South Africa was in a hard lockdown and so many citizens were at home with nothing to do except watch TV. What hadn’t been a problem before, the situation of “repeats” of TV shows and movies, was heightened as #DstvMustFall was trending across South Africa.

What added to this situation was the cancellation of live sports due to the pandemic, so there really wasn’t anything new to watch and to be entertained by.

We wanted to flip the #DstvMustFall narrative on its head and use whatever resources we had (which was unfortunately “old” content).

During a pandemic and a hard lockdown across the country, we revisit the last time the whole nation felt hopeful and united, which was a couple of months earlier when South Africa won the Rugby World Cup. The idea was to “revisit” that piece of content in a way that South Africans could relive all the positive feelings that they experienced when watching it the first time. We knew a generic, old rugby match that they had seen before wouldn’t cut it, so we added live interviews, comments and crossovers which turned the traditional rugby match into something more revealing, intimate and humorous.

During a pandemic and a hard lockdown across the country, we revisit the last time the whole nation felt hopeful and united, which was a couple of months earlier when South Africa won the Rugby World Cup. The idea was to “revisit” that piece of content in a way that South Africans could relive all the positive feelings that they experienced when watching it the first time. We knew a generic, old rugby match that they had seen before wouldn’t cut it, so we added live interviews, comments and crossovers which turned the traditional rugby match into something more revealing, intimate and humorous.

Broadcast on one day: 27 April 2020 which is Freedom Day in South Africa. A day that is important to South Africa. Execution: 3-hour broadcast on SuperSport channel mimicking a “normal” rugby match on that channel. Social and digital executions to support and create awareness of the broadcast. In terms of scale, it was only available to DStv premium customers.

Our campaign hashtag #RWCRelieved recorded 100% positive sentiment for a whole 24 hours after the broadcast.