Partner of Rugby World Cup 2019, DHL wanted to win the hearts and minds of global rugby fans.
DHL research revealed people have little or no emotional connection to logistics brands. Inspired by the brand platform ‘Moments that Deliver’, the ambition was to ‘own’ emotional moments both on and off the field to
humanise logistics.
‘EPIC MOMENTS’ became DHL’s umbrella campaign and mantra.
Epic has no direct Japanese translation, so we transliterated it into Japanese as “Epiku”. This unfamiliar but memorable word appeared in Japanese characters across all activations increasing brand recognition.
We delivered at an epic scale:
– Moved 67,000kg of team equipment
– Delivered 400,000+ tickets
– Activated at all 48 matches
– Distributed 450,000 clapper banners
– Delivered rugby kit & training sessions to grassroots teams in 42 countries.
Epic was also at the heart of the global integrated communications strategy:
– Our #EpicSquad of DHL employees worked tirelessly behind the scenes
– The #EpicJourney of our two adventurers cycling 20,093km through 27 countries to deliver the whistle to Tokyo Stadium to raise funds for charity
– The #EpicExperience for 48 children from 24 countries travelling to Japan to deliver the official match ball.
By leveraging its powerful international network, DHL grew engagement in rugby from grassroots to elite level and the results were epic:
– The campaign activated in 50+ countries
– Reached 782m rugby fans
– 6m video views
– An engagement rate of 9% and overwhelmingly positive sentiment
Best of all? DHL proved logistics brands CAN emotionally win over fans.
