The NRL launched its 2011 campaign in Sydney yesterday with several celebrities endorsing the code through hard-hitting rhetoric. While it was announced back in February that Bon Jovi’s ‘Our House’ would provide the necessary musical weight needed to launch the large-scale marketing campaign, the curtains were finally drawn yesterday on the epic video.
There’s no denying that it’s strong stuff. What, given the Michael Bay style explosions, the overzealous fist-pumping, the dramatic use of roller coaster…
Herald Sun journalist Andrew Webster weighed in by calling it “the best league anthem since Tina Turner’s Simply the Best“. Fair call Webbo, fair call.
Actor Brendan Cowell, who is a mad Cronulla Sharks fan, also climbed on-board the movement by delivering this chilling and stimulating message.
“This is a story about us … all of us.”
“Together we are a team … from both sides of the fence.
“It is a love story.”
Andrew Webster’s Herald Sun colleague Paul Crawley poignantly summed it up: “It’s a ripper.”
So, why is there such journalistic weight behind this campaign? The NRL has suggested that this isn’t a flag-waving exercise – despite holding the launch in Greater Western Sydney, the site which the next AFL franchise will call home. Was this a lobbying campaign to increase the fervor of potential young fans?
If this was the underlying intention, it certainly doesn’t strike me as peculiar to make Bon Jovi the flag- bearer. When it comes to their fan base, the dudes have all ages covered.
Herald Sun’s Webster went onto say, “Vladmir Demetriou and the rest of the AFL may well laugh into their soy chai lattes or whatever it is they sip down there in Melbourne, but the reminder of why they will never conquer rugby league in this town and especially the west was there for all to see as the afternoon rolled on”. A well formed argument.
The Age’s Caroline Wilson, a prominent AFL columnist is yet to rebut, but we’re hoping for some sort of a journalist feud to unfold later this week. Mate against mate, journo against journo. I can see it now.
The season kicks-off next Friday night with the doubleheader of Broncos v Cowboys and Roosters v Rabbitohs.
*Crawley is yet to comment on the Bon Jovi video, but I reckon he’d think it’s a ripper.
