Summary

The upcoming Rugby World Cup 2019 in Tokyo, Japan, is forecast to have a record-breaking 40-million viewers watching the opening game in-stadia and on broadcast media. According to World Rugby, this first-in-Asia international tournament is anticipated to reach over 800 million households, surpassing the last tournament of 2015 in England.

The World Rugby in partnership with Legends recently launched its flagship megastore selling merchandize in Tokyo along with 73 smaller stores. These merchandising stores will feature apparel for men, women, and children, must-have gifts, and fun and immersive experiences for fans.

Ahead of the World Cup 2019 tournament, we analyzed real-world behavior of Rugby fans seen at tournaments in 2018 in the Near platform. If marketers have access to this intelligence, they can spend their budgets better, optimize partnerships, provide customized experiences and do effective advertising and marketing to attract fans, both online and in-store.

Some interesting insights of fans seen at 2018 Rugby games:

• 33% of Rugby fans also liked other sports and were seen at sporting locations such as soccer stadium, basketball court, swimming pool, badminton court, and sports shops.
• The Rugby fans seen at the matches in Singapore preferred eating at McDonald’s, whereas fans seen at matches in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and the US preferred MOS Burger, HungryJack’s, Subway and Chipotle respectively.
• Fans from Japan seem to be the most active travelers during and after the tournaments in 2018. Residents of Japan were seen at all four International Rugby Test Matches even when their home team was not playing - they preferred watching HK sevens, CWG Sevens, and RWC Sevens; significantly fewer fans from Japan were seen at the Singapore Sevens.
• For tourists to other countries, Holiday Inn was the top preferred hotel across host cities (Japan, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Hongkong, and the USA) followed by Marriott and Novotel.

Some key questions the study will cover:

• Who was at the Rugby games?
• What was the profile of fans visiting other countries (tourists)?
• Where were Rugby Fans seen other than the stadiums?
• What were the brand preferences of the Rugby Fans?