Product category:
Online ad campaigns
News Release from: Equi=Media
Edited by the Marketingservicestalk Editorial
Team on 02 November 2007
RFU joins social networking craze
While the annual Lehman Brothers Varsity Match at Twickenham may be one of the oldest fixtures in the rugby calendar, the RFU has embraced the very latest marketing tools.
For the first time ever the RFU is using Facebook - the social networking phenomenon sweeping the world - to raise awareness of the 126th Oxford v Cambridge match which is being held on Thursday 6 December
Equi=Media worked with the RFU to create The Varsity Challenge Facebook application designed to raise awareness and supporter involvement in this year's match.
Users can pledge their support to either Oxford or Cambridge and test their knowledge of rugby and the Varsity competition by answering 10 questions.
The higher their score, the better their team performs, and at the end of the test, users are encouraged to share the application with their friends and visit www.varsitymatch.org to buy tickets for the game.
Tom Hill, the RFU's Sales and Marketing Manager, said: "The Lehman Brothers Varsity Match offers us a great opportunity to trial social networking marketing techniques.
"The opportunity to reach huge numbers of young people - especially students - is fantastic and we have worked closely with Equi=Media to develop a suitable application".
Iain Dawson, Director of Insight and Communication Planning at Equi=Media, added: "The RFU understood that in order to make social networking work for them, user engagement was key.
"The Varsity Challenge application will reach a wider group than rugby fans and its competitive quality will increase the likelihood of being passed onto to friends.
"Research has shown us that the main reason people go to the Varsity Match is to catch up with friends and so is social networking.
"The application is a fun way of bringing the two together and stimulating the natural competition between the two universities".
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