O2 × Red Roses · #WearTheRose · Women’s rugby

Red Roses are brutiful.

Women’s rugby is brutal and beautiful. With a social-first launch, we told the Roses’ gritty stories: what they battle every day, on and off the pitch.

Client: O2
Agency: M&C Saatchi Sports & Entertainment, London
Role: Creative / Copywriter
Result: +19% national attendance

Brutiful posters for the Red Roses on a London street wall

Rugby nut, rugger-bugger, rugger-head: whatever you call it, I’m one. Maybe that’s why Ronaldo Tavares, ECD at M&C Saatchi Sports & Entertainment, London, brought me in to get more eyeballs on England’s women’s rugby team, the Roses. These brave warriors were tired of being paid peanuts and playing to empty stands.

My first idea was #ROSESHAVEBALLS. The agency loved it; O2 said, “No way.” So we went fun, edgy and national with #WearTheRose: print, OLV, manifesto, social, digital and experiential. National attendance rose by 19%, and the Roses went into the 2025 World Cup with better salaries and contracts.

Not just a beautiful moment in sport, but a brutiful moment to watch.

O2 Red Roses poster: We roar too — OOH · ManifestoRoses are brutiful to watch.Come all you fearless warriors united to face the challenges. Shoulder to shoulder, battling together against all odds.

O2 Red Roses poster: Kicks, smacks, tackles. Isn’t that beautiful? — OOH · ManifestoRoses are brutiful to watch.Come all you fearless warriors united to face the challenges. Shoulder to shoulder, battling together against all odds.

A rugby ball covered in a red rose print — Limited edition ballA ball as brutiful as the game.Rugby balls and kits redesigned with Simone Rocha, taking the sport into fashion and to a younger audience. A percentage of sales went to young, up-and-coming women’s teams.

The Red Roses huddled together, with an interactive player story on a phone — Activations · AR experience & welcome billboardsNever-before-seen stories. A welcome from home.A locker-room manifesto film where every jersey number unlocks a player’s story. And real-time billboards that greeted the Roses in New Zealand with personal messages from their fans.

Fans recording welcome messages shown on airport billboards: Go Roses Go! — Activations · AR experience & welcome billboardsNever-before-seen stories. A welcome from home.A locker-room manifesto film where every jersey number unlocks a player’s story. And real-time billboards that greeted the Roses in New Zealand with personal messages from their fans.

Fans in face paint: posting and yelling to get her heard — SocialPosting to get her attention. Yelling to get her heard.

#WearTheRose Instagram story — SocialPosting to get her attention. Yelling to get her heard.

Hand-drawn Red Roses stickers: roses, rugby ball, posts, players — Stickers & memesNever miss a second of rugby history.With GIPHY, rugby stickers with the Roses’ faces, quotes and MVPs, made in real time for every glorious moment.

Red Roses are brutiful.

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