VML has won digital work for the National Rugby League (NRL) and has launched a new YouTube campaign for the organisation.

The agency partnered up with the NRL in February in time for the football season and created a showcase website which allows users to create their own cut of the NRL’s 2013 TV ad.

While the original ad features a specially recorded song by Jessica Mauboy and highlight footage from a range of teams, visitors to VML’s site can sub-in highlight footage of their favourite team, to create their very own team-specific NRL ad, host it on their own profile page on NRL.com and share the finished product on Facebook.

VML has also launched a new showcase on YouTube using ‘annotations’, allowing users to move through an interactive video experience by selecting their favourite players.

NRL Digital marketing manager Matt Henry said:  “We’re excited to be working with VML and very happy with the results of our season launch campaign which was seen by millions of fans online. 

“The online advertising for the campaign smashed previous engagement records for some of our publishers and combined with a great online experience we couldn’t have asked for a better result.”

VML MD Aden Hepburn said: “Most of the team are big NRL fans… We’ve only just scratched the surface with the 2013 launch, so we can’t wait to start on the State of Origin!”

This work is the latest in a recent stint of Rugby League work from VML, after the agency also created a new media space with branded mouth-guards for the South Sydney Rabbitohs.