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Marketing and Sponsorship

O2's England Rugby Sponsorship A Success Despite Team's Early Exit

Rugby is "a seemingly stable beast" a week after England's "humiliating Rugby World Cup exit," according to Hugh Robertson of MARKETING MAGAZINE. Rugby's fans are passionate and loyal to the sport, "so brands should be looking to capitalize here." The success is "already apparent." World record ticket sales, new attendance records (set at non England matches), record TV audiences in France and Japan and "doubled online merchandising sales compared to 2011." With more than 5 million having watched a match, "even the Germans are tuning in," although "perhaps that was just to watch their old foes face two tortuous defeats." O2 has been depicted by many as "a loser in the brand race due to its alignment with the England team." The brand "cleverly owned the run up to the tournament in the U.K., a less competitive property, and took a punt on maximizing its impact during the tournament by associating itself with the host nation, England." This "didn't pay off," but with 5 million acts of support around Wear the Rose (on and offline), "O2 can surely deem its campaign a success." Now that things have changed, O2 has the opportunity to "position itself as a brand that understands rugby and England; a brand that is here for the ups and downs; a brand that truly embodies the sport and the feelings of the nation." The "final whistle on the pitch should not signal the end of a brand campaign." We "need to be English about it, magnanimous in defeat and do what we do best." Hogs Back Brewery, which "swiftly renamed" its tournament ale from England's Glory to Mourning Glory, "tonally hit the nail on the head" (MARKETING MAGAZINE, 10/8). 

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