendly software solution. Once installed, our software easily adapts to the individual parameters of the new stadium and can be reliably controlled by a single operator.

Join this group of leading organisations that have already improved the in-stadia experience for themselves, for sponsors and for fans…

         

For more information as to how InCrowd Cast can revolutionise your in-stadia digital output, visit www.incrowdsports.com/cast. If you have all the information you need, why not contact Ollie Clements to discuss your options?

+44 (0)20 3137 9873 | ollie.clements@incrowdsports.com

Ben, Ollie and Jamey from the InCrowd Cast team are on site all week; if you’re at ISE2018 come and say hello and see Cast for yourself! The team would be happy to give you more information and discuss your requirements in detail.

Why sport?

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26th November 2017.

The weekend in question was a cracker – England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland all involved in Autumn Rugby Internationals, Southampton were at home to a struggling Everton side (I’m a long suffering Saints fan), and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was the icing on the cake. 

Everything was set up for the ultimate weekend of sporting action – with Sky Sports, BT Sport and the BBC all providing the action right to my sofa. So, when my other half quizzed me on why I needed to watch all this sport – I was surprisingly perplexed as to what my answer should be. ‘Because I have to’, ‘Because I want to’, ‘Because I need to’ were the answers at the tip of my tongue, answers akin to that of an addict.

So – it got me thinking, what is it about sport, that for so many like me, is so addictive? What brings people from all walks of life together as a single unit, a community?

UNPREDICTABILITY

At a bare minimum, sport is great content that draws in mass audiences to broadcasters ever expanding platforms. The sale of Premier League Chinese TV rights for £564m is an example of this, where the Chinese audience, without arguably any real geographic or historical allegiance to English Premier League clubs, flock to TV screens to watch the fast paced and unpredictable action of the Premier League.

In an ever-growing competitive media landscape, broadcasters, publishers, social media platforms and advertisers are all vying for content that draws in audiences to generate revenue. Sport remains the most stable source of exciting and unpredictable content around. Shows like the X-Factor are beginning to show their shelf life, with this years final drawing in a measly 4.4m viewers, the lowest since the show began in 2004. During the 2016 Olympic games in Rio, the BBC achieved a record television audience for an overseas Olympics with 45.24m people tuning in…the modern Olympics have been running since Athens 1896 – so no sign of a shelf life there.

Audiences gather to watch sporting events in the hope that they will see something unique, something memorable, something absorbing. The Olympics, Wimbledon, The Ryder Cup, The FA Cup and many more sporting events all provide this. The weekend of sporting action that I mentioned earlier had a scheduling clash –  England were playing Samoa, whilst Scotland were up against Australia at Murrayfield. Naturally, being English, my first port of call was England vs Samoa, where after just 9 minutes, England led 12-0. The result was inevitable. Boring. Dull. Predictable. I switched over to the BBC. Doddie Wear was walking onto the pitch with his 3 sons. Murrayfield rose to a former hero. The emotion was high, and the plot mesmerising. Stuart Hogg injured in the warm up, an Australian red card, a seesaw encounter with 12 tries, and ultimately a famous, record breaking victory for Scotland against Australia.

For just over 2 hours I was gripped by the emotion, the excitement, and yes the unpredictability of the action at Murrayfield. The predictability of the England v Samoa game made it dull so despite my English roots, I had little interest in the game. It’s for this same reason that we are seeing ever dwindling cricket test match attendances; statistically away teams have a mere 20% chance of actually winning a test. Graeme Swann sums this up perfectly:

‘Attendances in Test cricket are going down because you know who is going to win before you turn up…I’m a Newcastle fan and I turn up genuinely thinking they have a chance of winning every single game in the Premier League’.

Of course, not every sporting fixture will have a 50/50 probability. There will always be favourites and underdogs. But sport is at its finest when the outcome is unknown and it is this unpredictability that keep audiences, broadcasters, advertisers and sports addicts like myself coming back for more.

RIVALRY

At its best, sport brings together nations, cities and people together. But in the same breath, sport can also be at its best when it divides nations, cities and people.

As I write this, I am travelling back from Australia, a sporting mad nation basking in the glory of an Ashes Test series win. As a ‘Pom’ in Australia during the Ashes, you are acutely aware of how united the country is in its desire to beat the English. Not only do the sly jabs, jokes and general ‘Pommybashing’ come from the average Australian in the bar it comes from every corner of Australian life.

The Rightsholder – Cricket Australia’s marketing messages carried the unsubtle, yet clear hashtag #BeatEngland

The Press – Where to begin…Sydney’s Daily Telegraph, no stranger to hyperbole, was the most enthusiastic declaring: “Rivalry dead: Brilliant Aussies humiliate pathetic Poms”

The Brands – Hardy’s Wine advertised: ‘Why can’t the Poms open a bottle of wine? Because they don’t have any openers’

It was Hardy’s that really grabbed my attention. At both Sydney and Melbourne Airports the advertisement was plastered all over the place on the drive into the terminals and within the terminals themselves. In bars in both cities the message was draped on the tables, bars and ceilings. And at the MCG and SCG the message was splashed across the big screen. I wonder whether at some point during the series poor Mark Stoneman, with his series average of 25.77, looked up at the stadium big screen, or at the airport advertising (he can’t have missed it!) and not only felt the pressure of facing Starc, Hazlewood, Cummins and Lyon but also the weight of this sporting rivalry. Hardy’s, as a sponsor of Cricket Australia, tapped into the nations narrative and rivalry, with the right message, to the right people at exactly the right time – and I expect have reaped the rewards. Programmatic, SEO and social media advertising is lauded for being able to deliver exactly the right message, to the right person, at the right time – but Hardy’s have proven that clever sponsorship initiatives can be just as effective.

In 2019, the Ashes will take place in England, and the sporting rivalry will continue…with fans, broadcasters and brands no doubt throwing shade right back at the Australians through all channels of communication. In an interesting twist, with Hardy’s also sponsoring English Cricket, it makes you wonder what their  2019 messaging will be…

Let’s just hope we have some openers!

To find out how your company can tap into the unpredictability, rivalry and addictive nature of sport and the passion and loyalty of sport fans, contact us now!

Email enquiries@incrowdsports.com