The Australian Football League (AFL) celebrates the launch of its 2016 Toyota AFL Premiership Season with new creative running under its existing ‘You Make The Game’ platform.
Led by a fresh TV spot, developed in harness with agency Cummins & Partners Melbourne, the push champions the role of fans in developing the AFL through the years.
The focus is that it is this fervent passion that fuels the on-pitch action and idea is simple: behind every game that’s ever been played, is the fan.
The creative spans supporters through the years: stitching together stadium crowds from various eras and different season to create a continual story that also celebrates some of the AFL’s greatest moments.
The soundtrack mirrors the footage by blending together many of the best known voices and commentators in the AFL’s history who collectively commentate on the action.
In addition to airing across national TV, the flagship new season film is hosted across multiple platforms: including the video centre section of the AFL website, its social spaces such as Facebook, and also on club YouTube channels,
In addition to the TV spot, the campaign for the new season (which kicks off on 24 March when Richmond play Carlton at the massive MCG) is evolving across multiple channels and various assets developed both by Cummins & Partners and by AFL Media.
‘The atmosphere at footy games make the live experience truly unique, both our new and traditional fans tell us this consistently. We have some of the most loyal and passionate fans in the world and we wanted to ensure our season launch campaign reflected the role that our supporters play in the game,’ outlines AFL head of marketing and insight Julian Dunne.
‘The objective of the campaign was to communicate this to our fans and really build anticipation for the start of the season.’
‘The AFL challenged us to create something epic and original, and we’d like to think we’ve done that,’ adds Cummins & Partners executive creative director Jim Ingram.
‘Further, we’ve tried to balance capturing the energy and excitement of the game, without relying on footage of players taking species, and kicking bananas.’
The campaign was developed for AFL commercial operations GM Darren Birch, marketing and insights boss Julian Dunne and brand marketing manager Jemma Wong, by a Cummins & Partners team led by executive creative director Jim Ingram and Ben Couzens.
Other members of the grop at C&P include Trent Hendrick (Senior Art Director), Heath Collins (Art Director), Tom Vizard and Liam Jenkins (Copywriter),Rod Mooseek (Group Account Director), Ollie Ward and Shane Mitropoulos (Integration Directors), Jess Thompson (Head of Broadcast), Naomi Nienaber (Senior Producer) and Adam Ferrier (Chief Strategy Officer).
The production and post work was handled by Finch and AFL Media, while the original music was composed by Dmitri Golovko.
Comment
It is a classic, tried and tested property owner campaign strategy – to build a new season launch campaign around the passion of the fans and to place them at the heart and soul of the sport.
The fan-focused ‘You Make The Game’ concept was first introduced as the league’s big marketing idea at the start of the 2015 season when it was the centrepiece of the AFL’s attempt to win back fan support and trust after two seasons overshadowed by scandal (see case study).
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