With just a month to go before the start of the much anticipated Commonwealth Bank Women’s Ashes Series, hosts Cricket Australia has rolled out an ad campaign and ticket sales initiative based around the famous burial service ‘Ashes To Ashes, Dust To Dust’ phrase and its familiar ‘Thompson/Lillee’ Australian cricket reworking.
The launch TV commercial features a young Australian reciting revised verse inspired by the funeral service reworking of the biblical text from Genesis 3:19 and originally adapted for Australian cricket fans through the lines “Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust, if Lillee don’t get you, Thommo must”.
The new campaign, spearheaded by a TV commercial, references and features current members of the Australian Women’s Cricket team.
The television spot is amplified across Cricket Australia’s digital and social channels such as YouTube and Twitter.
With just ONE month to go until the #Ashes, here's a look at our brand new TVC!
Make sure you are there: https://t.co/KoRIiNIlSp pic.twitter.com/Se87xrfLeR— Australia Women (@SouthernStars) September 22, 2017
This revised verse is a call-to-arms’ for support and references several stars of the Australian national team including all-rounder Ellyse Perry, spin bowler Jess Jonassen, speedster Megan Schutt, vice-captain Alex Blackwell, keeper Alyssa Healy, and captain Rachael Haynes.
The spearhead spot is supported by OOH, print, direct mail, and digital executions.
The initiative aims to drive awareness of the series against arch enemy England and generate support for the number one ranked Australian Women’s Cricket team amongst the Australian public’s hearts and minds.
And to sell match tickets as the executions close with the call-to-action copyline “Make sure you are there! DETAILS: http://cricket.com.au/tickets”.
According to Cricket Australia’s general manager for events and leagues, Anthony Everard, thepromotion is designed to inspire Australians to support the team and enjoy the world-class cricket.
“Our Australian Women’s Cricket team are the best in the world, featuring some of the most talented players to have ever played the game, and we are proud of this campaign that seeks to celebrate the team and encourage Australia to get behind our players ahead of the Commonwealth Bank Women’s Ashes Series,” added Everard.
“The chant which has inspired our campaign immediately evokes memories of incredible past Ashes series, and the fierce rivalry between Australia and England ensures an Ashes series is always hard fought and highly entertaining,” explained Everard.
“The upcoming Commonwealth Bank Women’s Ashes Series gives the Australian public a chance to see the skill, athleticism, and passion of the team for themselves and we hope as many people as possible will take up this opportunity. We’ve seen how the public are getting behind women’s sport in Australia, most recently with the amazing crowds who turned out to support the Matildas, which is fantastic for not just women’s sport but the Australian sporting landscape in general. We want to keep growing that support by connecting more fans to our Australian Women’s Cricket team through this new campaign.”
The campaign was developed in harness with creative agency Zoo Group Melbourne from a strategy developed by The Lab.
The production was handled byThe Directors Group.
“It’s been a real joy to be involved in creating this campaign,” commented Zoo group Melbourne’s Alex Wadelton.
“The Australian Women’s Cricket team comprises some of Australia’s greatest athletes, and we hope this campaign encourages the Aussie public to attend in droves. Because there’s nothing better than beating England.”
Australia will be looking to retain the Ashes when the Women’s Ashes series starts in Brisbane on 22 October.
The Commonwealth Bank Women’s Ashes is a multi-format, points-based series starting with three one-day internationals, followed by an historic first ever Ashes day-night Test, and closing with three T20 games (the last of which is on 21 November).
Comment:
This campaign follows five months on from its male equivalent, as it was back in April that Cricket Australia launched its ticket sales campaign for the men’s Ashes series with ‘Our Greatest Test’ campaign (see case study),
It also follows hot-on-the-heels of a joint Cricket Australia and ECB campaign for the new Ashes game.
Links:
Cricket Australia
https://www.youtube.com/user/cricketaustraliatv
https://www.facebook.com/cricketcomau
https://www.instagram.com/cricketcomau/
https://twitter.com/CricketAus
Zoo Group
http://www.zoogroup.com
