Black Ferns are female role models in new work from adidas & Augusto for Rugby World Cup

AUCKLAND, Today: As the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand kicked off, adidas and Augusto have released a “powerful” new campaign to celebrate the achievements of the current Black Ferns players, iconising them as inspiration for generations to come.

Given women’s rugby only started in 1991, the current Black Ferns are the beginning of the story, having largely pursued their own path to greatness, with few existing female role models to look up to within rugby.

They have helped grow the status of women’s rugby and will now get to proudly wear the newly designed black jersey from adidas and take on the world in their own backyard.

To recognise this, and the generation of young women the current team are now inspiring, adidas and Augusto sought to show the influence female role models can have on young girls via an inspirational hero film.

“We’re proud to be able to deliver an adidas campaign that will help give the Black Ferns the recognition they deserve.”

Featuring four of the Black Ferns – Les Elder, Chelsea Bremner, Chelsea Semple, and Portia Woodman – the film is tied together by up-and-coming drummer, 11-year-old girl Zhene Soeira (@zhene.soeiro), who delivers a punchy punk beat.

“We’re so excited for the opportunities this iconic sporting moment delivers for current players and hope it can inspire the next generation of women’s rugby players to take up the sport,” says adidas Senior Manager of Brand Communications, Andy Lane.

To hero the players in the way they deserve to be recognised, Augusto also enlisted the artistic eyes of the ‘Dream Girls Art Collective’ to capture each Black Ferns player and their story via an empowering twist of the iconic All Blacks posters of old.

“The biggest stage in women’s World Rugby is the perfect platform to iconise our phenomenal athletes and showcase the role models they are,” says Augusto ECD, Adam Thompson.

“We’re proud to be able to deliver an adidas campaign that will help give the Black Ferns the recognition they deserve.”

CREDITS

Client: adidas
Senior Manager Brand Comms: Andy Lane
Manager Brand Comms: Oliver Connelly
Agency: Augusto
ECD: Adam Thompson
Creative: Mitch Crowe
Creative: Ben Carroll
Commercial Director: Amy Dufty
Account Director: Lauren Oxnam
Senior Account Manager: Ivana Mihaljevich
Head of Production: Simone Goulding
Producers: Amy Molloy, Brad Harvey
Production Manager: Isabelle Graham, Lucy Caccioppoli
Director: James Solomon
DOP: Bevan Crothers, Tammy Williams
Art Director: Ash Turner
Editors: Corbin Dallas, Connor Farrell, Mariano Segedin
Post Manager: Zoe Jones
VFX artist: Jon Baxter
GFX: Shaun Madgewick
Music: Rodney Fisher
Audio mix: Liquid Studios
Head of Design: James Davison
Designers: Nina Vasiljevic, Katie Curd
Artwork: Dream Girls Art Collective
Photographer: Graeme Murray
BTS director: Sophie Black

About Augusto
Augusto is a multidisciplinary creative agency/producer of content, making everything from feature films and docos, to TV shows, ads, and online content. Founded in 2008, the Augusto Group is a tight collection of companies who all have storytelling at their core. The group was built on forming strong partnerships with clients who need a more agile approach to traditional marketing and have a growing demand for smarter, more effective content.

• augusto.co.nz