Its Rugby Time - World cup client email campaign 1/7

During the Rugby World Cup 2007 I was asked to keep clients of Bang Design Agency updated on the tournament with an entertaining email campaign - for a sports fan you couldnt ask for a better writing task !

Rugby fans, the moment is almost upon us. The sixth Rugby Union World Cup is only days away. The comp kicks off bright and early on Saturday morning, when hosts France take on dark horses Argentina.

It’s the beginning of a six week long rugger-fest of pride, passion and ferocious action. So clear the calendar, reclaim the couch and get ready for the oval ball, rucks and mauls, poms and gauls, up and unders, inside centers, the goosestep, and the goosebumps, because… the world is now in union.

So who will be basking in the glory of a World Cup triumph on October 20? All the union powerhouses are in with a shout, but no great rugby nation can truly compete unless it has an anthem, song, war cry or hymn that inspires its players to greatness.

In our first RWC newsletter, Bang’s rugby experts analyse the contenders, the pretenders and their spine-tingling ‘battle cries’.

Australia

With two titles, the Wallabies are the best team in World Cup history, but they’re no spring chickens.

Strength: Got the skills, the craft and the experience.

Weakness: Half the team doesn’t have to pay for public transport.

Battle cry: Waltzing Matilda ***

England

The Poms somehow managed to win the last World Cup but don’t count on a repeat.

Strength: The defending champs. Have tasted victory.

Weakness: Karma has returned to the universe - England are rubbish again.

Battle cry: Swing Low Sweet Chariot *

France

The French with their flamboyant attacking brand of rugby are the neutrals’ favourites. With home town advantage this could be the year they break their World Cup duck.

Strengths: Play with passion, flair and reckless abandon.

Weakness: Play with passion, flair and reckless abandon.

Battle cry: Le Marseilles’ ***

Ireland

Rugby is the only sport where the entire island unites behind a single team. They’re strong, jolly and could spring a surprise.

Strength: Proud rugby nation with Irish luck on their side.

Weakness: Need mud, rain, wind and Guinness to win.

Battle cry: Ireland’s Call ****

New Zealand

The All Blacks are untouchable unless they’re playing the World Cup when they become as vulnerable as a sheep in long grass.

Strength: Way better than anyone else.

Weakness: Chokers. Still recovering from dodgy hotel food dished up in Johannesburg in 95.

Battle cry: God Defend New Zealand/The Haka *****

Scotland

The Scots always give a good account of themselves but they’ve got some difficult games ahead.

Strength: Braveheart mentality. The Scots never give up.

Weakness: Talk gibberish, and wear skirts.

Battle cry: Flower of Scotland *****

South Africa

Mandela magic guided the Springboks to victory in 1995 but since that dramatic win the Boks have either played bad or played dirty.

Strength: Tough and uncompromising. Forwards eat their young.

Weakness: Player’s shirt numbers correspond to their IQ’s.

Battle cry: Shosholoza ****

Wales

The Welsh live, eat and breathe rugby. It’s a pity they’re not that good at it.

Strength: Steeped in folklore of Welsh rugby legends. Showed promise in 2003.

Weakness: Thyr tyrryfyd of vowyls.

Battle cry: Land of our Fathers ****

The Pretenders:

Argentina: The Pumas are fierce and talented but yet to make an impact in a RWC.

Japan: Very very quick, but very very little.

Fiji: Masters of ‘seven a side’ rugby but lose all their skills if eight more players are added.

United States: Any American capable of running jumping or tackling is making millions playing basketball or football.

Canada: Any Canadian capable of running jumping or tackling has escaped across the border to America.

Italy: Being ‘play-acting nancies’ doesn’t seem to work as well in rugby.

Samoa: Shocked the world at the ‘91 RWC. Just plain shocking since.

Georgia, Namibia, Portugal, Romania, Tonga: cannon fodder.

Rugby World Cup email campaign 3/7

Do or die

Another pulsating week of rugby action is behind us with the favourites flexing their muscles.

The Springboks smashed England, The Wallabies showed their mettle against the Welsh and ‘The Wolves’ of Portugal got torn apart by the All Blacks.

So on to Week Three and it's already ‘do or die’ for England and France.

The hosts must beat Ireland to avoid an early exit, while England need a victory over Samoa. In other key games, Australia face the skilful Fijians and New Zealand take on Scotland.

Since the comp began, Bang’s rugby correspondents have been swamped with questions about the game from its new band of rugby converts. The team took some time out between games to enlighten its readers.

Q. How did the game of rugby begin?

A. Neurotic high school mums and rugby widows can blame a young boy named William Webb Ellis. In 1836 he picked up the ball during a game of soccer and headed for the gates of his school at Rugby. The other boys had so much fun crash tackling the little thief that they invented a new sport.

