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Orange invasion: how cricket fans are promoting Tui

Judging by the prevalence of orange T-shirts at the recent T20 match between the West Indies and the Black Caps, it’s clear that cricket fans are very keen to get their hands (or hand) on one of 12 cash prizes of $100,000 that Tui is giving to spectators who make a one-handed catch while at the West Indian and Indian T20 and ODI games during the 2013/14 season.

Winning the prize, however, requires more than simply plucking the ball from the sky. To successfully claim the prize, catchers must be clad in an orange Tui T-shirt and a white lanyard and they must make a clean, first-time, catch.

The T-shirts can be purchased online or at the games, and the lanyards are to be collected from the gate on the day of the event. In the event that fans aren’t keen to drop 30 bucks on a single T-shirt, then they can also get a complimentary shirt when they purchase at least 30 dollars’ worth of Tui beers from participating liquor retailers.

According to Simon Smith, the senior communications advisor at DB Breweries, the 250 T-shirts allocated to the stadiums have sold out at most of the matches to date.

“Crowds are really getting behind the Tui ‘Catch A Million’ activation. We’ve had great feedback… even from people who don’t usually watch cricket. It’s definitely adding to the action on the pitch… We’ve also heard that it’s adding to the excitement of watching at home as people are keeping an eye out for the fans in the stands and watching the reaction of the crowds when a six is hit,” says Smith.

The orange shirts have also gotten the pundits talking, with various commentators alluding to the Tui competition during the games. This type of unpaid publicity is exactly what successful PR campaigns hope to achieve, and Smith says that he’s delighted that “Tui is spending so much time in the limelight.”    

Thus far, Tui has already given away one prize to Michael Morton, whose catch in Hamilton on 8 January truly kicked off the PR event and piqued the interest of various international media outlets, including the the Sydney Morning Herald, the Daily Mail and the popular American blog Sports Grid.  

And while this coverage has given Smith and the DB team quite a bit to smile about, the comms manager is most excited about the nod from ESPN. 

“Morton’s catch landed him the seventh spot on the ESPN Sports Centre Play of the Day, making him only the second Kiwi to feature on the popular rundown of impressive plays,” says Smith. 

This type of brand exposure is particularly impressive given that New Zealand’s Advertising Standards Authority provides very stringent guidelines when it comes to sponsorship advertisements.

In their capacity as problem solvers, the Tui marketing team, Apollonation and Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand collaborated to create an innovative campaign that not only abides by the law but also ensures that a sea of Tui orange washes over the stands at every game.

“It’s about bringing excitement to the spectators. We wanted to give people something to excited about for the cricket season this year,” says Smith. 

CREDITS

Client: DB Breweries
Tui marketing manager: William Papesch
Tui brand manager: Tony Wheeler
Brand agency: Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand
Executive creative director: Antonio Navas
Creative directors: Corey Chalmers, Guy Roberts
Creative: Will Papesch, Tony Wheeler, Phil Parsonage
Senior designer: Sam Stradwick
Business director: Paul Wilson
Account management: Willie Lyons, Lucy Sparks

Shopper marketing Agency: ApolloNation
Client services director: Emma Enaghan 
Account director: Jason Kennedy
Account executive: Nic Turner  
Senior designer: Nick Wilson
Creative director: Paul
Dobbin 
Media agency: Spark phd
Digital agency: Union Digital

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