Creating content in a memorable month of cricket
The second edition of The Hundred reached a dramatic conclusion in September in front of a packed-out crowd at Lord’s. Oval Invincibles made it back-to-back victories in the women’s competition, while Trent Rockets took home the men’s trophy, to end another thrilling month of cricket.
We were once again heavily involved with the record-breaking competition, activating on behalf of KP Snacks, Lifebuoy and Sure. Our Live team also provided in-stadium branding for each of the eight venues.
On the field, we had 11 players competing across the tournament, with Josh Little having an eye-catching, breakthrough tournament. Adam Rossington also took the most dismissals as wicketkeeper across the tournament, as well as scoring the fastest 50 off just 15 balls.
KP Snacks
KP Snacks, Official Team Partner of The Hundred, took a free cricket roadshow on tour across the country this summer to coincide with the tournament. The roadshow formed part of their ‘Everyone In’ campaign which aims to open cricket up – for free – to new communities and forms part of KP Snacks’ commitment to get people active through cricket over the course of their 5-year partnership with The Hundred.
The roadshow was launched in Lambeth at the Black Prince Trust where local families were joined by one player from each of The Hundred’s eight teams including England legend, Eoin Morgan of London Spirit and England International Fran Wilson from Welsh Fire. It was a huge effort, with our team on-site for the launch event to manage the family attendees, media guests, photography and video crew, and players. In total, a thumping 36 media interviews took place across the day.
It was then a busy month for the KP Snacks team who then headed to six cities throughout August. The six stops took place over just a three-week period and always featured a team on the ground to run the batting, bowling and catching skills sessions at the mobile experience and manage the star-studded list of players from each local team. The team promoted it all with a targeted regional PR strategy, resulting in coverage with ITV Granada, BBC Wales and Visit Nottingham to round off a very successful roadshow. We also produced a 3-part content series for KP Snacks, which delved into the journeys of Hundred players Kate Cross, Mason Crane and Sophia Dunkley, discussing how they got into cricket.
Lifebuoy
KP Snacks wasn’t our only client playing a central role in The Hundred, though, and Unilever’s Lifebuoy and Sure were also once again firmly involved with the competition.
As part of Lifebuoy’s partnership, the team ran a coaching session to promote the Lifebuoy ‘Soaper Heroes’ programme, with Oval Invincibles players and coaching staff helping deliver the session to children at the grass roots club. The Lifebuoy team also produced some content, in partnership with Cricket District. The content saw ‘village cricketers’ take on London Spirit players in the nets at Lord’s. You can watch that content, here.
Sure
Meanwhile, together with the ECB and Sure, an episodic content series was created, too. The series – which featured stars including Alice Capsey, Chris Jordan and Sam Billings – explored pivotal moments in last season’s tournament where players were tested to the limits. The Unilever brands were also on the ground at matches to give out samples as well, with Lifebuoy providing sanitizer at games throughout the season and Sure giving fans the chance to trial their new male and female NonStop Protection SKUs.
It was another fantastic tournament, with record-breaking viewership figures for women’s cricket and plenty of exciting action on the pitch. We were proud to once again support clients and the ECB in delivering such an amazing month of cricket and are already looking forward to next year.
