Rebel Sport and The General Store paint a bleak picture of sports-less Australia in new campaign

November 3, 2025 11:51

Wattleford residents being introduced to sports

Sports retailer Rebel Sport and creative agency The General Store have launched a campaign that emphasises how integral sport is to the Australian way of life.

Rebel’s “Town Without Sport” platform is set in the fictional town of Wattleford, where sporting activities and equipment are non-existent. It’s featured in a 60-second film that shows Wattleford’s residents talking about their everyday lives, until a rugby ball is discovered “in the middle of the road” and their worldview expands.

The campaign was designed to evolve Rebel’s 2020 “Sport is Calling” platform — a body of work it developed with The Monkeys Melbourne — while reminding consumers of sport’s influence on Australian society and the “connection, confidence, [and] joy” it gives people.

“For 40 years, Rebel has been part of Australia’s sporting story, helping Australians move, play and connect,” Rosemary Martin, general manager of marketing and e-commerce, said in a media release.

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“We simply couldn’t imagine a life without sport. It brings us together, strengthens our bodies and minds, and builds resilience in our youth. Town Without Sport reminds us what’s at stake when that disappears, and just how much sport gives back to all of us.

“This campaign is a step change for Rebel, connecting storytelling with strategy, and I couldn’t be prouder of what we’ve created.”

The decision to focus on imagery and emotion, rather than exposition, to colour “Town Without Sport” was intentional. For The General Store, the platform was a way to unpack “the cultural weight of sport through the absence of it”, and leverage the idea that “the emotion lies in what’s missing”.

“We wanted people to feel the moment sport calls for the first time. That sense of wonder and energy that lives in our blood,” the agency’s executive creative director, Sharon Edmondston, said in the same release.

“Town Without Sport” began playing in market on November 2, and is viewable across out-of-home, social, BVOD and TV channels.

Credits

GM Marketing & eCommerce: Rosemary Martin
Head of Brand Experience: Adam Lee
Head of Marketing: Brock Coleman
Snr Mrktng Mgr Brand & Retail: Georgia Wilson
Creative Lead: Paige Lawless
Photographer: Tony Berlangieri

Creative agency: The General Store
Partner and CEO: Matt Newell
Partner: Danny Lattouf
Managing Director: Sophie Lander
Strategy Planner: Craig McLeod
ECD: Sharon Edmondston
Creative Team: Hannah Lawson & Jess Beal
Account Director: Pat de Silva

Production company: Rabbit
Director: Al Morrow
DOP: James Brown
Executive Producers & Partners: Alex Hay & Lucas Jenner
General Manager/Producer: Katrina Maw
Producer: Fiona Pakes
Stylist: Janai Anselmi & Jo Ayling
Post production: The Editors
Executive Producer: Rita Gagliardi
Sound: Mosaic
Composer: Adam Moses
Producer: Bill Doig