The BBL 2020-21 series will go down as the ‘Year of the Pit’ where Rexona owned the summer after unveiling a new form of advertising sponsorship – ‘Pitvertising’. The stunt saw the Rexona logo with its iconic tick featured on the underarms of cricket umpires’ uniforms during the season in an industry-first sponsorship deal with Cricket Australia.

Rexona has a long history of aligning with professional sport, we were tasked with demonstrating their role in high pressure moments over the summer. So, we partnered with Cricket Australia to bring a new media placement to life during the BBL seemed like a naturally fit.

The creative was designed to draw a parallel between Rexona’s ability to keep you cool under pressure and the umpire’s ability to keep their cool in high-pressure moments.

Unlike a standard sponsorship plastered over the front and backs of players uniforms, ‘Pitvertising’, placed under the armpit meant the logo was only revealed during dramatic, high-stress BBL moments when the umpires raised their arms (to make game signals), making the message that Rexona Deodorant keeps you cool under pressure impossible to miss. The stunt was quickly picked up by news outlets and talked about around the globe.

It’s really simple and direct, and the fact that it will be hidden for the majority of the game and then reveal itself after a wicket or when the sixes start flying makes its impact even stronger.

There’s a lot of rules and regulations around players and officials’ uniforms, so we partnered with Cricket Australia - the national governing body for the game in Australia to help bring this fresh, new media idea to life.

Rexona has a long history of aligning with professional sport and talking to sports fans. We were tasked with demonstrating their role in high pressure moments over the summer. So, working with Cricket Australia to bring a new media placement to life during the BBL seemed like a naturally fit.

The work not only delivered their objectives but knocked them out the stadium with earned media and an increase in sales of Rexona around Australia.

This untraditional sponsorship run underneath umpires’ armpits during all BBL games over the summer from 10 December 2020 – 6 February 2021 for a total of 61 matches with an average length of 3-4 hours. Viewership normally tops out at above 600 000 per match.

There’s a lot of rules and regulations around players and officials’ uniforms, so we partnered with Cricket Australia - the national governing body for the game in Australia to help bring this fresh, new media idea to life under the armpits of all umpires during every single game.

With BBL series viewership topping 42 million, the Rexona logo was seen by more than one billion times, revealed every time a wicket was taken, six hit, or powerplay or power surge called.

Pitvertising also generated a lot of earned media and talk around the Rexona brand. This led to a more prominent positioning in Shoppers minds with sales around Australia soaring to 10% more than usual during this period.

The success of this innovative idea has spread beyond cricket, with other sporting codes looking to leverage and adopt similar sponsorship opportunities.