Using a cricket jersey to celebrate a nation’s diversity

There’s no denying that South Africa is a sport-loving nation, even more so when it comes to supporting their very own teams. The support for our teams is as diverse as South Africa itself, so when New Balance, one of the world’s major sports footwear and apparel manufacturers needed to launch the new Protea’s cricket kit in South Africa, this campaign needed to be multifaceted enough to celebrate the diversity of the team and South Africa.

With a global positioning of “Fearlessly Independent”, we launched “Worn as One” a campaign that didn’t just speak to the diverse hearts of the nation, but did it in a way that reached every supporter. It all started with a shirt designed to celebrate the diverse make-up of the Proteas team, their supporters and the strength that this brings them. The new Proteas ODI jersey, featuring at the centre of #WornAsOne, created as a reflection of this diversity. Being the most colourful Proteas shirt placed into the SA market, it was created to be worn to show a common bond and purpose between all South Africans – backing our national team.

There are seven letters in the word Proteas. The shirt’s seven colours not only mirror the seven letters in the word Proteas, but also symbolise shared values which have emerged overtime and have been contributors to making the team successful. Each shade was associated with a theme. The desired outtake was that every time a Protea or fan pulled on that shirt, they would remember the values and give their all for the team. These themes were used to collectively land fearlessly independent and the strength of diversity in a Proteas/South African context.

From an action-packed commercial led by a song that was specifically produced for the campaign, performed and delivered by Ard Matthews, to a radio drive, unpaid influencer drop and a full digital rollout including individual theme videos and personalized fan videos, it was difficult to miss “Worn as One.” There was even an activation experience where fans were able to take on one of three Worn as One challenges and then met the full team with photo opportunities.