O2’s 2015 rugby campaign generated 5 million acts of support.
Anticipation was at an all-time high, and it was a home tournament. And yet, 2019 surpassed 2015 with significantly less budget. Our integrated campaign created unmissable moments for customers and brought the nation together in support of the England Rugby Team as they faced a huge challenge…
They were hardly favourites for a tough World Cup, only 22k fans were projected to go to Japan and support them and games times were early in the morning. All these factors potentially limited the audience at home.
O2 took on the challenge to rally the nation to use the power of support and help the team succeed.
The insight came from the top: “We’re driven by the rugby community, not just national pride” – Eddie Jones. Our campaign was rooted in England Rugby values, and influenced by Japanese Bushido culture: ‘Be their Armour, Wear the Rose’ was born.
Our ‘Be Their Armour’ TV ad showed fans becoming the armour of the team and the players being inspired by their support to perform at the highest level.
We garnered 8.8 million proactive acts of support, delivered a 2ppt rise in brand consideration (1), contributed to the lowest customer churn for any telco (1%(1)) and increased overall purchase intent (5%) during the campaign. The advert had over 21 million views and gained Pick of the Week in Campaign.
O2’s Wear the Rose is now vernacular with supporting England Rugby, with association between O2 and #WearTheRose at an all-time high. O2 is the no.1 brand associated with rugby union sponsorship for the 4th year running (2).
1 O2 Data and Insight Analytics(DI&A) Nov19
2 O2 Kantar consumer brand tracker Sep-Nov19