Q. When was the first Rugby World Cup?

A. The first ever William Webb Ellis Rugby World Cup was held in 1987 in New Zealand.

Led by captain David Kirk (who now runs the Fairfax Media Empire), the hosts were victorious, but since then they’ve made a habit of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

Our boys have won the World Cup twice - in 1991 under the captaincy of Nick Farr Jones and again in 1999 when the legendary John ‘nobody’ Eales (he has the nickname because ‘nobody’ is perfect) skippered them to victory.

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Q. Why are the games held in the middle of the night?

A. This is unfortunate for rugger fanatics Down Under who have to burn the midnight oil or arise at sparrows fart to watch the games - but blame the curvature of the Earth, not French eccentricity.

Q. My mate is a rugby nut but he refuses to watch the World Cup. What’s up with that?

A. Believe it or not, there are two types of Rugby - Union and League. Even though there is little difference between them, Union fans would rather pluck their eyes out with a blunt fork than watch Rugby League, and League fans would rather pash their grannies than watch Union.

Q. Why does the New Zealand team dance around and pull faces before every game?

A. The team is performing it’s traditional Maori war dance - The Haka. For years the All Blacks have used the ritual to strike fear into its opponents through enactments of how much pain and suffering they intend to inflict. It has worked but don’t be too afraid - The Haka is actually a poem about sunshine and a hairy man.

Q. Do other teams have pre match rituals?

A. England has recently adopted the ritual of being dragged out of the changing rooms by their coach before the start of every game.

Q. My brother’s local club team is better than some of the teams in the World Cup. Can they play in a Rugby World Cup ?

A. No, only the national team chosen from the best talent in the land can take part. So unless your brother starts his own country or moves to England he’s not likely to play in a World Cup.

Q. Is Daniel Carter single?

A. The 24 year old New Zealand number 10, is dating a local hockey star. This was confirmed by Nicole from Bang who is stalking Mr Carter.

Q. Is there a caveman in the French team?

A. Yes. His name is Sebastian Chabal and he is as frightening as he looks. He’s also known as The Anaethetist because if he touches you, you’re out for the count.

The Death of the Bookmaker -Betfair arrives in Australia

The bookmaker is dead, again
As the arrival of the online betting exchange threatens the TAB monopoly, will it also bring about the end of the bookmaker?

‘I’m living the dream’ says Nathan Snow, revelling in the manic tension of his first Melbourne cup as a bookmaker. The sleaves of his blue shirt are folded up neatly to reveal his slight elbows. The blend of adrenalin and anxiety beams from his wide blue eyes.

He is on his mobile phone, scribbling numbers on a paper, punching keys onto a small pad, scratching the back of his head, climbing up onto the podium and climbing back down again. He darts into the crowd, and hastily returns, followed reluctantly by his stiff red necktie.

Across the Randwick pavilion, veteran bookie Bill Waterhouse stands calmly by his board, hands behind his back, surveying his kingdom. Between them are a swelling mass of eager punters, and a full two generations.

The dream of 24 year old Snow and the legacy of 83 year old Waterhouse is under threat. The Tasmanian government has broken ranks with its mainland counterparts by granting the online betting exchange - Betfair, a license to legally operate in the state. Freedom of trade across state borders dictates that punters across nation will then be free to use Betfair.

It is a move that will dismantle a state established ‘tote’ monopoly and alter the Australian racing industry forever.

‘There’s a lot of scaremongering going on, I suspect the Tasmanian government has been worked on quite a bit’ says Greg Fraser a market analyst at SHAW stockbroking that has been following the fortunes of Betfair.

During its brief history, the online betting exchange has turned the betting world on its head, garnered the praise of her majesty the queen, and the infuriated Australian racing authorities. It’s a name the bet-crazy Australian public will be hearing more often.

The UK based Betfair can justly claim that it has revolutionised wagering. On Betfair.com punters bet against each other and not the bookmaker. Betfair’s complex systems match up buyers and sellers in an online marketplace with all gains and loses distributed between punters.

It makes its cut by charging a small commission for its service. The online innovation, that eliminates the bookmaker, and discounts the totes attracts hundreds of thousands of clients and turns over 50 million dollars a week.

Betfair and its sleek new market friendly wagering platform openly threatened the status quo. Its first marketing exercise, in 2000, was to march an actor placed in a coffin though the streets of London. ‘The death of the traditional bookmaker’ – proclaimed the accompanying banner.

Since then Betfair has done untold damage to UK bookies, slashing the takings of the established trinity of corporate bookmaking houses.

Last year Betfair turned its attention to Australia, and local versions of the bookmaker obituary were being redrafted.

“There were always fears for the future of bookmakers. Indeed, when my father started he felt it was just a short stint, as there was a new invention, the Totalisator, which was feared to be the death knell of bookmaking.” wrote Bill Waterhouse earlier this year.

The totalisator was in its original form a bizarre contraption invented almost 100 years ago by the son of a minister, who wanted to use science to give punters a fairer shot. His system, which tallied up bets, adjusted prices and paid out the winners was gradually modernized. In the 1960’s it was adopted by State governments in the form of the TABs to bring wagering under control.

