21 May saw World Rugby launch a campaign to grow women’s rugby globally called ‘Try And Stop Us’ which aims to further increase participation, engagement and exposure among fans, players, clubs and all parties involved in the sport.
The multi-platform initiative revolves around the concept that when someone chooses to start playing rugby, it is not just the game and their team-mates that change their life but also the values of the sport and it aims to communicate to every women in the world that taking up the sport has the power to make them “Unstoppable”.
The global campaign was developed with the support of national unions and regions and its strapline is “Try and Stop Us. Start Rugby. Become Unstoppable.”
The supporting campaign themes include the idea that the passion and discipline rugby teaches on the field strengthens people off it and that the lines a player breaks through on the pitch help overcome obstacles in life.
The brand identity has been launched alongside an accompanying ‘Try and Stop Us’ campaign, which features 15 women and girls from around the world who have overcome barriers to participation in order to get involved in rugby union at various different levels.
One core strand of the campaign saw World Rugby identify 15 female players who it claims are truly ‘Unstoppable’ and their inspiring stories span rugby at all levels and ages from around the world.
They have challenged barriers to participation and demonstrated how rugby has empowered them to get where they are today, both on and off the pitch.
They also featured at the launch event and in the campaign creative.
and supported by iconic players
A great initiative from @WorldRugby #TryAndStopUs #WomenInRugby pic.twitter.com/17gUrkXnpc
— Tim Horan (@TimHoran12) May 21, 2019
and teams from around the world
#TryAndStopUS#WomenInRugby#BlackFerns#BlackFerns7s pic.twitter.com/UQ9aKHGPtQ
— Black Ferns (@BlackFerns) May 21, 2019
(as well as high profile stars beyond rugby including 39 times Grand Slam tennis champion Billie Jean King, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach and Dame Heather Rabbatts DBE, the first female independent director of The Football Association).
The women all appeared at the launch event and each recorded personal social messages based around the message ‘First Rule: Try, Second Rule: Try Again’.
while the global promotional campaign for the fresh brand was spearheaded by a hero film called ‘Become Unstoppable’.
The campaign was supported by additional video, image and message based content.
The content also drives people to find out more information on the #TryAndStopUs campaign at the new www.women.rugby website.
“By launching this unique brand identity and proposition today we are demonstrating our unwavering commitment to growing participation and exposure for women’s rugby around the globe, a core strand of the women in rugby action plan,” said World Rugby chief executive Brett Gosper.
“It sits very well with rugby’s values and our overall vision of it being a sport for all, and the mission of growing the global rugby family,” added Gosper who feels the development of women’s rugby is the single greatest opportunity for the sport to grow over the next decade.
“So, in that sense, we are very committed to gender balance and I think it’s different in other major sports that women is a huge current growth area but also a potential area for further growth as well – certainly in terms of participation but also in terms of our fan base.”
Katie Sadleir, World Rugby’s general manager of women’s rugby, added that through the dedicated work of the Women’s Advisory Committee and across all aspects of the organisation, World Rugby is making swift progress towards the objective of gender balance and equal opportunities throughout the sport, both on and off the field of play.
“‘Try and Stop Us. Start Rugby. Become Unstoppable’ is the call to action and to kick start that people are having engaged conversations about women in rugby,” Katie Sadleir, World Rugby’s general manager for women’s rugby, said.
“We’ve chosen our first 15 global ‘Unstoppables’ representing very much a global look and feel in terms of cultures that are represented, ages – the youngest is 12, the oldest is plus-60. They are women in rugby – we’ve got coaches, match officials, players, administrators all with a different story about why they are ‘Unstoppable’. So it’s quite a powerful group of women and girls who we’ve chosen also to represent various markets where we are working closely with the unions to actually help with their growth plans.”
Comment:
This campaign builds off World Rugby’s current global marketing position which is the sport of character.
It is about women in rugby, but not just women playing rugby but also about leadership on and off the field, about ensuring that World Rugby competitions are very competitive and ensuring its commercial programmes work well.
It was developed based on research and insights developed under the guidance of the Women’s Advisory Committee and a comprehensive consultation process with players, fans, unions, regional associations, commercial and broadcast partners with a view to establishing a clear plan for women’s rugby between 2017 and 2025.
With more than 2.7 million players in women’s rugby, the player base makes up a quarter of all players worldwide and it continues to grow at fast pace with a 28% increase in women playing the sport since 2017.
World Rugby measures its fan base annually through global research on those who are ‘very interested’ in rugby and ‘interested’ in rugby which currently sits around 330 million globally.
And recent research shows that’s about 40 per cent women in that group.
The day after the launch the World Rugby Council convened with 17 female members in position for the first time: the largest-ever representation of women on Council which followed the transformational governance reform that was introduced in 2017 as a result of World Rugby’s ambitious strategic global action plan.
The initiative sees World Rugby become the latest global governing body to expand its commitment to women’s sport.
Back in October 2018, FIFA unveiled its inaugural global strategy for women’s football with the intention of doubling worldwide participation to 60 million by 2026.
The fresh approach follows on from World Rugby’s March 2017 renewed commitment to its #BeBoldForChange initiative: which aims to further the profile, development, sustainability and success of the game for females.
Links:
World Rugby
https://www.youtube.com/user/irb
https://www.instagram.com/worldrugby/
https://twitter.com/WorldRugby
https://www.facebook.com/rugbyworldcup
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