Scottish Rugby invites women to #BeTheBestYou with major new promotional campaign

Scottish Rugby has today – 5 April – launched a new marketing campaign to highlight the positive benefits of playing rugby to women and girls. Entitled #BeTheBestYou the initiative is designed to help change perceptions about women’s rugby and capitalise on its growing popularity in Scotland as a participation sport, at all levels, as part of a wider strategic objective to grow rugby in Scotland, known as Everyone’s Game.#BeTheBestYou will be promoted throughout Scotland, initially as an online campaign using video, digital creatives and social media interaction from players across the women’s game.The objective is to encourage women regardless of their experience, age, or fitness levels, to think of rugby as a viable sport for them to enjoy and the campaign invites them to visit www.scottishrugby.org/bestyou to register for ‘come and try’ events across the country at selected hub clubs which run women’s teams.New players will have the chance to develop their skills at tailored sessions focussing on the enjoyment and social side as much as the sporting and personal development aspects. Online reosurces will enable new players to find a club near them and how to get involved.In the past three years, the number of women’s teams in Scotland has grown from 112 to 192 and the objective is to raise the profile of the sport even further.The grassroots growth is matched at the elite level with the signing of Scotland’s first professional female player, Jade Konkel of Glasgow’s Hillhead Jordanhill club and Scotland Women in June 2016.Sheila Begbie, Head of Women’s and Girl’s Rugby at Scottish Rugby said: “We are very excited about the possibilities #BeTheBestYou can have for female rugby this year. There are many reasons why people take up a particular sport, to keep fit and test themselves physically, however with this campaign we wanted to show there is a lot more to women’s rugby than simply the physical benefits of being active and want it to really help raise its profile and get people talking about the game and how enjoyable it is on many different levels.”Scotland Women international Emma Wassell features in the advertising campaign and is keen for others to take up the sport.”I have loved my time in rugby,” Emma said.”It is a sport that welcomes everyone and you very quickly make friends and create bonds that last. The physical side of the game is fun, it gives you a goal to train for and there is no better feeling than winning a match with your friends.The values of rugby make the game what it is and for me it creates a very respectful and positive environment for young players to develop in. I hope this campaign gets people talking about women’s rugby and our sport continues to grow.The style and presentation of the #BeTheBestYou campaign aims to tap into the ‘fitspiration’ approach used by other sports and health drives to capture the imagination of potential players to encourage them to give the game a try and enjoy its physical and social benefits.The advertisements were developed by Scottish Rugby’s in-house design team and showcase the friendship, enjoyment and personal development rugby provides and features players from clubs across the country as well as players from the Scotland Women national team.The decision to use existing players positions them as positive role models for other women and girls to aspire to in order to reach out to over-18s in the first phase of the campaign this spring. A subsequent campaign will follow in the summer to target players aged between 12-18 years old.The ads were shot at the home of Scottish Rugby, BT Murrayfield, and feature players from the Greenock Wanderers, Hillhead Jordanhill, Cartha Queen’s Park, Watsonians, Edinburgh University and Murrayfield Wanderers clubs.They will be seen on social media in a mix of promoted posts across Facebook and Instagram, on Scottish Rugby’s online channels as well as digital advertising sites across Scotland.A campaign day will be held at the St. Enoch Centre in Glasgow city centre on Saturday 8 April which will feature Scotland Women players and encourage the public to sign up to local events with prizes, incentives and fun activitives between 12pm and 2pm. For more information about #BeTheBestYou go to www.scottishrugby.org/bestyou