The Rugby World Cup is just over a month away and Team Nike Rugby here have been working on a campaign for the last few months which will help to consolidate Nike’s position in the world of rugby, build excitement around a new, more youthful and dynamic team, and also talk to a rapidly growing base of younger fans.  We’ve also been anticipating the debate which has exploded over the last few days around the new, brilliantly controversial black change kit.   The main bulk of the campaign will go live towards the end of the month just before the team leave to NZ but the first part of the campaign activity launched yesterday and today to coincide with the launch of the new kit. 

In the sport section of the Metro today we ran a long copy manifesto ad to establish Nike’s point of view on the new kit, written in response to the furore over the black kit. 

 
This runs alongside a single page ad featuring the new kit and our line ‘New Blood. New Skin’.  And we’ve also released the first of our films which reveals the kit in all its glory:

A combination of meticulous planning and careful crafting over the last few months as well as a calm and focussed approach to the unfolding drama over the new kit, in true W+K fashion we’ve helped Nike to establish a clear point of view and tone of voice across all of their communications which is injected with all the energy and attitude of the new England team.  With phase 1 launched successfully this week, we’re looking forward to the next stage of the campaign which will go live from the end of August.