The
Incomparables
When a boy comes up through the men’s game they call him the next Johnathan Thurston, the next Joey Johns. Comparison is how rugby league hands out status. The women had nobody to be the next of. Before the Jillaroos there were barely players, let alone legends, and no highlight reel anyone had grown up watching.
With a real competition they were building a different game anyway, one that rewards speed over size and looks nothing like the men’s. So we stopped hunting for a comparison and made that the point. The Incomparables.
The same problem turned up in the art direction. There was no library of women’s league imagery worth borrowing from, so the visual direction got built from nothing: references, framing, how it should look and how it should cut, then through the edit. Shot with Photoplay. Then the rollout and the collateral, which is most of what an integrated campaign actually is.
Role: Idea, platform and art direction, with Taylor Thornton
Year: 2019
Client: NRL
Credits: Josie Burns and Matt Ennis (creative directors), Damon Porter and Taylor Thornton (copywriters), James Chappell (director), Photoplay (production)