Sponsorship Activation

DHL’s business objective was to activate their sponsorship of the National Irish Rugby Team and also the 2019 Rugby World Cup. In summary they required a highly engaging content idea that would maximize the value from their “money can’t buy” access to the World Cup, and key Irish Rugby stars.

The idea would need to use the sponsorship assets available to DHL and incorporate messaging that dove- tails with the brand proposition.

The insight was based on loyalty and ensuring the Irish team delivered a performance within the tournament. The question was, who are the most loyal when it comes to a tournament of this magnitude, and of course the answer is the fans. DHL’s access allowed for an individual to bring the official match ball onto the  the pitch in Japan to initiate the opening gams between Ireland V Scotland. This presented a once in a lifetime opportunity and as a result required a fan to go above and beyond to receive this incredible prize.

The strategy therefore was to give fans a platform to show how much they wanted their team to succeed. A competition mechanic was implemented to encourage young Irish fans aged between 8-14 to video themselves with a “pep” talk for the team. The call was put out to the Irish public via social media.

From a fantastic selection of entries, there could only be one winner. A young girl from Northern Ireland created her version of a rap encouraging her team to win.

The content activation was based on capturing the story from when the winner was informed of their success, her journey to Japan, delivering the match ball, and meeting the Irish players. The content incorporating multiple scenes from multiple camera in various location in Ireland and oversee.

The content was then produced into short form edit distributed on social media locally and to DHL internationally.