Digital agency develops rugby platform Guinness PRO14

The Guinness PRO14, a club rugby championship, has launched a new online platform to showcase its event to fans across the world. The application was designed and bult in collaboration with Delete, a digital transformation consultancy and marketing agency.

The Guinness PRO14 Championship is made up of 14 professional rugby teams – four Irish, four Welsh, two Scottish, two Italian and two South African teams – who compete in two conferences over a ten month period to reach the Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals and Final. Since the tournament is spread over such a large geographical area, the rapid dissemination of information regarding previous matches and upcoming events is vital – particularly amid the current outbreak of Covid-19.

To that end, PRO14 Rugby has launched a new fan-focused web platform. The website looks to match the Championship’s world-class on-field product with a premium digital experience, allowing supporters to fully immerse themselves in all the action round by round via a combination of dynamic match centres, contextual video, featured articles and in-depth stats.

This new platform has been designed by digital agency Delete to showcase the Guinness PRO14 as a spectacle, while delivering on the organisation’s ambitious plans to grow the reach and reputation of both the brand and championship. The new website is a unique destination for fans and delivers a 360-degree experience of the Championship and the wider rugby world while providing PRO14 Rugby’s marketing team with a platform to grow and commercialise its product.

PRO14 Rugby Marketing Director Tom Lister, said, “We commissioned Delete to provide a platform that effortlessly brings to life the stories of the tournament across video, written and audio content.  The Delete team quickly embraced this, distilling the complexities of our brief and leading us through a comprehensive strategy & design process. The Delete team have everything that we wanted in a digital partner – the ability to blend innovative design thinking with leading technical know-how, an ambition to push boundaries with commercial pragmatism.”

Delete is an independent digital agency with UK offices in London and Leeds, which specialises in working with leading sports clubs, governing bodies and sports brands to improve their connection and value with fans through digital. The company worked in close collaboration with technology firms InCrowd and StreamAMG to deliver a seamless, personalised, experience across the website, new app and OTT video content, all fed by a rich customer database. The result is a powerful digital ecosystem that will unlock the potential of the diverse rugby competition while allowing PRO14 Rugby to easily adapt to the ever-evolving digital landscape.

Damon Mangos, Strategy & Executive Creative Director at Delete, commented, “To work with an organisation as internationally renowned as Guinness PRO14 Rugby is both exciting and a testament to the name Delete has created for itself within the sports sector. Our ambition has been to build a best of breed digital ecosystem that will raise the bar of what a rugby website can be – delivering a world-class digital experience for fans and a platform that facilitates PRO14’s commercial ambitions.”