Leading BBQ brand, Weber has for the first time signed on to become an official partner of the NRL State of Origin in 2020.
The competition, which is usually played in the winter months, has been moved to November this year – a key sales period for Weber Stores. The partnership will focus on driving brand awareness and footfall to Weber Stores across the country.
Weber, a long-standing client of Publicis Groupe’s Starcom Adelaide, enlisted Publicis Sport & Entertainment to broker the deal which incorporates a mix of digital rights, IP usage, access to both current players and legends of the game, as well as access to NRL.com.
Publicis Sport & Entertainment will also manage the partnership from end-to-end, including campaign development and creative, social amplification, and project management. Starcom will manage media.
Weber, a brand synonymous with Australia’s barbecuing culture, will be the first Official BBQ Partner of the NRL State of Origin. It will also mark the first local sports sponsorship for the brand which launched in Australia in 1978.
Daniel Pike, National Marketing Manager Weber AU/NZ commented, “We’re really excited for what this opportunity can bring to our Weber Store retail network Australia wide. Sport is closely linked to the Australian barbecue and entertaining culture, and we’re looking forward to continuing to grow and define that connection with Australia’s largest annual sporting event. We’re looking forward to engaging both with NRL players, fans, consumers and Weber Stores in this exciting campaign driven through engaging and interactive content and experiences”.
Publicis Sport & Entertainment Director, Ashley O’Rourke, said of the partnership, “Whilst sport has had to adapt to the challenges of 2020, the appetite for big competitions, like the State of Origin, has never been greater as a way of bringing Aussies together during truly trying times. As a result of the change in dates to the State of Origin in 2020, we worked with Starcom to identify a great opportunity for Weber and Weber Stores to align with the competition as it falls into a key sales period for the brand. In conjunction with Starcom, Weber and our partners at the NRL, we have created a bespoke partnership which provides us with multiple opportunities to embed the Weber Store brand into this year’s State of Origin series and is something that we’re hugely excited to launch”.
