OUTWORK. OUTLEARN.
That’s the motto of the Rugby Bricks brand. The company started as a New Zealand-based company focusing on premium quality rugby kicking tees. The brand was growing rapidly in New Zealand and Australia, so they decided to take on the South African market.
With rugby being a strong cultural focus in South Africa, we were excited to launch a brand that would focus on the individual players rather than the brand itself.
“I don’t believe in magic. I believe in hard work.”
Richie McCaw – All Blacks
How to get players to buy a new premium product
The main objective for them was to generate sales. This required achieving a few sub objectives that would boost sales as much as possible. These included:
- Create a standalone online store where players could easily buy the products from
- Create a large amount of awareness on social media around the premium kicking tees
- Create various paid ad strategies on Google and social media platforms to increase awareness
- Drive people to the website once enough reach is achieved to buy the products
Starting a business during covid – should be easy – right?
Rugby Bricks was an unknown brand in South Africa, so we would be starting fresh. No Instragram followers, no website views and no brand loyalty. This project also started during the various covid lockdowns, meaning schools would be closed and all rugby games were almost always cancelled if any outbreaks were to occur.
The product itself is more expensive than its competitors in South Africa, so another challenge was to help people understand the significance of a premium kicking tee.
Lastly, South Africa has a much smaller pool of social media usage when compared to other countries. Therefore, we would need to make sure all content would be relevant and targeted accordingly.
Small parts making up a digital marketing whole
User-Friendly Responsive Website
Build a website that would be easy to use for customers but also integrate well with the client’s requirements for shipping. We used PayFast as a payment platform, as it is trusted by almost all South African online shoppers. The website would also have to be mobile friendly, as the target audience uses their phones to browse the internet more than desktop computers.
Content
As there was no organic content on launch, New Zealand content was provided to fill up the social media networks. Video content was also created to help drive awareness.
Eventually, user-generated content (UGC) started to come in from rugby players (both at a school and professional level) which helped improve the authenticity of the brand.
We were even lucky enough to reach out to some pro South African rugby players thanks to Gareth Jenkinson with some professional interviews
Ads
Social Media – Various campaigns on Meta (Instagram and Facebook) were used to boost conversions.
Google Ads – Cheaper than social media ads, these ads helped drive awareness which was then linked to Google Shopping Ads, helping create more awareness and sales.
Results
AWARENESS – 60 000 pages views within one year (including covid-19 lockdowns) and over 3.5 million impressions
USAGE – Rugby Bricks kicking tees are now used by almost every top South African rugby player, including Springboks!