A cricket campaign worth noticing, an awe-inspiring NHL Draft event
A cricket campaign worth noticing, an awe-inspiring NHL Draft event
Today’s lineup:
Amazon's Prime Video creative campaign around the ICC Men's T20 World Cup is worth noticing, and is a sign of the changing nature of sports viewership
The NHL draft event is a great example of how an owned-events strategy can be effectively implemented to capture attention and extend reach well-beyond the live element
Not yet a subscriber? Discover specialised sports marketing insights, tailored for sports industry professionals within Australia and across the globe. If you work in sports for an agency, brand or rights-holder then this is for you.
Westfield was announced as an Official Team Partner of the 2024 Australian Olympic and Paralympic Teams, which will see all 37 Westfield destinations across Australia transform into official Olympics live sites
As part of their partnership with the Gold Coast SUNS and LA Lakers, SIXT launched a competition giving fans a chance to win an all-expenses paid trip to LA to watch the Lakers play at Crypto.com Arena
BMW became the title partner of the Australian PGA Championship, their first golf title partnership in the southern hemisphere
Woolworths announced $1m in grants to Australian grassroots clubs, as part of their partnership with the 2024 Australian Olympic and Paralympic teams
The NBL took over Times Square in NYC, to celebrate Alex Sarr on being drafted at #2 in the NBA draft to the Washington Wizards
Mary Fowler, Emma McKeon, Nina Kennedy, Chloe Covell and Torrie Lewis featured in Vogue Australia's July issue, ahead of the Olympics
The New Zealand Warriors, Penrith Panthers, Cronulla Sharks and Canberra Raiders will kick off the 2025 NRL season in Las Vegas
Allianz launched a DOOH campaign via QMS to congratulate their Australian swimming Ambassador, Cate Campbell on her career & retirement announcement
Ambulance Victoria used a cheeky AFL umpiring-themed analogy featuring GWS Giants star Toby Greene to deliver an important message to the government
Nine’s broadcast of Game 2 of the NRL Men’s State of Origin was the highest rating Game 2 since 2017, with a total TV reach of 5.2m and a total TV national audience of 3.3m
The International Olympic Committee released a new brand platform and slogan: "Sport. And more than sport."
Weeks after winning the NBA Championship, the Boston Celtics are up for sale
Amazon's Prime Video creative campaign around the ICC Men's T20 World Cup is worth noticing, and is a sign of the changing nature of sports viewership
Since becoming the exclusive rights holder of the live Australian broadcast rights for ICC cricket events for the next 4 years, Prime Video have launched a number of memorable moves.
To ensure fans were aware that the recent T20 World Cup cricket tournament was being streamed live and exclusively on Prime:
1. Usman Khawaja ambassador announcement
In the lead up to the tournament, the Australian cricket star was announced as Prime Video's official ambassador for its exclusive live broadcast. As part of this, he's been a key feature in their cricket-related content & brand campaigns.
2. Cricket Fever TVC / ad-campaign
A week after the high-profile ambassador announcement, in partnership with Leo Burnett, Prime Video launched a a new 'cricket fever'-themed TVC. The clip, featuring Usman Khawaja ,captured headlines and ran across TV, BVOD, YouTube, social, OLV & owned channels throughout the tournament.
3. Prime Cricket Café experiential / PR activation
In collaboration with TGI Sport, Rustica in South Yarra was transformed into the 'Prime Cricket Cafe'.
Whilst screens beamed the start of the tournaments super eight matches, Usman Khawaja got behind the coffee machine to serve free coffee's to fans, before fronting the large crew of media.
The fully branded event, star-power talent and topical relevance of the event delivered widespread coverage across Australia and throughout cricket-loving countries within the APAC region, and sent a final reminder to fans to watch T20 Cricket on Prime Video.
Prime Video's push into live sports is part of a broader growing trend in sports consumption where fans (particularly younger ones) are increasingly consuming live sports via streaming
New research via Free TV Australia has found that 69% of Australians now access TV via the internet.
Some of the world's largest companies such as Apple, Amazon, YouTube and more recently, Netflix have entered the live sports market over the years, and there’s signals that Prime video are looking to scale-up their sports footprint in Australia.
With new players entering the market, streaming is becoming increasingly fragmented and saturated, leaving fans confused.
New platforms require new fan behaviours so to ensure fans stay up to speed with how to watch their favourite sports, it would be reasonable to expect to see platforms such as Prime Video doubling down on their marketing efforts in the future.