The racing industry flourished as The TABs poured a sizeable percentage of their massive revenues back into the racing industry. When off-site betting was legalised in the mid 1980’s the TABs boomed, and the bookies began to feel the pinch.

The ‘dedicated’ punter now no longer needed to go to track and run the gauntlet of bookmakers. A good deal were culled. In 1985 NSW had 1500 registered bookmakers. Twenty years later only 300 exist in the state.

In 1992 the state governments set about privatising the TABs. As part of the process, competition was restricted but TABs now had to feed a new mouth – that of the shareholder. The state imposed dominance facilitated an increase in ‘takes’ – the commission charged by the TABs for facilitating the bet.

‘These agreements were essentially put in place to deal with the free rider problem’ explains Robert Raeher, the economist that was comissioned by the Australian Racing Board to investigate the effects of betting exchanges on the racing agency and government revenue. He explains that they ensure the racing industry is sustained from the revenue gained by the TABs from bets placed on its events.

‘The arrangement is an unholy alliance of racing bodies set up to pick the pocket of punters” says Bill Saunders, a veteran horse breeder and editor of the Virtual Form guide, a popular racing website. ‘They feel- We’re entitled to be paid a lot of money from people that lose on our sport’.

Then along came Betfair, who saw Australia as the perfect location to replicate its operational hub in London, and gain better access to a market of eager punters. The online exchange also made an alliance of its own when Kerry Packer’s PBL corporation took a 50% stake in the Australian operation. Its next step was to convince the state governments to grant them a license to operate.

The bookmakers may have been concerned but the TABs, and the racing industry heads who had flourished from TAB revenues, were terrified. They could not prevent Australians from logging on to Betfair to place their bets but they could hamper their progress by lobbying state governments not to grant them the license they needed to legitimately operate and promote their presence.

Their case against Betfair centred on the ability of the punter to essentially bet for a horse to lose by accepting a bet from another party who believes the horse will win. A privilege previously only given to bookmakers, who were licensed to accept bets.

"Betting exchanges ... will almost certainly invite corruption, conspiracy and in the extreme, criminal behaviour," says the NSW TAB. "Insiders can manipulate the odds, mislead the market and deceive punters. This could totally devastate the wagering industry."

James Packer the PBL chairman, not surprisingly saw things differently. He would ‘back the integrity of the Australian public over the bookmaker any day’.

One by one the state governments rejected Betfair, siding with the powerful racing industry lobby.

It seemed that they had seen off the Betfair invasion.

Tasmania was the only state that had yet to turn Betfair away. The battle moved across the Tasman, and the intensity was turned up. The premier -Paul Lennon would now determine the future of Australian wagering.
Victorian premier Steve Bracks was ‘not happy’ and openly opposed ‘the internet system’. Tasmania was accused of exploiting the racing industry.

"Tasmania is bludging off the rest of Australia by allowing Betfair to make money out of racing in other states while returning nothing to the racing industry," says Robert Schwatren, Queenslands racing minister.

Lennon remained defiant. Two days after the Melbourne Cup, he announced that his cabinet would approve Betfair’s request for a wagering license. Betfair would invest $50 million in building a second global headquarters in Hobart and would and distribute 15% of its racing revenues from back into Tasmanian racing.

"This is providing choice and opportunity for the people who keep racing alive in the country – punters. This is the best deal that punters could have - more competition in the marketplace.” he said after the announcement.

The bookmakers scuffle with shrewd punters and champion horses takes place on a daily basis. The threat of technological innovation always looms in the background.

Saunders thinks the bookies may finally be beaten.

‘They’ve got to get with it. They’re a great curiosity, but in terms of matching bets, they can’t afford to do what they do. Standing on their little stands by their boards with bags of money, it’s about the most inefficient way to run a book’

The rookie bookmaker is feeling the pinch -‘Betfair is grossly unfair for us, I have to pay stand fees, for the board, and wages – they don’t have any of these costs” says Nathan Snow.

‘But we’re not going anywhere, All the information that’s traded on Betfair comes from the course, we’ll always be a part of racing’

In all the madness, greed and fear of the Betfair saga, few seem to have asked why it is that Australia loves a punt.

‘It’s fundamental to the Australian psyche’ says Fraser.

Snow agrees, ‘It’s such a part of our culture’.

‘Betfair is not for everyone’ says Saunders. An avid computer programmer, who developed software to monitor horse breeding, he admits that he initially found the complexity of Betfair baffling.

‘I heard most of the users are actually stockbrokers’ says Snow.

The Betfair experience is hardly enthralling. ‘It’s tedious to spend your Saturday arvo in front of the screen watching price changes. ‘The process is pretty anti-social, its the exact opposite of going down to the pub with your mates, having a few beers and a bet’ says Saunders

And nothing beats the track - The hats, the champagne, the majestic horses, and of course the curious bookmakers. On Melbourne Cup day the glamour, revel and enchantment of victory reaches fever pitch. Snow loves it -‘It’s the best office in the world’. He ain’t going anywhere.