Don't Call It Rugby

Ultimate Sevens, the new rugby sevens championship, has launched its global campaign ahead of the upcoming championship’s inaugural season starting in September.

The global campaign, "Don't Call It Rugby” was created by agency partner Brothers & Sisters and aims to challenge perceptions of rugby and introduce a new era for the sport. It puts Ultimate Sevens at the heart of culture and entertainment and reinvigorates rugby sevens.

The online film showcases the progressive nature of Ultimate Sevens and features leading rugby sevens players including Henry Hutchison, Maddi Levi, Thalia Costa and Manu Moreno. The messaging is bold, with lines including: "Don't call it Rugby, when this is a whole new era"; “Don't call it a kick-off, when it's a show starter"; "Don't call it stop-start, when it never lets up”; and "Don't call it old-school, when we're creating the next move".

The film highlights Ultimate Sevens’ innovative format, live events, player personalities, inclusive fan offering and commitment to elevating both the men's and women's game with complete parity.

Brothers & Sisters won the brief without a formal pitch in April and has created the spot using its AI studios, harnessing AI’s creative potential to stretch and play with the physics of rugby, combining real footage of the players into an AI world.

The campaign - produced in English, French and Spanish - aims to drive excitement and engagement around Ultimate Sevens’ four European live events, in Leganes Madrid, Cardiff, Biarritz, and Brentford London, while attracting new audiences to the game.

Combining world-class sporting competition with entertainment, culture, lifestyle and fan-first experiences, Ultimate Sevens’ ambition is to enhance the rugby sevens ecosystem and help make it one of the most followed, enjoyed and engaged sporting disciplines in the world.

Reece Littlejohn, Global Marketing Director at Ultimate Sevens said: “‘Don’t Call It Rugby’ is more than a campaign line; it is a statement of intent for where we believe sevens can go, and will go, with the new Championship. Ultimate Sevens is here to reimagine the sport, the way it engages with new and existing fans and how it can connect with a new generation who want their live sport to feel faster, more accessible and more culturally relevant.

“We want to create an experience that celebrates elite rugby sevens, and fans of the sport from across the world, while opening the door to new audiences through entertainment, storytelling and moments that live beyond the pitch.”

Matt Charlton CEO, at Brothers & Sisters, said: “We are lucky enough to have some of the best and most creative AI enabled storytellers in the world in the agency and we have used these skills to tell a fresh and disruptive story in sport that is breaking free into a new era where sport and entertainment are the same thing”

For more information and ticket updates, visit www.ultimatesevens.com