With the countdown to Leinster’s semi-final showdown with Toulouse in the Heineken Champions Cup on April 29th well underway, Heineken has rolled out a new 360-degree campaign called “Love Rivalry” to support its sponsorship of one of the biggest rugby tournaments in the world.
The new campaign involved a collaboration between Thinkhouse, Publicis Dublin, Red Star and Allied Global Marketing and involved the use of audio OOH billboards that were used to highlight the passionate rivalry between the different teams playing in the tournament.
To gain some insight into how much friendly rivalry exists, Thinkhouse teamed up with research partner Bounce Insight to conduct new research that shows 85% of Irish people confess to ‘loving a good rivalry’. Other findings from the research show that 90% of Irish people believe the Ireland to be a competitive nation while 70% support some type of sports team.
As part of the new campaign, Publicis Dublin developed interactive audio billboards that give fans the power to push their opponents buttons on game day. In the lead up to the recent big game between Leinster and Ulster, fans were invited to send their most annoying voice messages to their rivals on Love-Rivalry.com. The messages were then collated and blasted through ‘Love Rivalry’ audio billboards on game day in their rival team’s city across Ireland and further afield in Durban, South Africa. Billboards were positioned in Dublin, Belfast, Limerick and Durban, South Africa. VIP tickets to the Heineken® Champions Cup Final in May were up for grabs for the best entries.
To amplify the campaign, Thinkhouse and Heineken also enlisted the help of fitness influencer Paul Olima (Leinster) and comedian Shane Todd (Ulster), with celebrity influencer and podcaster Vogue Williams (Leinster) as brand ambassadors to whip up some healthy inter-province rivalry.
According to Ronan McCormack, marketing manager, Heineken Ireland: “Love Rivalry’ is about enjoying some friendly rivalry on match day. With the final in Dublin coming up on the 20th May, we want everyone in Ireland to feel included in the excitement surrounding the Heineken Champions Cup this year. Seeing the billboards come to life for the Ulster V Leinster clash, and the fans’ reactions to the voice notes, really captured the essence of the campaign. We’ve more exciting things to come as we look towards the big final in May”
For more information see: https://love-rivalry.com/
Credits
Client: Heineken Ireland
Marketing Director: Wojciech Bogusz
Marketing Manager: Ronan McCormack
Senior Brand Manager: Rachael Crawley
Creative Agency: Publicis Dublin
PR & Advocacy: THINKHOUSE
Media: Red Star
Activation: Allied Global Marketing
