Rebel Sport urges Kiwis to seize 100 days of summer

Rebel Sport has kicked off its summer promotional push, with a brand campaign by Ogilvy & Mather that calls on Kiwis to take advantage of the warmer weather by getting outside and breaking a sweat. 

Showing scenes of Kiwis engaged in a range of outdoor activities—spanning everything from beach football to Cross Fit—the video clips focuses on activities rather than the products the retailer hopes to sell.

And while there will certainly be a strong product push to follow, this new clip again follows Rebel Sport’s recent trend of investing heavily in brand advertising in addition to the standard retail fare. 

For last year’s seasonal campaigns, the brand relied on poetry to push its message for its pair of seasonal campaigns. 

For this year’s winter campaign, the brand moved away from poetic musings to deliver a campaign that focused on the commitment of those who endure the worst of winter to play on a sports team. In contrast to the poetic ads that came before, this spot featured no voice over from an omniscient narrator and instead let the scenes tell the story.

As evidenced by our recent exploits during the Rugby and Cricket, New Zealand is clearly a sports nation—and this is also evidenced in the number of Kiwis who attended the gym at least twice a week, participated in a sport or bought something from a sports stores over the last year (it is, however, worth noting that that the purchase data doesn’t take online buying into account).      

It isn’t only sports retailers that are trying to take advantage of the increased number of Kiwis heading outside to exercise. Red Bull recently launched a campaign with Pandora in a bid to get its brand messaging into the earlobes of those wearing headphones will exercising. 

The Red Bull culture team in Auckland worked  with Pandora’s musicologists to create a station, called Red Bull Summer Shred, that features an assortment of workout tracks gathered from Red Bull artists and others. 

“As a brand we are constantly seeking new and innovative ways to deliver our campaigns to consumers,” says Red Bull NZ brand manager Sophie Ericksen. “Tapping into a seasonal magic moment whereby a large proportion of Kiwis are looking to up their fitness game, this campaign allows us to not only communicate a functional product message but also enhance this with a bespoke Pandora experience.”

To give the campaign additional reach, the Red Bull Summer Shred workout station is being promoted on popular running routes via street posters, which use NFC technology that allows users to access the station via an Android phone with a simple swipe.