Launching Ellie Kildunne’s boot design for Rugby World Cup

To generate widespread coverage for the launch of the 'Speed Falcon Elite' - the world's first rugby boot designed specifically by a female player, Ellie Kildunne.

We leveraged Ellie’s status as World Rugby Player of the Year and the existing media hype surrounding the Rugby World Cup. The strategy positioned the boot not just as a product, but as a historic milestone for women's sport.

PBPR facilitated media access to speak with Ellie and capture content, enabling journalists an insight into Ellie’s personality, alongside discussing the product's performance benefits, built around her signature play-style. PBPR allowed journalists to test the boot, building a strategy to ‘seed’ the boots out in order to ensure coverage was also reflective of the quality of the product.

The story resonated strongly as a moment of progress for women's rugby, securing widespread coverage across top-tier broadsheets and broadcasters, including the BBC, The Times and The Telegraph. The ‘world first’ angle helped secure headlines in both digital and print media, positioning Ellie as one of English rugby’s true superstars.

This elevated profile culminated in her achieving second place at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards, a historic feat that was a representation of the campaign’s ultimate goal in contributing towards a milestone moment for women’s sport.