Not only did the New Zealand All Blacks win the Rugby World Cup, Rexona’s interactive webcam campaign for the national team recently won MediaMind’s Ad of the month.  While both achievements are not ‘exactly’ on the same level, we’re happy for any chance to celebrate.  To do so, we spoke with Polly Williams from SparkIQ and with Sesh Moodley from Naked Communications AU, who both worked on the award-winning campaign.

What was the client brief for the Rexona campaign?

Polly: Leverage the All Blacks sponsorship in Rugby World Cup year in a way that cements the Rexona ‘Rituals of Confidence’ positioning.  Our goal for this particular creative was to collect enough quality consumer generated videos to run in our ‘play back’ banners on All Black game days. This meant we could keep our campaign fresh, interesting and relevant during the 7 weeks of the tournament.

Sesh: Rexona has sponsored the All Blacks for some time, but this year (2011) would be different. It was Rugby World Cup year, and Rexona would be introducing a limited edition ‘All Blacks’ product range.

The challenge was that the All Blacks were over-exposed, and many brands held sponsorships so we needed to side step the danger of brand misattribution and of course sell shed loads of product.

How did you decide on the concept?

Polly: The first half of our campaign was very much focused on the players’ rituals, so for the final phase we wanted to deliver something that gave fans the chance to get involved in a pre-game ritual – sending messages of Good Luck to the All Blacks. As Rexona is only one of many sponsors, we needed to ensure we landed this in a way that would be completely different from anyone else – and in banner video recording certainly achieved that!

Sesh: Building on Rexona’s established positioning of ‘It won’t let you down’ we arrived at the territory of ‘confidence’ and that took us to the creative platform of exploring the Pre-Match Rituals of players (and fans). Rexona is also a ritual that gives its users confidence for what lies ahead of them. We wanted to create a campaign that was highly emotive and that gave a window into some very personal often and symbolic rituals that the All Blacks players undertake before each match. We also wanted to send out a positive message that could rally the nation and bring confidence to the hearts and minds of the players and fans at a time when some were suggesting the All Black’s might ‘choke’.

I guess we hope that in some small way our campaign might help to give everyone that little extra confidence to win. �

What role did MediaMind play in the campaign?

Polly: MediaMind were integral in bringing this concept to life. They managed the production process from start to finish and worked seamlessly with the creative agency to work through all of the technical and production requirements.

What was the client’s reaction to the campaign? 

Polly: The client is thrilled with the campaign and with the results that have been delivered to date. This creative enabled us to deliver fresh and engaging creative every time the All Blacks took the field during the Rugby World Cup!  

Sesh: Sales and brand scores are up above target levels and our campaign true stood out amongst the clutter.

How did you start working in digital advertising?   

Polly: I was working in the communications department of a bank when they launched their website. No one knew what to do with it and as I was the most computer literate, I got the job. That was back in 1997 and I’ve never looked back (you can’t afford to in this business!)

Sesh: I started in the late 90’s at O&M London when there was a lack of creative expertise in this field. Back then it was called New Media and was dominated by coders. I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity jump ship into digital from traditional design and advertising and after a couple years I moved into a more integrated creative role.

What is your idea of the perfect work day?

Polly: Seeing an idea come to life successfully!

Sesh:  No meetings about meetings while you are in a meeting. Cracking the briefs and getting home before the kids go to bed.

When does your muse visit you?

Polly: Funnily enough, at the clothesline! I have three young kids and my clothesline is right at the bottom of my garden so it’s the only place I get any peace and quiet (and I have A LOT of washing to hang out…)