Client Results / Agencies / Drum Bunnings Rugby Assist Case Study
A rugby campaign backed by real fan insight
Project Type
Campaign testing
Agency
Drum
The Challenge
Drum’s client, Bunnings, wanted a clearer picture of how their customers feel about rugby, and how their Rugby Assist campaign could genuinely support grassroots clubs in a way fans, participants, and communities value.
Drum asked us to dig into the emotional and behavioural drivers of rugby engagement, to help shape the next evolution of the campaign with evidence.
The Solution
Quantitative Deep Dive
We used the Honoco Research Programme to profile three highly engaged audience segments to understand:
Which sports they care about most
How passionate Bunnings customers are about rugby compared with the national average
What drives that passion
We explored:
Perceptions of rugby using Honoco’s imagery and perception wheel, mapping brand-adjacent traits like local, meaningful, and inclusive to create a proxy for the campaign’s desired associations
What drives rugby passion, and what this means for the direction of Bunnings’ creative
How people engage with the sport (watching, playing, volunteering), and where meaningful barriers exist
Which barriers Bunnings could realistically influence, especially around local facilities and community environments
How mental health, belonging, and social connection show up for rugby supporters
Views on inclusion and equity, including the percentage of Bunnings customers who value these themes
How rugby fans consume content and where they expect to hear from brands
Those insights informed a second stage:
Qualitative Testing
We ran an online focus group with armchair fans, grassroots supporters, players, parents, coaches, and volunteers.
Activities ranged from private, bias-free tasks to open discussion forums.
We unpacked what “welcoming and inclusive” truly means, explored visual cues using mood boards, and tested campaign scripts, video edits, characters, and taglines to understand what resonated.
The Outcome
The research highlighted which parts of the campaign people connected with immediately, what needed refining, and where Bunnings could make the biggest impact.
Drum could make confident, creative decisions grounded in real fan insight to create a campaign that’s aligned with what matters to rugby communities across Aotearoa.