Host Training Base Announcement - 500 days to go until The Rugby League World Cup 2021 - Hatch

The
Brief

As part of the road to RLWC2021 the tournament marked 500 days to go by announcing the team bases and new identity. Hatch were tasked with devising a creative approach to announcing each team’s host town or city to engage local people and fans of each nations.

There were two key audiences we needed to reach, Core Rugby League fans who are established lovers of the game, and Big Eventers who love to attend the big sports events in the vicinity of our host towns and cities.

The
Solution

/ PR

/ SOCIAL MEDIA

PR

Created a full detailed national and regional media plan.
Drafted and outreached a series of national and regional releases for each host town and city and rebrand.
Set up over 30 different interviews in print and broadcast media with ambassadors Luke Gale, Jodie Cunningham, James Simpson and Chief Executive Jon Dutton.

Social Media

Building on the content series created for the RLWC2021 Draw in January 2020, we developed the series further to take into account the national lockdowns that the country had experienced in the preceding months to ensure it was relevant and poked fun at a difficult time for the nation.
Using Miss E, RLWC2021’s very own teacher, we created a series of videos with Rugby League stars, local celebrities and fans of the game to announce each team’s host in a virtual classroom.
To ensure we reached as wide an audience as possible whilst still connecting with the Core fans and Big Eventers, some of the videos were initially posted on third party channels such as Jesse Lingard’s social feeds, local councils and Rugby League clubs.
The content was seeded across the day to keep fans engaged and give each host town their own slot to announce their big news.

Meaningful Measurement

To mark 500 days to go until The Rugby League World Cup 2021 draws, we achieved significant global reach in broadcast, online and print media, as well as incredibly high volumes of coverage in key regional and national media titles across the UK.

Mentions of the landmark occasion featured in over 340 different media sources across the UK, and other nations such as Australia, New Zealand and Canada, plus many more. The influential campaign had an estimated audience reach of well over 550 million across the globe.

This activation also helped RLWC2021 revamp and grow their social media channels, receiving over 2 million impressions across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram during the campaign. The tournament’s newly released message ‘#PowerOfTogether’ also trended with #RLWC2021 at number six, worldwide on Twitter.

This campaign kick started the beginning of the road to the RLWC2021, helping the tournament send their message of inclusivity to over 550 million people around the world.