Warriors 2025 season sponsorship
For the 2025 season, Best Foods and the One NZ Warriors teamed up with renowned creative director and choreographer Lance Savali to create a high-energy campaign built for fans, social, and stadium screens alike. Blending music, choreography, humour, and game-day hype, the campaign brought a fresh creative lens to the long-running partnership, turning fan energy into something audiences could watch, share, dance to, and be part of throughout the season.
The challenge
Now in its fifth season, the Best Foods x Warriors partnership needed to keep showing up in a way that felt fresh, culturally relevant, and worthy of the hype surrounding the 2025 season. The challenge was to create a campaign that could unite fans across stadium, social, and game-day experiences, while continuing to build genuine emotional connection between the brand, the team, and the “Up the Wahs”
The Insight
Warriors fandom isn’t passive, it’s loud, emotional, collective, and deeply rooted in shared rituals. “Up the Wahs” had evolved beyond a chant into a cultural rally cry, giving us the opportunity to tap into something fans already owned, loved, and passionately participated in.
The idea
Create a fan anthem, and cultural wave.
Partnering with Lance Savali, we transformed the iconic chant into a stadium-ready track complete with choreography designed for crowd participation and TikTok replication, even featuring a cheeky Best Foods jar beat drop. The campaign brought together hype, humour, and heart to create a piece of content fans could chant, dance to, share, and celebrate together.
The execution
The campaign launched with a social-first teaser phase, “Backstage with Best Foods”, using playful behind-the-scenes stills and content moments to build anticipation ahead of the hero launch.
The hero film followed Lance Savali from Warriors HQ to the field in a high-energy journey that culminated in a surprise cameo from Warriors legend Shaun Johnson. Designed to feel epic yet playful, the film captured the energy and spirit of Warriors fandom while embedding Best Foods naturally into the action.
The campaign rolled out across Warriors and Best Foods social channels, digital platforms, and Warriors home games throughout the season, including stadium big-screen placements to rally fans live on game day.
Alongside the content campaign, fans also had the chance to experience the “Best Seats” - premium field side seats offered throughout the season, bringing supporters closer to the action than ever before. Fans were able to dance their way to the Best Seat in the house with a dance-off competition.
The impact
The campaign reached and motivated The Wahs passionate fan base:
Hero film - played on social & the big screen at the game
Best Seats throughout the season
Backstage teaser
Dance off competition - win Best Seats
One NZ Warriors digital and social channels
