NRL 2020: The NRL will return to the past with their stirring Simply The Best campaign

NRL boss Todd Greenberg has given rugby league fans an exclusive glimpse at the updated Simply the Best commercial, a nod to Tina Turner’s famous anthem that celebrates the code’s diversity. WATCH THE AD AND VOTE IN OUR POLL

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The NRL has been given the tick of approval from music legend Tina Turner to launch their brand new 2020 campaign featuring her iconic song Simply the Best.

Speaking at The Courier-Mail’s NRL launch in Brisbane, league boss Todd Greenberg gave the audience an exclusive glimpse at the new campaign, which will be released to the public on Monday night.

He said Turner had just seen the stirring two-minute commercial herself, with the campaign to be followed by a behind-the-scenes documentary on its creation.

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Greenberg said it had taken his team a significant period of time to put together the Simply The Best advertisement to mark the 30th anniversary of the iconic 1990 NRL campaign featuring Turner.

Singer Tina Turner with Allan Langer, Andrew Ettingshausen and Wayne Pearce during filming of the original 1990 Simply the Best rugby league advertising campaign. Picture: Peter Muhlbock.

“There’s something very special about 2020,” Greenberg announced at the launch.

“Just 24 hours ago, Tina watched it and loved it and loved its imagery.

“She was genuinely humbled to know we were bringing it back.

“The question we faced was, how do you replicate the best sports marketing campaign that was ever made in this country? The answer is, you just can’t.

“You don’t try to replicate it. You simply try to celebrate it.”

The ad starts with a young boy portraying Melbourne Storm skipper Cameron Smith in 1990 watching the Turner ad for the first time.

Cameron Smith is featured in the new NRL Simply The Best campaign. Picture: AAP Image/David Crosling.

It then goes on to feature every NRL team, including the women’s game, and has a significant nod towards the code’s Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander players, as well as their LGBTQ athletes.

It ends with a young girl watching Smith on television playing in his 400th game.

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“The 2020 campaign not only returns the greatest sports marketing anthem that’s ever been made with Simply The Best, it also provides a true celebration of rugby league over the 30 years since that anthem was very first played,” he said.

“(It shows) the greatest and most iconic moments in the sport across the last three decades with input from a range of people across the game celebrated all to the music of Simply The Best.

“Rugby league is inclusive. Always was, always will be. This campaign celebrates that inclusive tone but it raises the bar again. Former players, current players, males and females all involved.”