Cooking with The All Blacks

The Company

The ‘All Blacks’ arrived in Italy to challenge our national Rugby team, instead of competing on the field, this game took place at the stove. The New Zealand National Rugby champions replaced their sports clothes for aprons in order to compete in a cooking competition consisting of Italian recipes prepared with typical New Zealand products.

The event was attended by Natasha Stefanenko, Alessandro Borghese, and other special guests from the world of sport entertainment. The cook off was sponsored by New Zealand Trade and Enterprise to promote the most typical products of their incredible land, and all PR activities were entrusted to DAG Communications.

Activities and Results

In this particular communication project there were many complications to manage. Firstly, and perhaps the most critical, was linked to the strength of the All Blacks brand and the great resonance that the players have had in Italy. The goal, was to ensure that this event not only gave space to the news, but that it also highlighted the fact that the event was organized to promote New Zealand products. Secondly, and most difficult, was the limited space, 25 spots, available at dinner for the press. From the start, we realized this event could attract the attention of a lot of influential media, and with space for only a small number would limit the possibilities for output, or at least the scope of the articles that could be published.

Complications were further presented when SKY Sport was granted exclusive access to the event: as the largest sport issuer, their connection is incredible, however, reporting of the event could have also been presented on other competing TV stations. In order to respond effectively to these needs, an organized event at the same venue was proposed in which photographers and reporting-cameramen of major televisions and newspapers were invited. This event would involve the restaurant Grani & Baci and a moment of shooting. In this situation a great amount of attention was paid to presenting a wide range of New Zealand products through the coaching of the All Blacks – products in photos and films was inevitable.  This is also the time in which the journalists were able to interview athletes about their eating habits and on products of their land. 30 selected journalists were then invited to dinner in order to follow the whole event closely.