It’s that time of year again when the country’s two biggest football codes go head-to-marketing-head, promoting their new season of on-field action. Yes, it’s NRL vs AFL in an advertising battle played out on screens large and small across the nation.
At stake is bragging rights and the title of Australia’s dominant football code, as judged by an array of stats-driven metrics including live crowds, broadcast viewers, sponsorship dollars, media coverage, club membership numbers and fan passion indices.
While all those numbers will play out via blockbuster clashes in the coming months, the battle can also be judged on a purely subjective creative basis, which is what I’m going to do now.
As coincidence would have it (or due to the modern market-research driven world we live in), both codes have opted for a ‘fan first strategy’ in their advertising campaigns. The NRL got the first punch in by launching in late Feb, but so they should: their season kicks off a full three weeks before the AFL.
NRL
The NRL has finally made the call to ditch their traditional ‘celebrity + famous song + game highlights montage’ formula that has dominated the past umpteen seasons, moving to a strategy that highlights the benefits of seeing the game live: ‘Be there when history happens’. Which is pretty smart.
Why? Well, since Tina Turner belted out ‘Simply the Best’, the game has evolved into an almost perfect TV sport, with some of the most compelling live broadcast coverage going around. NRL blokes are big, the arena relatively small, and the fast and furious linear tackling action confined to a perfect widescreen format. It is entertaining; that’s a given. Broadcasters have made League coverage so compellingly good that it’s gonna take a lot to get the punters away from their 60-inch plasmas, off their comfy couch and into often poorly equipped stadiums. It’s not an easy sell on entertainment alone.
But on the back of an unforgettable finals series (thank the marketing gods for Johnathan Thurston) and a season of epic nail-biting finishes, the powers-that-be want to tap into your desperate FOMO – or Fear Of Missing Out. This ad shows us how exactly how good it feels to be in the crowd when the impossible happens. There is no substitute for fanatic bragging rights: "I don’t just watch on the box… I’m there when the moments are made."
While the execution is still littered with highlights footage, there’s something new in there. The fan generated content shot on smart phones in stadium is not just a neat touch, it’s the gold. It’s raw and real and as passionate as it gets. It’s a long way from some washed up pop star singing ‘Let me entertain you’ to yet another testosterone fuelled try-fest montage. It’s vibrating and distorted with the manic, unbridled energy you simply can’t get at home. Well, not in my home anyway.
On the subject of crowds going nuts in the grandstands, the AFL have got plenty of them yelling and screaming in their TVC too, only with their execution, it’s all about style and it’s all about the AFL brand. This is not just any crowd going nuts at the game, it’s a smart, self-aware crowd that through the ages has been there to see the very best moments the game has to offer.
AFL
It’s a slick, seamless production, sophisticated enough to recreate epic scenes through the ages, with real fans for added authenticity (there’s some nice detail in here for the AFL trainspotters, but much of it plays anonymously to the masses.) But it’s impressive and proud. It’s about proving to the country that the AFL is the biggest game it town, with the biggest stadiums and crowds, and it always has been.
And it’s about having the confidence to not show any game highlights. I imagine that was a pretty big decision for the creatives to sell, and for the client to swallow. No action footage. No highlights from the game’s superstars. Not even a player hoisting the ubiquitous premiership cup aloft in a shower of confetti. Such restraint.
They did manage to give more than a subtle nod to their major sponsor, though. Dominating in slashes of red through the commercial is Toyota’s 'Oh What a Feeling' branding, emblazoned on the stadium signage in very modern neon. Naming rights partnerships never looked so good.
The sounds of the game are as important as the vision. The commentator-spoken ‘You Make the Game’ is the rather gentle signoff to what is a big and rollicking ride through football history. Unlike the NRL’s unsubtle, almost retail call-to-action (Be there!), the AFL wants you to think a bit; to consider your role in making the game great. I like it. Do I want to be part of it? Hell yes.
So who wins? It’s close. A golden point, extra-time nail-biter, in fact. As an ad, I’m cheering for the AFL’s slick, big brand statement. I want to have my name on that production. But if it was all about getting me to shell out my hard earned cash for a ticket and actually turn up to a game? NRL, I’m there.
Boyd Hicklin
Director and executive creative director
Gemba