The Stable
October 7th, 2020

Australians have been waiting for spring with anticipation unrivalled for decades. We’re all longing to burst out of the box. Even Aussie sport had to hibernate throughout winter due to the restrictions that Covid placed on everyone’s lives. So this year’s spring racing and sporting calendar promises to be quite a gala.

While it is synonymous with the Spring Racing Carnival, this year, spring is loaded with NRL and AFL Finals, NBA Playoffs, a new NFL season, the MLB World Series, French Open Tennis, Masters Golf – and the State of Origin Game 1 the day after the Melbourne Cup in November.

To help racing and sports fans navigate a hectic calendar, TAB is inviting Aussies to Make a Date with Play. The M&C Saatchi campaign aims to excite Australian sports fans and connect them fully through technology and new product offerings, so they never miss a moment.

At the heart of the campaign is TAB’s spring calendar creator, a utility that syncs user’s calendars to any racing and sport event, linking them to venues and set reminders. There’s also a new way to connect with friends and family through the TAB Locker Room, a social utility using Twilio that allows users to stream in virtual rooms with each other, watch live racing as well as live content normally found in a TAB venue.

Setting the spring excitement in motion is a film by Revolver Will/O’Rourke’s Matt Devine, in which classic flip-down stadium seats come to life across the country like giant keyboards to Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, inviting Aussies to grab a seat wherever they are. The “seat theme” continues with TAB Hot Seats in social channels, a weekly show that dives into the sporting calendar co-hosted by comedian, Sam Simmons, and Fox Sports presenter and sporting enthusiast, Andrew Barnett. Hot Seats brings entertainment, banter, history and information to sports hungry sports fans in a fresh new way for TAB.

“We’ve had a lot of fun building a campaign for what is to be an epic Spring, one that helps get bums on seats via tech as much as it celebrates pulling up a pew in film and content. The Calendar Creator is going to sort out a few headaches as racing and sport collide like never before. We’re proud of that, it’s the kind of UX that truly adds value to sports nuts,” stated Cam Blackley, chief creative officer, M&C Saatchi.

Luke Waldren, executive general manager marketing, customer & product, TAB, added, “Regardless of whether fans can attend racing and sporting events this Spring, we want to make sure we continue to bring Australians together in whatever way we can and ensure they enjoy every moment. That may be at the track or stadium, visiting their local TAB (in States where that’s possible) or on the couch watching live vision and chatting to their mates in the TAB Locker Room. This will be a spring like no other and we can’t wait to see it all unfold.”

The hero film is supported by product films promoting Venue Mode and Live Vision and activity around TAB venues throughout spring.

Article first published on The Stable, 7th October 2020