Leading rugby brand Canterbury recently launched its Spring/Summer 2014 sport casual campaign – ‘Republic of Rugby’. The campaign focuses around the true passion of the iconic rugby lifestyle, creating a feeling of familiarity and sense of belonging with the tag line ‘Live The Game’.
To increase awareness and engagement of the campaign, Canterbury teamed up with brand experience agency Flourish, and built an ultimate ‘Republic of Rugby’ fan experience in Twickenham’s West Fan Village during the RBS 6 Nations.
The Republic of Rugby experience has been designed to emulate a typical rugby clubhouse as a celebration of the game of rugby and to engage fans from all nations, home or away, to be part of the Republic.
Fans entering the Republic of Rugby were able to join in with a host of activities including a legacy wall full of fun facts and memorabilia from the history of rugby and Canterbury, play a game of table rugby or select a rugby anthem from the jukebox. There was even a Republic of Rugby honours board where fans could write the name of their rugby club.
To increase awareness and engagement on social media, Canterbury encouraged fans to share their Republic of Rugby experience using the hash tag #RepublicOfRugby. The instant social sharing generated a huge Republic of Rugby social buzz with User Generated Content seen by thousands of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram users as friends shared their Republic of Rugby photos.
Fans were also given the chance to win £500 of Republic of Rugby stash from the Canterbury sport casual range by declaring what ‘Rugby Is…’ to them on branded whiteboards and posing for the Republic of Rugby photographer. Using interactive touch screen tablets fans were then able to email their photo to themselves automatically entering them in to the prize draw and enabling Canterbury to collect email addresses to share more unique content with Fans who experienced the Republic of Rugby at a later date.
Canterbury brand ambassador Will Greenwood also paid a visit to the Republic of Rugby, posing for photos with fans and signing his team, Preston Grasshoppers, on the honours board.
The Republic of Rugby will also feature during the Marriott London Sevens at Twickenham in May.