During the opening weekend of the 2019 Rugby World Cup, New Zealand Rugby beer partner Steinlager opened a laundromat, The Black Laundry, as the focal point of its ‘Colour Yourself Loyal’ campaign which seeks to inspire Kiwis to back their team by showing their true colours by dying their clothes black.
Launched in tandem with agency DDB New Zealand, the Black Laundry opened on 21 and 22 September in the centre of Auckland as the centrepiece of its All Blacks rugby fan loyalty initiative.
The campaign objective was to promote cross country camaraderie and to inspire fans to do something fresh and new to show their All Blacks loyalty.
The campaign, which will run through to the start of November, sees the laundry open before every All Blacks match during the tournament and fans (over the age of 18) can bring any garment to the Steinlager Black Laundry (at 450 Karangahape Road) to be ‘dyed black and dried’.
To book in a pre-game clothes colour sacrifice, fans simply need to book a slot on the campaign website at blacklaundry.co.nz.
Plus, to include All Blacks fans outside Auckland and across the whole country in the initiative, the campaign also includes an online competition running across social media – The Steinlager Black Mail competition. Starting on 30 September, the competition will see one winner picked each day over the duration of the campaign to have their garment sacrificed.
The laundry first opened to the public from 21 September between 6:30pm and 11:30pm after an earlier media launch which included 25 media and influencer guests.
The campaign was promoted through 45-second
and 15-second television spots,
plus the online booking platform for the Black Laundry, supporting social media content, a false front cover print ad in the New Zealand Herald, as well as radio promotions and an exclusive with The Project with a competition to giveaway a $10,000 cash prize.
“Steinlager has been proud to support the All Blacks for many years. To demonstrate that support and make it feel fresh in 2019, we knew we needed to do something special,” said DDB New Zealand’s executive creative director Gary Steele.
“What we’ve created is a campaign that celebrates the way the All Blacks help Kiwis put aside their differences and come together in support of something bigger than themselves.”
“From our teaser film to the incredible immersive experience of the Black Laundry to our in-store activation, this is a campaign has so many moving parts which all have that singularly compelling unifying thread,” added Lion’s national marketing director Rachel Ellerm.
“I’m hugely excited to see Kiwis engage with this campaign and encourage fans of the ABs to get out there and Colour Yourself Loyal.”
The campaign was created for the beer’s parent company Lion’s Commercial Director Craig Baldie, National Marketing Director Rachel Ellerm, Brand Director (Domestic Beer & Craft) Dave Pearce, Senior Brand Manager (Steinlager) Geoffrey Kidd and Brand Manager (Steinlager) Kate Abercrombie by creative agency DDB Group New Zealand.
The agency team included Regional Chief Creative Officer (NZ/AU) Damon Stapleton, Executive Creative Directors Gary Steele and Shane Bradnick, Creative Director Rory McKechnie, Art Directors Zac Lancaster and Gareth Rice, Copywriters Geordie Wilson and Kiran Strickland, Business Partner Jennifer Travers, Senior Business Manager Michael Doolan, Business Coordinator Maddie Page, Chief Strategy Officer Rupert Price, Executive Planning Director Lucinda Sherborne, Executive Producer Judy Thompson and Senior TV Producer Samantha Royal.
The production company was Goodoil Films with Executive Producer Mark Foster, Business Director George Mackenzie, Director Michelle Savill, Production Designer Chris Elliott, DOP Andrew Stroud, Offline Editor Dan Kircher and Colourist Dave Gibson.
Online was handled by Blockhead VFX, the composer was Mahuia Bridgman-Cooper (Franklin Rd), the sound mix was by Shane Taipari (Franklin Rd) and media was planned by Zenith Media with PR run through Mango Communications.
Comment:
It’s too early for comprehensive campaign metrics, but amongst the fans answering the colour challenge was Elle Crowhurst who died her wedding dress black – a sacrifice that made headlines in New Zealand and across the region.
Steinlager has a strong heritage for innovative activations of its All Blacks partnership and this initiative adds to that track record.
Other notable NZR work around previous World Cups from the beer brand include 2015’s ‘Steinlatte Coffee’ (see case study) and its other campaign in 2015 called ‘Originals’ (see case study).
Links:
Steinlager
https://twitter.com/Steinlager
https://www.youtube.com/user/SteinlagerNZ
https://www.facebook.com/Steinlager
DDB Group New Zealand
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