SA Rugby Union appoints Accenture as official digital partner
Global management consultancy Accenture has been appointed the Official Digital Partner for the South African Rugby Union (SA Rugby) as well as to the national team, commonly known as the Springboks. SA Rugby positions digitalisation of its operations as crucial to its growth ambitions.
The choice of Accenture as partner was motivated by the firm’s rapidly expanding profile as one of the biggest drivers of innovation and digital advancement in the South African economy. Alongside its now strongly established presence in the South African market, the firm draws credibility from success in the digital domain worldwide.
Accenture also has a wealth of experience specifically with the sport of Rugby, having supported the Australian Rugby Union in the past with enhancing the overall digital experience around rugby spectatorship, including the development of smart content across a variety of platforms in real time.
The firm has also worked with the RBS 6 Nations tournament for similar purposes, and will now work with SA Rugby. According to senior professionals at the firm, having a holistic mobile experience and accessibility is essential to generating and maintaining interest among the global audience.
As a result, Accenture will work to ensure that the content distributed across platforms will be personalised, generated around principles of “hyper-relevance”. Specifically, the objective of the firm is to expand the fan base to nearly ten times its current size.
As explained by Wayne Hull, Managing Director of Accenture Digital across Africa, “Accenture South Africa will now fundamentally change the way SA Rugby engages and interacts with local rugby fans to deliver on the organisation’s digital strategy and ensure that it is positioned at the forefront of the sporting arena in the country.”
Commenting on the overall contract, recently appointed CEO at the firm Vukani Mngxati said, “To many South Africans, rugby is more than just a game. It's a sport that evokes powerful emotions and has the power to unite the nation. We believe that our association with SA Rugby and the Springbok brand is the ideal platform to celebrate the country's diversity and entrench the company's place in the fabric of popular South African culture.”
CEO at SA Rugby Juri Roux added, “:We want to become a fan-centric organisation, with the ability to engage directly with loyal Springbok supporters via the various digital channels that modern consumers now use to interact with their passions.”