Reigning Super League champions Leeds Rhinos have hailed their innovative marketing campaign which involved players replacing the names on their shirts with their Twitter handles as a massive success.

The club used the innovative campaign in their Super League match against Hull FC which was broadcast on Sky Sports last weekend and the club’s official Twitter account, @leedsrhinos, has since seen an increase of almost 400 followers.

Individual players have also seen a rapid rise in followers, with full back Zak Hardaker seeing massive boost of over 800 new followers over the weekend.

“We have been delighted by the reaction from fans across the globe,” said Phil Daly, Media & PR Manager at Leeds Rhinos.

“We have had feedback from Ireland, America, Australia, New Zealand and Germany as well as here in the UK and from people who normally have no interest in Rugby League at all.

“The increase in followers has been good but more importantly has been the awareness the campaign has raised about the Rhinos. There was a high level interest in the media, including non-sport sources such as BBC Radio Four’s flagship Today programme.”

Zak Hardaker added, “It has been great. All weekend I was getting new followers and they just keep on coming.”

“I love being on Twitter because it gives you a chance to speak to fans and give them an insight into how our week is going. It is not long ago that I was stood in the stands watching my heroes and if I could have been in touch with them via Twitter, I would have definitely done that so it is nice that I can do that now as a player.”