What it had to solve
Launch the 2019 Premiership after mass retirements, unify wildly disparate fan heartlands, engage avid and fringe supporters alike, and signal a refreshed Telstra Premiership visual brand.
How it works
Directed by Palme d'Or-winning filmmaker Glendyn Ivin with a documentary-like intimacy, the film is layered with coded imagery, club subplots and player insights. It extended into 'Stories of the New Era' short films and an NRL.com editorial series decoding the imagery.
What it did
No results reported. The film anchored a season strategy spanning Magic Round Brisbane, the second Women's Premiership and a new venue built to redefine the event experience.
Background
The 2019 National Rugby League Premiership campaign, 'A New Era Begins', launched in March 2019 from R/GA Sydney, putting the next generation of league talent in the spotlight after several legends retired at the end of the previous season.
The film opens with North Queensland Cowboy Jason Taumalolo preparing to shoulder the weight of his community's expectations, then moves through the club heartlands of the 16 men's teams and, for the first time, the four women's teams. Executive creative director Craig Brooks described it as 'packed full of community mythology, club subplots, and player insights... if you know what you're looking for', while standing alone as a snapshot of Australian culture.
Palme d'Or-winning director Glendyn Ivin (Puberty Blues, Safe Harbour) shot the work with a documentary-like intimacy drawn from working closely with players, and R/GA extended the narrative into a 'Stories of the New Era' online content series and NRL.com editorial decoding the film's coded imagery.
Why it lands
Coded club subplots give die-hard fans material to decode and debate, turning a season launch into fandom fuel.
Putting the women's teams in a men's-league flagship film for the first time widened the game's idea of who belongs on screen.
The content series and editorial extension turn one film's mythology into a season-long engagement engine.
What you can take
Code the film for the devoted and keep it legible for the casual: layered mythology rewards superfans without excluding newcomers.
Since then
The campaign launched in March 2019 as one initiative in a season strategy that included Magic Round Brisbane, the second year of the Women's Premiership and a new world-class venue. No performance figures were reported.
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