With the Six Nations and the Rugby World Cup on the marketing agenda is it finally time to do things differently in rugby.

You only need take a cursory look at the RFU’s fulsome apology after its botched attempt to lower the tackle height to understand that rugby is facing far more than a marketing problem. The growing catalogue of former players facing permanent brain injuries underline there are fundamental problems with the sport which extend well beyond product positioning issues. 

While World Rugby has revealed plans to lower the tackle height across the global game, pending a global trial and amateur level next year, this issue can no longer be kicked down the line. While headlines on class action lawsuits will only add to the sense that the governing bodies have failed to grip this issue with the urgency it deserves. 

Meanwhile there is still no single global body for women’s rugby, while the financial crisis hitting Wasps and Worcester underlines that a business as usual approach increasingly means no business at all. There is no question that in a World Cup year and a Six Nations to play for 2023 is a vital year for the sport. 

We asked industry experts will 2023 be the year that rugby marketing move beyond ‘blood sweat and tears’ to bring a new audience and renewed energy to the game?

2023 is a critical year for Rugby – it has to make big, positive steps beyond ‘blood, sweat and tears’ and it needs like-minded brand partners to help it do that. Like all sports, it needs to put the fan first – as we’ve said before sport is a D2C industry now – content is crucial! Rugby needs to evolve fast – it has worked hard to shift its perception from an “elitist sport” but there is much more work to do to engage a bigger audience. Clubs and governing bodies are improving the fan experience, particularly in stadium but, as a whole Rugby need to double down on its fans. How can the sport use the “social currency” of its supporters to increase fan bases and ancillary revenue streams? The development of the Woman’s game is progressing but it needs much more exposure through TV and sponsorship. This is an opportunity - smart advertisers can build upon the continued interest and exposure in women’s sports.

I’d ask too, what Rugby (and its partners) can learn from other sports? Netflix has an upcoming documentary on the 6 Nations – can Rugby use this to create their own “drive to survive” moment which saw F1 massively increase its viewership and appeal? Data from Nielsen found that 34% of Netflix viewers became fans of F1 racing after watching the series. Another 30% said they understood the sport more, and 29% said they felt more engaged with the sport. 

No doubt, it's a big year for the sport. The right decisions by the governing bodies, with the right brands and the right campaigns to put the fan at the heart of the game, can help Rugby take positive steps forward.

It absolutely must, but in some walks of the game it already has.

Rugby has a core audience. Many attempts over recent years to bring a new audience in to the game have been successful, but when comes to engaging ‘the rugby fan’ many sponsoring brands and rights-holders default to the traditional, and the tried and tested ‘blood, sweat and tears’ creative routes. It doesn’t cut-through, and it doesn’t differentiate; with logos on sponsorship activation being almost interchangeable.

That changed last year when the RFU tasked Sport UNLIMITED with devising a new participation campaign. The pandemic impacted grassroots rugby more than most sports. Although the previous 2021-22 season first saw a return to full contact rugby, falling player numbers caused a significant increase in match cancellations – particularly among that core 30+ male demographic.

Sport UNLIMITED utilised their unique Human Understanding Lab^TM to discover the subconscious barriers to returning to the game. The ‘Play Together, Stay Together’ campaign was born. It centred around the human need to ‘belong’, the camaraderie the sport offers, and the idea that club rugby is much more than just a game. It considered what rugby fans ‘say’ and ‘do’, but the Lab doesn’t stop there. It went on to uniquely harness how fans feel, and the ‘why’ behind their love of the game.

The reaction to the campaign from the target audience has been really positive, they’ve found it motivating and it has resulted in an uplift in participation metrics.

For reference here is a link to the hero edit.

2023 could be the year rugby marketing moves beyond ‘blood sweat and tears’. The key for rugby to compete with other sports at the club level is to increase its cultural appeal, attract more viewers, and appeal to grass-roots players. To do this, rugby needs to focus on targeting diverse socio-economic, gender, sexual, and ethnic groups, particularly in urban areas, while also increasing participation among its core audience.

Rugby needs to shake off the public schoolboy, boozy image. Embrace moderation, but keep the sport's camaraderie that makes it special. Grass root Rugby clubs are point of sale and need diversity of attendees and events to drive advertiser appeal, excessive alcohol consumption puts off new audiences. Guinness 0.0 in the Six Nations is a good sign.

To achieve this, it needs to embrace new marketing strategies, such as social media marketing and partnering with terrestrial broadcasters to reach new audiences. A freemium broadcast strategy could also be effective, with partnerships with BT and terrestrial broadcasters for in-depth analysis, game and law education, and cultural events.

Embracing diversity and inclusion and investing in women's rugby can drive long-term growth. Simplifying rugby for short attention spans, using Sevens, Beach, and Touch rugby to grow in new communities, and diversifying grass-root rugby clubs can also increase appeal to new audiences.

Rugby must also prioritise effective crisis management and player welfare. By embracing these strategies and adapting to changing audience needs, rugby can move beyond the ‘blood sweat and tears’ stereotype and reach new heights of popularity and success.

Yes. It’s time we showed a different side to rugby.

Rugby can be an insider’s game. Adored by those in the know; tough to crack for those on the outside. The complex rules, its class problem and the macho culture exist as natural repellents to many.

The recent safety debate is devastating because rugby is particularly reliant on people experiencing it first-hand. As it’s a difficult sport to understand, the pathway to becoming a fan is through playing. If kids stop playing, the entire system is under threat. 

Traditional rugby narratives haven't helped by leaning into the physicality of the sport. Inspiring speeches, heroic values and a sense of self-sacrifice are all things ‘the insiders’ relish. At international level the game takes on a form of mock combat. Before Scotland kick-off they sing about crushing King Edward’s army surrounded by military pipe bands - the connotations couldn’t be clearer.

This image of rugby has become outdated and arguably even dangerous to its future. Portraying rugby players as physical units who feel no pain and show no weakness makes them even more alien to those on the outside.

It's time to show a more human and modern side to the game. We need to see the players’ vulnerability, not just their strength. We need to see their true characters and the diversity of challenges they face. We need to replace those stuffy rugby-club values with something fresher.

Rugby needs to get radical. It can’t just make the game faster, more entertaining and glitzier (the usual remedy for an ailing sport). Its problem is more profound than that. It needs to create a more human connection for outsiders to feel part of it. 

I’ve been a rugby fan for as long as I can remember and in all those years the game seems to lumber from one existential crisis to another.  That said there is no doubt we have reached a point where we can categorically prove that doing what we’ve always done and expecting a different result is a fool’s errand.

There are lot of problems to fix and most go way beyond the usual parameters of marketing. I guess the main question is what do we want to fix first?  Do we want to bring a fresh audience to watch the amazing spectacle of elite level professional rugby?  Or do we want to increase participation and bring new players to the game?  They require quite different responses.  And as the RFU is finding out to its costs, one is sometimes in conflict with other.

For this response I’ll focus on the former.  A lot has been said about the impact Netflix has had on F1 (and now on tennis and golf) yet rumour has it the current filming behind the scenes of this year’s 6 Nations is in disarray with teams blocking access and shutting out the cameras.

‘Blood, sweat and tears’ isn’t the problem.  Every sport thrives on the drama, the effort and the emotion.  That’s what make it so entertaining.

No, the first thing rugby has to do is apply the same level of professionalism to its commercial management and promotion of the game as the players do to the game itself.