Why has the Six Nations become the Shhhhhhh Nations?

The Six Nations is off but it all seems very quiet when it comes to brand activation. The silence is deafening as consumers wonder what has happened to the sport that was being lauded far and wide less than four months ago.

Are brands concerned about having double egg on their face by launching into another England campaign that fails to deliver? Chatting to my director he said that “brands will be very nervous about justifying high levels of investment so close to what was such an emphatic flop following tales of in-fighting and poor decision making both on and off the field.”

I’d argue against this though. Should brands not be celebrating the new beginning for English rugby? As a sports PR consultant I know that a new dawn enables us to tell a new story that can restore faith both on the rugby field and in a consumer marketplace. With new coach Eddie Jones and Dylan Hartley leading from the front, there’s definitely lots of stories to tell.

The build up to the Rugby World Cup in England last year was huge. From the NHS ‘Bleed for England’ campaign to Lucozade for the ‘Home Nations only’, every brand wanted to be involved and back the country. But as we know, England didn’t quite live up to the hype and crashed out becoming the first home nation to ever go out in the group stages of their own World Cup.

Brands including Samsung, Ladbrokes and 02 ran successful campaigns that captured the anticipation of a nation. The Ladbrokes campaign used content to deliver their most engaged social campaign ever with 28,000 unique click-throughs to their World Cup betting hub. Where are they now though? Some of these brands must have had additional rights (PA’s with ambassadors etc) that they’d banked to use throughout the knock-out stages of the World Cup. Are they willing to write these off in 2016?

With the BBC, and now ITV, signing new broadcasting deals, it’s not as if the terrestrial opportunity to engage is dwindling either. ITV was quoted saying that they were thrilled with their new deal as they can “now offer commercial partners an unprecedented unique mass market audience”. It doesn’t take a media-buying expert to see that this opportunity hasn’t been embraced by brands.

Personally, I think brands need to re-evaluate their focus on one particular nation and look at celebrating the tournament itself. As 02 saw last year, backing one team exclusively can be problematic. With the unexpected early exit, 02 had to remove #WearTheRose branding from all of their 377 stores. Whereas Lucozade’s ‘Only for the Home Nations’ campaign backed all four home nations enabling them to carry on their campaign regardless of England’s loss.

As a rugby fan, I hope brands restore their faith in the sport quickly – the fans are here for the long haul!

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