Brand Watch: TikTok and Women’s Six Nations

Performance Communications | مايو 4, 2022

In January 2022, TikTok announced its partnership with Six Nations Rugby, which included the Women’s Six Nations, Guinness Six Nations and Autumn Nations Series.

The fact the women’s tournament is mentioned first in the press release is no accident. Not only was this an important landmark in women’s rugby – it was the first time the Women’s Championship had a Title Partner – it also showed TikTok’s commitment to the women’s game.

I can’t imagine the traditional rugby fan is on TikTok. However, as a move to engage new and existing fans with rugby content, it’s a smart one.

TikTok promised ‘significant investment and promotional support’ but what did they actually do?

Firstly, they had to grow the rugby presence on the platform.

At the time of writing, the @womenssixnations account has more than 80,000 followers and 1.2m likes. This official feed shows highlights from the games, player interviews and shots of full stadia and excited fans.

They needed an easy hashtag for the event and to date, #tiktokw6n has had 167.4m views. This is where users have been creating and sharing content, providing a fan’s take on the Championship. And #womensrugby has received 213.9m views so, in terms of driving audience engagement with women’s rugby, I’d say they’ve done a pretty good job.

Then they did the traditional things brands do to ensure their name is seen and heard throughout the Tournament: a lock-up logo, branding on pitches, the creation of the TikTok Women’s Six Nations Player of the Championship / the Match / Round 1, 2, 3 & 4.

Just as I was beginning to worry they would follow the traditional route of sports sponsorship, they introduced their Rugby Creators – people who love rugby but who would appeal to a younger, more diverse audience. These Creators were heavily involved in their home games – they did the coin toss, brought out the match ball and presented the player of the match medals.

Welsh TikTok star Laura Orgill has 838,000 followers and is one of those Creators. Her videos across the Tournament regularly had more than 10,000 views with her most popular video from the Tournament being watched more than 184,000 times.

The players have got on board too. Welsh prop Cerys Hale and her teammates have fully embraced TikTok with this video, which has been watched more than 164,000 times.

It’s refreshing to see sports sponsorship being done in a very different way. The content is entertaining, informative and, perhaps most importantly for the new generation of rugby fans, short and easy to digest.

With record-breaking crowds attending the games and huge numbers watching on TV, I’m sure TikTok is looking forward to the next three years of its partnership with glee.

Nicola

Mod revival: Is customisation due a comeback?

Car modification: once upon a time, it was a petrolhead’s rite of passage. If you’ve ever fitted aftermarket alloys to a Vauxhall Astra, or swapped the speaker system in a Citroën Saxo, you’ll know what we’re getting at. Today’s modified car scene is far from dead and buried, but we’re a long way from the […]

Cars and Coffee is Keeping UK Car Culture Caffeinated

At one point, in the not-so-distant past, car culture in the UK was crying out for something new. The options for car enthusiasts looking to meet up and share their passion were limited to dodgy late-night supermarket car parks with a live soundtrack of rev limiters and handbrake hooplas, or ultra-posh concours events where you’d […]

The Clock is Ticking For Internal Combustion, But Rolex Shows That Old Tech Can Still Prosper

Cars and watches. Watches and cars. If you’re speaking to a car enthusiast, I’d wager there’s a very good chance they’ll also appreciate the merits of a mechanical watch. Listening to the brilliant Acquired podcast charting the history of Rolex, got me thinking. At various points, the excellent hosts Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal, liken […]

Formula 1 can’t rely on off-track drama to maintain its stellar rise

When Liberty Media bought F1 in 2017, it promised to grow the sport, enhance the racing experience and add new dimensions. So how has it gone? Well, the 24-race calendar last year was a record, as was the 6.5m live attendees at these races. Drive To Survive, the sport’s behind-the-scenes Netflix docuseries, has become a […]

Should You Still Use Hashtags on Social Media?

This question comes up a lot when discussing social media strategy: Should we include hashtags? The Origins of Hashtags Hashtags were originally designed to group conversations on social platforms, making it easier for people to follow specific topics. If you were into motorcycles, searching for #Motorcycles would bring up relevant discussions. They were a simple […]

MOTD Vs Changing viewing habits

I used to be a Match of the Day devotee, but the appeal is unfortunately waning. Yes, Sunderland AFC have been absent for 7 (seven) seasons, but I can’t remember the last time I tuned in for a full episode and with viewing figures down year-on-year (just 2.7 million earlier in January), this national institution […]

Introducing the antidote for AI generated copy: the smart typewriter

There’s a new piece of kit in the Performance Communications office: a Freewrite smart typewriter. It’s a pretty simple piece of technology: a chunky keyboard bundled with an LCD screen and storage. It doesn’t have a spellchecker, a web browser, or a scrollbar. If you’re old enough to remember, it’s reminiscent of early pre-PC word […]

What DeepSeek tells us about China and innovation

In January, China’s DeepSeek caused market pandemonium when it revealed its open-source AI model could match the performance of western AI providers like OpenAI, Anthropic, or Meta. Why? Because it reportedly did so with 10-20x less energy and hardware requirements. Many people were shocked because, unlike the OpenAIs of this world, DeepSeek was a small […]