In August 2007, Universal McCann approached News Limited with a challenge; Rexona Men wanted to distribute branded balls Australia-wide, and they needed a partner to activate the conceptual idea.

By engaging us in the strategy at the beginning, News Limited, Universal McCann and Unilever were able to truly partner on this campaign.

Key to this proposal was News Limited’s ability to provide Rexona with a sales and marketing solution that leveraged multiple platforms within the News Limited stable.

We delivered one million balls in to the hands of consumers cost effectively and delivered consumer impact.

KEY OBJECTIVES
Ricky Ponting is Rexona’s brand ambassador. Ricky is on a mission to get Aussie men to PLAY MORE SPORT. If he gets men to play more sport, those people will sweat more. If they sweat more, they’ll buy more Rexona Men Sport.

News Limited understood from the initial briefing that to encourage men to play more sport, the campaign had one key objective – to distribute ONE MILLION branded balls across Australia.

Unilever was seeking media partners that could assist in:

• the distribution of the balls
• effective targeting of sport loving males 25-39 years
• amplifying the campaign to maximize the impact - with a limited budget

We identified our ability to deliver on these objectives.

1. We were aware that distributing a million balls through a series of stunts or promo people would prove challenging from a cost and logistics point of view.
2. Rexona’s message, and balls, needed to go to the right people.
3. The third major challenge was the ability to amplify and propagate the message in order to deliver as much noise as possible. Giving away 1 million balls is ambitious, and as such, a limited media budget was available to promote the giveaway.

SOLUTION
News Limited was in a unique position; through our vast national network of newsagents we were able to provide a single point of distribution for Unilever’s merchandise.

The strength of our solution was the ability of our media and distribution channel to work in unison to deliver a high volume of balls, cost effectively, and in a short period of time.

Our multi-platform solution combined press, online, men’s magazines, and radio. There were three components;

1. Announcing Ricky’s Million ball Mission and building hype in the lead up to the giveaway
2. Distributing Rexona Men Sport balls in conjunction with our mastheads in 4 states
3. Amplifying the campaign – How can we extend the campaign beyond the ad on page?

In the newspapers we proposed an intense campaign the week leading up to the giveaway to drive hype, excitement and talkability about Ricky’s Million Ball Mission. This activity also drove ball redemption.

Whilst it was important to cement Rexona Men Sport in male territory to ensure acceptance of the product, it was also important not to alienate the grocery buyers that are often responsible for purchasing the product – press was the prefect vehicle to meet these objectives. We selected;

• Sport to deliver a highly targeted audience of males in a highly relevant environment
• EGN to extend the reach to a wider audience, including female grocery buyers

We knew that by engaging with the individual marketing and editorial teams for each of our mastheads around the country, we could significantly enhance the campaign.

To gain their full support, we needed the giveaway to be exclusive so that they would throw themselves behind it, with:

• In paper pointers
• Radio campaign
• Point of sale posters
• Integrated content and PR activity leveraging popularity and newsworthiness of Ricky

As a true partnership, we requested that our role in the overall campaign was integral, with the Rexona brand TVC to be adapted by state to drive consumers to the relevant newspaper for their free ball.

EXECUTION
The promotion was tailored in each state by identifying the sports balls most appealing and relevant to that market. For example, a high quantity of AFL balls to be distributed with The Herald Sun, but a higher quantity of rugby and soccer balls with The Daily Telegraph.

News Limited worked with the creative agency so that the creative executions reflected this and were tailored accordingly, managing the expectations of the readers.

The timing of the giveaway was localized by market to ensure maximum impact. In Melbourne we advised against running the giveaway the weekend after the Grand Prix, instead isolating a day that Rexona could dominate and gain the greatest cut through.

We built anticipation and awareness of the mission not only through newspapers, but also through:

• Sporting titles such as Alpha
• Sports channels on news.com.au and foxsports.com.au

These channels were used for branding and to deliver longevity to the campaign beyond the ball giveaway. Our online activity delivered outstanding results with a CTR of 0.39%.

Our newsagent channel effectively activated the ball giveaway to over 800,000 people in NSW, VIC, QLD and SA.

News Limited managed much of the logistical detail such as the housing, re-packing and distribution of the balls to newsagents nationally.

We developed individual radio ads and POS materials for each state and provided incentives for newsagents to enhance their point of sale displays.

The newspaper editors and marketing teams contributed heavily to the campaign, throwing the weight of their support behind Ricky’s mission.

RESULTS
Unilever and Universal McCann POV: This campaign has been hugely successful for Rexona and the business:

• driving 12.3% growth across the entire Rexona Brand Portfolio YTD nationally (no other brand activity across this campaign period),

  Unilever through their press campaign alone reached over 75% of their target audience (2,064,000). News Limited had met the challenge of delivering Rexona’s sports balls to the Australian public.