Beats by Dr Dre ‘ The Game Starts Here’
Beats by Dr Dre
Issue 39 | September 2016
Agency
R/GA London
Creative Team
Creative Director: Ciaran McCarthy, Edwin Latchford Creatives: Jason Hynes, Thibault Michal, George Gremin, Diogo Barroso, Charlie Moreton, Vanya Beloborodov, Luke Bartley
Production Team
Strategists: Stephen Pirrie, James Filmer Agency Producers: Ben Young, Claire Horn Group Account Directors: Claudia De Oliveira
Other Credits
Designers: Ned Karlovich, Cris Mascort, Ben Minton, Steve Judd, Andre Beato
Date
September 2015
Background
The challenge was to use the Rugby World Cup (RWC) as a stage to tell Beats by Dre’s pregame story and entice a new global audience.
To capitalize on one of the year’s biggest sporting events and extend the reach of Beats to new audiences, an integrated campaign was created around the Rugby World Cup.
“The Game Starts Here” told the pregame stories of three of rugby’s biggest athletes. For these athletes, the path to victory begins months before the tournament. They used Beats to prepare themselves mentally and physically to perform on the world stage.
Idea
“The Game Starts Here” told the pregame stories of three of rugby’s biggest athletes. For these athletes, the path to victory began months before the tournament. They used Beats to prepare themselves mentally and physically to perform on the world stage.
3 films told the incredible journey of physical and mental preparation by globally renowned athletes: England Captain, Chris Robshaw; French Centre, Wesley Fofana; and New Zealand great, Richie McCaw. The films chronicled the authentic journey of legendary rugby captains. Stirring up new patriotism and old rivalries. As the essence of each team’s game was moulded by its country of origin, each film was interspersed with emotive cultural references to tap into fans’ national pride.
The campaign included online films, print, OOH, on-the-ground activations, and content created in response to the tournament’s biggest moments. The spirit of the game and the hearts of millions were captured, finding a new rhythm for the Beats brand story through rugby and beyond. A sport it was previously not closely associated to.
With basketball, football and tennis well covered by Beats, their sights were set on rugby, with the aim that the spotlight on the sport’s World Cup propels the #TheGameStartsHere campaign to inspire casual fans to try the product. The idea was to create something that reflected that it’s a sport not just about the player or the team; it’s about national pride.
Results
The result was that the Beats Rugby World Cup campaign was the most viewed sports campaign they’ve ever created for the brand, with over 76 million YouTube views. The campaign also had a significant impact on Beats headphone sales, with eCommerce traffic up across all featured countries during the RWC by 64% and actual eCom sales up 25%. The campaign also gained Beats 454,000 new fans on social media (FB, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter).