After quickly swapping the suspended Ben Barba with North Queensland Cowboys co-captain Johnathon Thurston as the pin up player for its launch, the NRL has today launched its 2013 marketing campaign ‘Rugby League’s got a hold on me’.

Jessica Mauboy stars in the re-mix of the classic Etta James track, which will be released by Sony Music next week. The track is the centrepiece of Rugby League’s first ‘whole of game’ brand promotion celebrating the game’s ability to bring people together.

Mauboy’s new anthem is the first since the game’s Tina Turner soundtracks of the 1990s to feature a female performer and the first in major Australian sport to star an Indigenous artist.

Mauboy will tonight team up with one of the game’s biggest stars, Cowboys co-captain and Kangaroos and Maroons playmaker Johnathon Thurston, at Sydney’s The Star to launch the 2013 Telstra Premiership season and the biggest game-wide campaign in Rugby League history.

A series of 30 and 60-second TVCs will be complemented with extensive retail activation, outdoor, press, radio and digital campaigns that have been developed in partnership with advertising agency MJW and Sony Music Entertainment Australia.

Significantly, the multi-layered campaign design provides for NRL clubs to tailor brand executions for their individual markets, as well as the game’s community programs, which will take fans beyond the sideline and celebrate Rugby League’s partnerships with the Men of League Foundation, Harvey Norman Women in League and other community and charity programs.

The campaign will also feature an Australian sports first innovation, allowing NRL fans the chance to edit their own version of the advertisement to include more footage of their favourite team and players.

Fans can visit www.NRL.com/2013 to take the editor’s seat and upload their version to their own personal NRL.com page and share with friends via social media.

“The campaign has aligned itself to the game’s strategic plan with particular emphasis placed on showcasing the values of the sport, while continuing to broaden the appeal of the game’s showpiece event, the Telstra Premiership”, MJW’s advertising managing director, Paul McKay, said.