ECB Cricket Roadshow to promote Twenty20 Cup

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has launched a brand new Cricket Roadshow experience sponsored by England Team sponsor, Vodafone. Designed to heighten cricket's appeal and to attract new audiences to county cricket's revolutionary Twenty20 Cup competition in particular, the ECB estimate it will bring a cricket experience to over 250,000 people this summer.

Three identical seven-metre trailers house the Cricket Roadshow experiences. Entering the trailer, people immediately find themselves transported into a changing room, with all the familiar sights, sounds and the smell of Ralgex in the air. The spectators then enter the main audiovisual environment - a darkened room with astroturf under foot and perimeter boards along the front wall.

Visitors are treated to a multi-sensory audio-visual cricket experience. Transported to the middle of a match, they experience the excitement and tension of cricket from the perspective of the batsman, bowler, fielder and the crowd via a seamless, immersive audio-visual with surround sound. A system of three projectors running three sets of synchronized footage onto the screen is used to create the upbeat, fast-moving sensory experience.

In addition to the audio-visual experience, the Cricket Roadshows feature a batak 'reaction' wall, an inflatable net for children to hone their cricket skills, and a BBC Radio listening post.

Initially, the experience will visit a mixture of sports and outdoor events, beach fronts, shopping centres and commercial hubs throughout the country - particularly to publicise the up-coming Twenty20 Cup competition. Thereafter, it will support domestic games, npower Test Matches and matches in The NatWest Challenge and The NatWest Series.

Stuart Robertson, ECB Marketing Manager, said: "We wanted to build a Cricket Roadshow which would bring the game of cricket to life with the aim of encouraging people to attend major county and international matches, some of whom for perhaps the first time . The three units will tour the country throughout the summer and showcase the very best of cricket to a wide audience."

The Roadshow units have been built by specialist roadshow agency, Watermark Event Management and brand experience specialists, RPM have consulted on the project.