What Businesses can learn from the Boks

As the world is thriving on Rugby World Cup (RWC) fever, Greg and I decided it would be interesting to use the Springboks and their 2011 campaign as a case study for businesses and see what insights we can gain from our national rugby team. 

We’ve looked at various components and in our first instalment we will consider the value of having brand ambassadors as well as capitalizing on unique events, like RWC 2011.

1. Brand Ambassadors

Many might not regard them as such but the Springbok brand has numerous ambassadors. The most prolific ones are the 15 that have run onto the field throughout the RWC. When speaking of brand ambassadors we are using the definition that brand ambassadors are people who are paid to represent a brand or a product. As the Wikipedia definition goes on to explain: “The Brand Ambassador is meant to embody the corporate image in appearance, demeanor, values and ethics”.

Players often forget the truth that they are indeed sponsors of their team. This can have a strong influence on the perception the public have of both the team and the brand (and in some cases even their country). Players’ conduct is a strong determinant on whether people will support not only their sporting brand but also any other brands associated with them or the team.

This means that the players need to conduct themselves in a manner befitting to the brand both offline i.e. their conduct on the field and out in public as well as in the online space i.e. their social media presence – particularly Twitter. 

An excellent case of where the brand reputation of a national sports team can be tarnished by an individual’s (or in this case the brand ambassador’s) online presence is that of Samoa's Eliota Fuimaono Sapolu.

Sapolu decided to wage war against the IRB when he used his social media presence to express how he felt about the RWC. Right at the beginning of the tournament he likened his team being placed in what was commonly known as the “Group of Death” as akin to that of the “Holocaust”. He was warned not to express such negative sentiment about the tournament. 

As the tournament progressed he continued to comment on the quality of the referees (calling one a “racist”), which also got him into hot water. And then finally broke the camel’s back when he tweeted: "Minute of silence for USA for 9/11, nothing for Samoa for tsunami. Both games played anniversary days. Our dead not good enough." As a result of his online outburst he was provisionally suspended from all rugby.

The lesson is that ambassadors are an excellent channel to drive conversation, granted that they conduct themselves in a way that is aligned to what the brand stands for. Thankfully the Boks have not had this experience and our players have so far been excellent ambassadors for the Springbok brand. 

For interest sake we decided to look at who our top conversation engagers were in the online space and who our biggest ambassadors actually are. It was based on the volume of online conversation for each of the 22 Springboks who participated in our fourth group stage game against Samoa.  Based on volumes, our strongest ambassadors were Francois Louw, Francois Steyn, John Smit and Bryan Habana.

2. Leveraging Events

The concept of running a competition alongside a large sporting event, like the Rugby World Cup, is not new in the world of marketing. Even brands with the most tentative of links have capitalized on this event. Some examples include Russell McVeagh and Dole. Many brands will make use of social media during this competition in the hopes of achieving a marked increase in brand awareness.

Events present companies with opportunities beyond simply running competitions and increasing brand awareness. Large events like the RWC are effective in motivating large numbers of people to engage with a particular topic.

By asking the right questions brands can identify invaluable insights into their target market.

Marketers should look to large events for the following information:

• Events can be used to identify influencers. Influencers are characterized by their ability to engage a large number of people with their content. These individuals can then be used at a later stage when attempting to stimulate conversation within your target market about a campaign or product launch.

• The large pool of conversation will also help to identify themes that have caught the consumer’s attention. The more prevalent themes can help generate ideas for future content that will ultimately stimulate conversation around your brand.

• An analysis of which domains are discussing relevant topics can help identify unique locations for seeding content or running display advertising.

• A more detailed review of the authors involved in this conversation can often reveal new potential markets. For example, large sporting events often capture the attention of a previously disinterested audience. These new fans can represent sales opportunities for your brand.

• Marketers should aim to look beyond the obvious opportunities like mere competitions and begin to see the conversation taking place around an event as unprompted market research. 

As with all research your findings are only as good as the questions you ask. So take a moment and think about what the conversation can tell you. These learnings will often far outlast the hype of a competition.