TV promo promises a golden age
TV promo promises a golden age
JOSH RAKIC
March 28, 2010
http://images.smh.com.au/2010/03/28/...bies-420x0.jpg Exclusive photo from the Wallabies' new ad campaign. Photo: Helen Nezdropa
EXCLUSIVE
NEW blood, a new mindset, a new heart and a new beginning. Convinced the stars have aligned for the Wallabies to have their most successful season in the Robbie Deans era, the Australian Rugby Union has put its money where its mouth is by footing the bill for the most expensive advertising campaign in years.
A new commercial (pictured, top), costing a six-figure amount, will be broadcast on free-to-air TV for the first time since 2007, with the ARU throwing even more money into its TV budget to reverse the code's declining popularity
The Sun-Herald was exclusively invited behind the scenes of the new ad during the week. It is the first manufactured Wallabies commercial that draws on the team's rich history in an effort to reassure rugby fans the side is primed for success.
''It's aimed at our passionate fans and brings to life the broader tagline that we have for everything rugby at the moment: built by rugby, forged in union,'' said Ogilvy advertising brain Adam Lee.
''And this is a more literal expression of that coming to life. You literally see these guys being built in a gold foundry - bricks of gold melted down to create the new breed of Wallaby. And each brick is symbolic, featuring the World Cup years 1991 and 1999 engraved on them.
''It's been a challenging few years for rugby so this is a wipe-the-slate-clean sort of thing. There are so many coincidences for the new decade - new players, a new strip, a new captain. The stars have aligned.''
New skipper Rocky Elsom, who is yet to lead the side on Australian soil, is the centrepiece of the commercial, which shows the likes of Elsom, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Drew Mitchell and Tatafu Polota-Nau being constructed by robot machinery from bricks of gold in a boiler-making warehouse. The campaign will be launched on pay and free-to-air TV on May 11, in time to promote the June Tests against Fiji, England and Ireland.
But the commercial won't feature the Wallabies' most exciting new talents in Will Genia and Quade Cooper. Only Waratahs and Brumbies players are included.
''We would have loved to have players from every franchise in there but the Reds are in South Africa and the Force are so far away,'' Lee said. ''I'm actually surprised we ended up with as many players as we have, to be honest.''
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/un...0327-r3ze.html
