Star Wars baddies face-to-face with the England Rugby Team in the opening scene of the Marriott Sevens TV advert.
England Rugby and Disney UK have joined forces to create a national advertising campaign to promote this year's galactic-themed Marriott London Sevens.
The Marriott London Sevens is the ninth and final tournament on the HSBC Sevens World Series and will take place at Twickenham, London on May 16 and 17, 2015.
The UAE tournament took place in December 2014.
The advert shows Star Wars villain Darth Vader, and C-3PO appear at Twickenham Stadium to compete against the England Rugby team, who take to the field to face the challenge.
Sophie Goldschmidt, chief commercial and marketing officer, Rugby Football Union (RFU) said: “We’re very excited to be working with such a well-known and respected brand as Disney on this year’s Marriott London Sevens, especially as this is a first for a UK Sports’ Governing Body.
“To be working with such a globally recognised entity as Star Wars reflects both the growing profile of sevens and the popularity of the event.”
Anna Hill, chief marketing officer, Disney UK & Ireland added: “It’s been great fun to work with England Rugby to develop a one-of-a-kind campaign that will excite rugby and Star Wars fans in the UK, and the campaign is brilliantly brought to life by the Star Wars characters in this memorable and expertly-produced ad. It’s another great example of the ground-breaking campaigns we can create for brands.”
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The campaign launched on March 24 with a 30-second spot which will air for seven weeks across a number of UK TV channels including Disney Channel, Disney XD and Disney Junior as well as Sky Sports, Dave and Channel 4 for VOD.
The deal was developed by England Rugby and Disneymedia+, the integrated ad sales, promotions and marketing solutions arm of Disney UK & Ireland.
Rugby sevens, a variation of the traditional Rugby Union game with seven players instead of the usual fifteen, is increasing in popularity and will feature as an Olympic sport as of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
The HSBC Sevens World Series is an annual series of international rugby sevens tournaments featuring national sevens teams.
Teams compete for the HSBC Sevens World Series title by accumulating points based on their finishing position in each tournament.
The current season's circuit 2014/15 consists of nine tournaments in eight countries, and visits five of the six populated continents, Australia, the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, New Zealand, the United States, Hong Kong, Japan, Scotland and England each host one event.
The Marriott London Sevens is the largest two day tournament on the series.
On Sunday May 17 the winner of the Marriott London Sevens and the overall series winner will be crowned.
The top four nations in the HSBC Sevens World Series will automatically qualify for the Rio Olympics in 2016.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the latest instalment of the Star Wars saga, will be in cinemas worldwide from December 18, 2015.
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