Early announcement of Tour details to dedicated home nation rugby fans with a propensity to travel to South Africa and follow the British and Irish Lions is key to securing relationships early. Sportsworld and Marketing Team Direct worked together to create a market leading sales and marketing package.

Originate

Sportsworld is an Official Licensed Operator for the 2009 British and Irish Lions rugby tour to South Africa and engaged the help of Marketing Team Direct to support their sales and marketing programme. The brief was to position the Sportsworld package and Tour offering, generate interest from home nation rugby fans and sell high-quality hospitality and travel services. Over 6 months of marketing planning resulted in a targeted integrated marketing strategy, supported by the creation of a Sportsworld Lions Tour identity and brand guidelines, which have formed the basis of all sales and marketing activity.

Integrate

With a tour identity and guidelines in place, the pre-launch registration process consisted of well-targeted advertising supported by well-planned pay per click campaigns. A range of Lions Tour package information for both private and corporate clients has been produced to allow the Sportsworld sales team to tailor make packages as appropriate. As the programme enters the next phase of the sales cycle, integrated activity will increase to ensure Sportsworld are positioned as the premium choice for the British and Irish Lions Tour 2009 to South Africa.

Accumulate

Pre-registration for an event as exciting as the Lions Rugby Tour in South Africa is paramount. The initial pay per click campaign to generate client interest yielded a 38.46% conversion rate in on-line pre-launch registrations. With all the Tour collateral and planning in place, Sportsworld is well positioned to launch a focussed sales and marketing drive in early 2009 to meet its objectives.