September is just beginning and for the rugby fanatics among us that means that the long awaited Rugby World Cup is almost here. At last.
A month ago I was bursting with excitement in anticipation of this competition but after spending August watching Ireland splutter and fumble their way through four frustrating warm up losses my excitement has been slightly dampened.
But I’m not here to vent and rage about dropped passes and knock-ons. And anyway, no-one cares what a guy who gave up playing rugby when he was 13 because training clashed with Eastenders (No, I’m not proud) has to say.
But I am here to talk about ads and with a global audience of over 4 billion people advertisers are wetting themselves with excitement, not at the thought of watching six weeks of scintillating rugby, but at the opportunity to capitalise on people’s passion for the sport and its premier showpiece.
So over the past few weeks we’ve seen more and more rugger related ads grace our screens. And if you couldn’t give two hoots about 30 men putting their heads between each other’s legs and chasing an egg shaped ball around a field for 80 minutes then unfortunately September is only going to get worse for you.
So what kind of ads are people putting out there?
Well, the New Zealand company Telecom, who sponsor the All Blacks, put their heads together and came up with a foolproof plan to encourage people to get behind the competition and their team – they asked people to abstain from sex to show their support.
No really, I’m serious.
It won’t come as much of a surprise to discover that the campaign was cancelled before it even launched. What, you mean New Zealanders found the idea of abstaining from sex to support their national rugby team to be stupid and embarrassing? What’s wrong with these people?
Across the water O2 and our auld enemy England have come up with a nice little idea to encourage people to get over the early kick-off times and get behind their team – free breakfasts.
Now I actually quite like this ad and the free breakfasts idea. Sure it’s nothing special and it won’t have awards juries picking their jaws up out of their Cornflakes or grinning from ear to ear, but it’s a nice idea and it’s well done, even seeing the big happy heads on Martin Johnson and Chris Ashton doesn’t make my blood boil too much.
My only qualm would be the line ‘Get up for England.’ Maybe I’m being childish and juvenile but it just feels like there’s more than one way to interpret it, and one of those interpretations is the complete opposite to what the folks down in New Zealand were being asked to do.
Or do I just need to grow up?
Over here O2 have enlisted the help of a few of the players for their RWC campaign too and have offered fans the chance to play them next.
I’m not really sure when or where you get to play them but if you do then it’s quite a nice idea to get people involved. People always like seeing their sporting heroes in contexts other than on the pitch and of course plenty of people would sell their granny’s false teeth for a chance of a kickabout with Messrs O’Driscoll, O’Connell and Sexton.
Possibly the best ones I’ve come across are from Sky TV in New Zealand. Unlike Telecom they’ve managed to have a bit of a larf without making complete tools of themselves in the process.
No need to reinvent the wheel when you’re trying to be funny. Just take a bit of a sideways look at things and you’ll usually be onto something. There’s another one of these here.
We could go on and on here folks. Everyone wants to join the party. Mastercard have done a series of short videos celebrating rugby traditions in Samoa, New Zealand and South Africa. Quite nice they are too if you’re a rugby fan. Probably just more noise if you’re not.
Toshiba have covered your walls in crayon and colouring pencil but don’t worry, they’ve much better drawing skills than your little 4 year old terror. Powerade and Heineken have gone down the passion route. Fine, if that’s what you’re into.
And of course it wouldn’t be a global tournament without Coca Cola getting in on the act.
I’m sure there are tonnes of other RWC ads out there so feel free to share any others you find.
In the meantime I’ve got to go catch up on recordings of Eastend…eh…Britain’s Toughest Gangs. Yeah, I only watch the manly stuff me. Innit!
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