WRU takes top marketing award
Aviva Premiership clubs shine
Gatland honoured for Outstanding Contribution
Thursday 14 November 2013, Twickenham Stadium – American insurance giant AIG was last night crowned rugby union sponsor of the year at the prestigious Rugby Expo Awards for its mould-breaking work with the world champion New Zealand All Blacks.
The five and a half year agreement saw AIG become the first company to have its logo on the famous All Black jersey and involves all New Zealand age groups and women’s teams. It is the first time that AIG has been involved in rugby and the company says it sees the agreement as a way of expanding the appeal of the sport worldwide. The All Blacks recently announced they are to play their first game in the United States.
Rugby Expo judges admired the empathetic but effective way that AIG had gone about activating its relationship with the biggest brand in world rugby, particularly after some initial hostility to the deal.
The Awards, held at Twickenham, are among the highlights of Rugby Expo which has become established as a must-attend event for key figures in professional and grassroots rugby. They were awarded by several high profile rugby players, administrators and media specialists who had taken part in an exhaustive judging process.
England’s Aviva Premiership and its clubs loomed large among the list of winners with Saracens taking the Award for Technical Innovation for its state-of-the-art Allianz Park stadium which pioneered all-weather pitches in top flight professional rugby to maximise community use of the North London facility and create major new business opportunities.
Exeter Chiefs’ Sandy Park, which will be among the venues for the 2015 IRB Rugby World Cup, took the award for Rugby Venue of the year while the Aviva Premiership Final, which has rapidly evolved from a misunderstood add-on to the season to become one of the hottest tickets in the rugby calendar, was voted Event of the Year.
Elsewhere there was a triumph for the Welsh Rugby Union which won the Award for the Marketing Campaign of the Year for its’ Our Land, Our Way’ campaign which used leading players in high-impact creatives to capture the spirit of Wales and Welsh Rugby in a multi-media programme to maximise ticket sales at the National Stadium.
The Rugby Expo Community programme Award went to Try Rugby SP, Brazil for its work among youngsters in the country which will host Olympic rugby in 2016 while Warren Gatland, coach of this year’s victorious British and Irish Lions took the award for Outstanding Contribution to Rugby.
John Hockey, chairman of Rugby Ventures, organisers of Rugby Expo said: “In a relatively short time the Rugby Expo Awards have become a valued badge of recognition and appreciation of creativity, innovation and best practice in the world of rugby.
“As the game continues to grow in and beyond its traditional markets our aim is to celebrate the achievements of those who do so much for rugby away from the field of play and encourage others to emulate and surpasstheir achievements.
“Our congratulations go not only to the winners but to all those who were short-listed in their categories.”
Results in full
Sponsor of the year
Short list:
NZ Rugby & AIG
WRU & SWALEC
WRU & Admiral
Winner: NZ Rugby & AIG
Highly Commended: WRU & SWALEC
Marketing Campaign
Short list:
Cardiff Blues – Shirt & Season Ticket Launch
Aviva – Rugby matters campaign
WRU – Our Land, Our Way
Winner: WRU – Our Land, Our Way
Technical Innovation
Short list:
Allianz Park – Saracens
Rhino Ngage – Scrum Machine
Pitchero – iOS Mobile App
Winner: Allianz Park & Saracens
Community Programme of the Year
Short list:
Rugby in Africa 2013
Unified Rugby
Try Rugby SP in Brazil
Winner: Try Rugby SP in Brazil
Highly Commended: Rugby in Africa 2013; and Unified Rugby
Rugby Event of the Year
Short list:
Aviva Premiership Rugby Final
Wales v England
Winner: Aviva Premiership Final
Rugby Venue of the Year
Short list:
Saracens – Allianz Park
Exeter – Sandy Park
Winner: Sandy Park
Outstanding Contribution
Warren Gatland
Editor’s Notes
RugbyExpo 2013 is the fifth occurrence of the event and will take place on 13 – 14 November at Twickenham Stadium, London.
The event, which combines an unrivalled conference programme, master class workshops and a live exhibition, is set to attract 1000 delegates and 40 exhibitors from the global rugby industry, providing those in attendance with ideal environment for learning of the latest developments in the game, networking and generating new business opportunities.
For all media enquiries, please contact Lauren Applegarth, using +44 (0) 1184028988 or lauren@rugbyexpo.com.
Foradditional information, please contact Jonathan Wilson, Event Director, +44 (0)7980 826781, jonathan@rugbyexpo.com.