The NHL draft event is a great example of how an owned-events strategy can be effectively implemented to capture attention and extend reach well-beyond the live element
Increasingly, sports are developing new strategies to stay relevant during their off seasons and using their respective drafts as a key opportunity to make noise.
Last weekend the NHL stepped their draft event up a notch and hosted it at the $2.3b Sphere in Las Vegas, and it made some noise across the US and the globe.
The awe-inspiring event received extensive media coverage, and event footage spread quickly across social media and the internet.
Why?
Because 'awe' is commonly a key factor in why things get widespread reach – and there are so many reasons to be awestruck by this spectacular event.
The sellout crowd of 14,200 were fully immersed...
Creative backgrounds, custom animations, graphics for all 32 NHL teams and key statistical highlights were beamed from the world’s highest resolution LED screen, in-sync with 168,000+ speakers delivering the ultimate audio & visual experience.
The event marked the first time:
A major sports event has been held at the venue since it opened in September
A live telecast took place from inside (content on the interior screens had to be optimised for both the live event experience and TV broadcast)
The presentation (audio & visual) needed to be managed in real-time, using an adaptable run-of-show given the uncertainty around who was going to be picked next
The Exosphere (external screen) is the world’s largest resolution LED screen and when a pick was made, it was displayed to the city on the outside
In less than a year, the Sphere has become an icon of the Las Vegas skyline and the NHL Draft has set the new benchmark for sports presentation.
The UFC is already set to host UFC306 at the Sphere in September. Following that, which sport will be next to host an event at the Sphere?
And will we see more Sphere-inspired venues emerge in the future?
A-Leagues - Manager - Executive Office
Adelaide Crows - Events Manager (14-month contract)
Adidas - Marketing Manager, Loyalty & CRM
Amplify - Sports Talent Manager
ASICS Oceania - Sports Marketing Coordinator
ASICS Oceania - Sports Marketing Executive - Events
Athletics Australia - Events and Competitions Coordinator
Carlton Football Club - Digital and Paid Performance Manager
Decathlon - Social media content creator
Football Australia - Data Rights Coordinator
Gold Coast SUNS - Commercial Sales Manager
Harness Racing Victoria - Marketing & Events Manager
Hawthorn Football Club - Marketing Executive
James Hardie - Brand Activation Manager
M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment - Integrated Designer
Melbourne & Olympic Parks - People Experience Manager
Melbourne United - School Programs Business Executive
Melbourne Victory - Digital Marketing Coordinator
Minor Hotels - Director of Entertainment and Sports
MKTG Sports + Entertainment Australia - Public Relations Manager
MKTG Sports + Entertainment Australia - Event Manager
National Basketball League - Digital Marketing Executive
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National Football League - Events and Community Manager - Fixed Term
National Rugby League - Strategy Manager
Netball Australia - Commercial Sales Manager
Netball Australia - Senior Partnerships Lead
News Corp Australia - Head of Digital and Audience Sport
Nielsen - Product Specialist, Sports
Nike - Lead, Partner/Omnichannel Marketing Professional Pacific
Nike - Lead, Brand Planning & Operations Professional Pacific
Nine - Sport Sales Executive
North Queensland Cowboys - Marketing and Communications Executive
OMD Australia - Sports Partnership Manager
Racing Victoria - Communications Advisor
Red Bull - Creator Marketing Specialist
Rip Curl - Retail General Manager
Sole Motive - Operations & Events Manager
Southern Cross Austereo - Sales Coordinator - Sports & Partnerships
Sportsbet - Business Analyst
Sports Entertainment Network - Digital Strategy & Campaign Manager
Sports Entertainment Network - Partnership Coordinator
Sports Entertainment Network - Strategy and Solutions Coordinator
Stan. - Sports Programmer - Olympics
Stan. - Sports Scheduler - Olympics
St Kilda FC - Social Media Content Creator
Supercars - Senior Brand and Campaign Manager
Tennis Australia - Business Development Lead (New Business)
Tennis Australia - Tournament Spaces Creative Lead
Tennis Australia - Experience Design Lead
TGI Sport - Event Manager - Brand Activations Account Director
TGI Sport - Event Manager - Major Events Account Manager
TGI Sport - Implementation Executive
Ultimate Fighting Championship - International Business Development Coordinator
VicReturn - Sport and Sponsorships Lead
Victorian Institute of Sport - Chief Executive Officer
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