Early September saw Cricket Australia launch a new ‘healing’ marketing initiative, called “It’s Your Game”, to reconnect the national team and its fans following last year’s scandal, to celebrate the passion Australians have for cricket and to promote the start of the new 2018/19 season.
The campaign, developed in harness with creative agency M&C Saatchi Melbourne, aims to ram home the idea that cricket plays a central role in the nation’s psyche, that the sport is part of the make-up of the Australia identity and to showcase cricket’s power to unite and inspire.
Sitting at the heart of the “It’s Your Game” are a set of spots that all aim to reinforce the authentic link between everyday Australians and the Australian men’s cricket team players.
These spots follow on from a ‘call out’ to the country’s most passionate fans which asked them to share their own perspectives on the part that cricket plays in their lives.
Following this research, audition stage, supporters from across Australia were chosen to star in the campaign.
National team players then surprised these fans in their communities and spent some time listening and learning about their connection to the sport and their cricket passion.
Some fans even had the opportunity to unbox and slip on an iconic Baggy Green cricket cap as part of their experience.
These fan/player interactions formed the core of the campaign in a set of 20 video stories.
The set of five films were released on 4 September, before a brand focused television commercial will begin airing nationally from 17 September.
Each spot pairs a player with an ‘everyday Australian’.
Supporting the sizeable video series, the campaign also spans additional content running across digital, social, OOH, cinema and print and also includes retail focused creative linked to retail TV ads.
“This is a brilliant campaign, and to go back to my old school and spend some time talking to the students about their love of cricket, was a great experience,” commented Australian men’s team captain Tim Paine.
“Listening to the students was a powerful reminder of the responsibility we have to make Australians feel proud of their cricket team.”
Anthony Everard, Cricket Australia’s general manager responsible for events and leagues, added “Cricket is a point of great passion for so many people in Australia, with fans around the country feeling a sense of ownership for the sport and the Australian men’s team. This campaign is all about celebrating the fact that cricket is made great not merely by on-field performances but by the power it has to unite and inspire us as a nation. We are excited to be sharing these moments between players and fans with the public leading into and throughout the 2018-19 season, and reminding people the reasons they love cricket and want to be a part of the summer.”
While M&C Saatchi Melbourne executive creative director Emma Robbins said: “We are both proud and really humbled to be part of such human and authentic moments between our cricketers and the Australian public. The reactions, the connections, the conversations were all so genuine. To create a campaign which gives the game back to the fans has been an amazing and trusting act by Cricket Australia. We think people will really enjoy watching the players and fans together, and in turn support our team play this Summer.”
The campaign was created for Cricket Australia marketing manager Marita Forss and Chelsea Doncon by an M&C Saatchi Melbourne team that included managing director Andy Cairns, chief strategy officer Justin Graham, ECD Emma Robbins, senior creative Mathew Hine, copywriters Jaksen Daddo and Rose Donohoe, account director Josh Eaton, account manager Kara Blair, head of integrated production Gene Kingi and agency producers Jessica Norton & Tony Le.
The production company was The Producers, the producers were Victoria Conners and Noelle Jones and the directors were Brad Goosens and Josh Moore.
Post production was handled by Mr Fox, sound design was by Bang Bang Studios with music from Electric Sheep Music.
Comment:
This initiative sees the governing body move from ‘recovery’ to ‘future’ strategic mode and as such its focuses on the human side of the game – not surprising following a tumultuous year for cricket in Australia.
Indeed, Everard says that while there is still a lot of different messaging about the game in the market, with Seven and Fox pushing the concept of ‘a new era in cricket’, Cricket Australia remains focused on reconnecting with the grassroots and driving the narrative around fan engagement.
“We have two new broadcast partners in Fox and Seven, they are running with their own narrative that it’s a new era for cricket in Australia and that’s great, however, we will stick to the purpose that we have identified and that is unifying fans,” he says.
This major campaign is a clear attempt to move on from the Australian Cricket scandals of last season and to re-establish and reinforce the bond between the players and the fans after the ball tampering incident and the subsequent supporter backlash.
Quite how true the central idea that cricket is an inescapable and inseparable part of the Australian identity is will be proved/disproved through the new season.
This multi-platform men’s cricket campaign follows on from August’s ‘Watch Me’ women’s cricket initiative from Cricket Australia (see case study).
Links:
Cricket Australia
https://twitter.com/CricketAus
https://www.instagram.com/cricketcomau/
https://www.facebook.com/cricketcomau
https://www.youtube.com/user/cricketaustraliatv
M&C Saatchi Melbourne
