The All Blacks is one of the most recognisable teams in world sport, but unlike many other sporting outfits, it doesn’t live in front of fans every weekend. The team plays only 14 to 15 tests a year, mostly between the months of July and November, with no permanent home ground and a schedule that sends the players pinballing from New Zealand to all around the globe.
For the rest of the year, the players return to their Super Rugby sides and the All Blacks effectively vanishes as a live product. So how does its marketing team keep a global fanbase emotionally connected to a team that only exists for four months of the year?
New Zealand Rugby’s GM of brand and marketing Kerry McKenzie told B&T that the All Blacks is investing heavily in a digital strategy to stay in the hearts and minds of fans all year round, rather than being a seasonal sports team.
“One of the key pieces for us that we’ve really leant into since 2023 is digital content. It’s so critical for us to keep connected to our New Zealand fan base when we are abroad and it’s critical for us to grow our global fan base,” said McKenzie.
New Zealand Rugby has bought into digital content is through long-form content series. An example of this is ‘Behind the Fern’, which give supporters a weekly, documentary-style look inside test weeks and tours, turning players’ routines, travel, and off-field lives into ongoing storylines.
The series is effective during the four months when the club has access to its players. For the other eight months, however, the marketing and social media teams have had to find other ways to keep fans engaged.
McKenzie said the team “spent a lot of money purchasing all the old archives” of past games, giving it a library of footage that can be re-clipped and reused throughout the off-season.
This looks like trips down memory lane of wins and massive moments that occurred during both past tours and home games. With a 77 per cent win rate, finding these clips isn’t hard.
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The All Blacks, however, does not suffer from a lack of brand awareness. It is one of the most recognisable sporting teams in the world, regardless of code. But McKenzie explained it’s important for the brand to keep fans emotionally connected in order to deliver year‑round value to sponsors whose deals include digital rights, compete for younger audiences who live on TikTok and to continue to sell products like merch when the team isn’t playing.
“We still want to be delivering value to our sponsors and our sponsors are really interested in our digital reach, and as part of our contracts, we actually include rights through our digital channels. So it’s really important that we’re continuing to drive value for the sponsors even when we are in that offseason moment, so that we’re not loading everything into the ‘in season’,” she continued.
Maintaining that digital reach, however, requires New Zealand Rugby to continually attract new audiences while keeping existing fans engaged.
“Our biggest opportunity is we have to continue to evolve to stay relevant to youth and younger audiences, and that means being really adaptable and trying different things all the time,” McKenzie continued.
This has led to New Zealand Rugby hiring a TikTok producer to exclusively run the TikTok account.
@allblacks Cibi and Haka. Two cultures meeting 🖤 #allblacks #rugby #fiji #usa #sandiego ♬ original sound – AllBlacks
TikTok is seen as the biggest opportunity to bring younger fans into the game, as McKenzie has identified that this is where they live, and she knows rugby has traditionally attracted an older audience.
“The All Blacks brand has the ability to captivate and delight younger people, so our job is to make sure we’re bringing those audiences through,” she said.
The challenge has become more pronounced as global sports leagues increasingly compete for attention across borders. With platforms like TikTok and streaming services making international sport more accessible than ever, New Zealand Rugby is no longer just competing with other local codes like the rugby league.
“There are no geographical boundaries anymore,” McKenzie said. “Leagues like the NBA can build audiences in New Zealand through digital content, so we have to make sure we’re creating content that resonates with younger audiences too.”
Otherwise, the All Blacks may lose out to other competitions like the NBA.
McKenzie will be speaking at Victory Lap conference in Brisbane on 7 July to explain how the All Blacks’ strategy is being turned into action through everyday choices to ensure it remains the most valuable sports brand in the Southern Hemisphere.
