The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) launched a nationwide campaign on 21 May called ‘Together Through This Test’ which aims to showcase all the work by the cricket community in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The campaign highlights how cricket staff, volunteers and players from the elite professional game to grassroots and village cricket have taken part in more than 200 initiatives during lockdown to support communities through the pandemic.
The national governing body’s campaign promotes projects as diverse as long-distance charity runs, food delivery programmes and phone call support for those in isolation.
The initiative not only emphasises the positive work by those throughout the game, but also seeks to highlight the resources that the England and Wales governing body itself has made available to the public.
The promotional campaign is spearheaded by a short film narrated by celebrity cricket fan Stephen Fry which seeks to capture the spirit of the cricket community and celebrating the way in which society has come together during the crisis.
The spot starts with empty cricket stadiums and iconic cricket images and then uses recent and archive footage spanning national, country, amateur and kids games through the ages and plenty of cricket clichés, as well as featuring stars of today’s game (and a few logo shots of ECB sponsors), plus NHS thank yous all whilst Fry reads a poem by Jimmy Lee which connects England’s national game with the national spirit.
Fry praises how patient everyone has been during this incredibly difficult time and that while he, like so many cricket fans, longs to hear the sound of leather on willow again he is committed to sticking together and waiting it out and doing whatever we can to support each other.
The spot ends with the line “Thank you. Why the wait is worth it” and the campaign creative is linked through the hashtag #TogetherThroughThisTest and seeks to drive viewers online to find out more about the game’s contributions ecb.co.uk.
The campaign launch included a comment from 108-year-old Eileen Whelan-Ash – the world’s oldest international cricketer having represented England either side of the Second World War. “No cricket was played during the war, but the thought of it kept us going and gave us hope,” she recalls. “I think it’s the same now. Even without a ball being bowled yet this summer, I’m very proud to see the sport I’ve loved all my life playing its part to help people during this terrible crisis, keeping them hopeful of better times ahead.”
“Our sport means different things to different people but if this crisis has shown us one thing, it’s the way the cricket family pulls together when times are tough,” commented ECB Managing Director Of Women’s Cricket Clare Connor. “We are inspired by and grateful to the whole cricket family from the grassroots of the game right up to our elite teams for their incredible team spirit, for not just thinking about their own survival but also about how they can support the wider community. We hope this campaign will shine a light on the amazing work being done, help signpost people to the support they need and provide a feeling of hope and solidarity for cricket fans during this challenging time.”
Outcome:
The campaign notched up more than 1600,000 views within the first 24 hours since it was posted across Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Comment:
The film is an emotional and moving piece of creative and captures the classic mood and positioning of the traditions and history of cricket in England.
It is powerful and poignant stuff, but we can’t quite help but feel that despite the current production challenges and lockdown restrictions it could have come sooner and that it also reflects the kind of nostalgic perspective on cricket that the ECB itself is trying to move on from with its proposed, postponed Hundred.
Amongst other notable cricket governing body campaigns linked to the coronavirus pandemic is the BCCI’s 20 April ‘Team Mask Force’ initiative with the Indian government (see case study).
Links:
ECB
https://twitter.com/ECB_cricket
https://www.facebook.com/englandcricket/
https://www.youtube.com/user/ecbcricket
https://plus.google.com/u/0/107566743513095326842
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