23 July saw EA Sports launch a spot teasing the release of its flagship FIFA 21 football game fronted by former France and Manchester United forward Eric Cantona.
Timed to coincide with the climax of the main European league seasons, the online film mixes gameplay with footage of housebound players.
It was created in-house by EA Games with home-shot footage by the players themselves, the ad features Paris Saint-Germain attacker Kylian Mbappé, Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland, Liverpool fullback Trent Alexander-Arnold and Atlético Madrid’s Joao Félix all discussing their childhood upbringing and passion for their clubs while playing the game itself.
Joining these current stars is iconic ex-footballer turned actor Eric Cantona who plays the game as a younger version of himself.
The video, which merges real, physical world footage with and in-game animation, was created by Paul Hunt and Donal O’Keeffe, and directed by Keane Pearce Shaw via Riff Raff and MPC.
O’Keeffe, art director at MPC, said: “Each player was given a camera and was tasked to provide self-shot footage taken from the comfort of their own homes and surroundings. However, for this film each footballer was given a collection of old and new camera types, which meant that the film automatically feels very warm and personal, like we’re getting a rare glimpse into our football heroes lives, their thoughts and aspirations.”
The game itself, which features Mbappé as the cover star, official launches on 9 October and this teaser campaign seeks to drive pre-sale orders.
Win as one.#FIFA21 drops October 9th.
See all the features coming this fallhttps://t.co/UGiXnq7atj@KMbappe @joaofelix70 @trentaa98 @ErlingHaaland pic.twitter.com/am5Iao64kx
— EA SPORTS FIFA (@EASPORTSFIFA) July 23, 2020
Outcome:
Despite the avalanche of games played out since lockdown eased across Europe and leagues scrambled to finish their late running seasons, there still seems to be plenty of appetite out there for the beautiful game as EA’s teaser spot racked up 1.2m views on its YouTube channel in its first 24 hours.
Comment:
The timing of the spot seeks to both leverage spoking soccer interest around the end of the European season and also to alleviate the post-season blues.
This campaign follows on from last year’s FIFA 20 ‘Wrong Way To Play’ spot which was created by Adam & Eve/DDB and themed around the idea of sporting disruptors. It featuring footballers Jadon Sancho and Megan Rapinoe, as well as boxer Anthony Joshua which aimed to challenge public perceptions of the beautiful game.
It also follows on from the 10 March 2020 lockdown launch of the EA Sports and Adidas data-driven ‘GMR’ initiative which uses real-life football skills to improve players’ performance on FIFA Mobile (see case study).
Links:
EA Sports FIFA
https://www.ea.com/games/fifa/fifa-21
https://www.youtube.com/c/easportsfifa
https://www.facebook.com/easportsfifa
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