A new retro clothing capsule collection campaign from Arsenal FC parodied high fashion through a tongue-in-cheek mockumentary led campaign featuring the club’s new Creative Director Ray Parlour.
The comic campaign revolved around the club appointing former player and perennial fan favourite Ray Parlour – nicknamed the Romford Pelé – as its new fashion creative director.
Parlour fronts a spoof documentary style spot as he sketches, stitches and photographs his designs as he develops the club’s 2022/23 Retro Collection.
The spot, which was created with agency Weirdo and distributed across owned and earned channels, also featured current club players Martin Odegaard, William Saliba, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Eddie Nketiah and was backed with a set of supporting social pieces.
To support the short film, there was also a parody high-fashion ‘Ray’s fashion Parlour’ pop-up at the corner of London’s Brewer Street and Air Street open from 2 to 4 December where the range was also available.
The launch of this retro-inspired apparel line rolled out from 2 December and the all gender / all age group collection – which was made available on Arsenal Direct – features 11 items including varsity jackets, windbreakers, hoodies, tees and trackpants.
“The noughties were a fantastic decade for Arsenal, so it’s great to be part of the collection that pays homage to one of our golden periods,” commented Parlour in a campaign PR statement. “I’m buzzing to open the doors of Ray’s Fashion Parlour to our supporters and give them a chance to get their hands on our new collection!”
The campaign was created for client Arsenal Football Club by a team at agency Weirdo which included Creative Director Louis Persent, Strategy Director Michelle Yeadon, Senior Creative George Wheeler, Senior Strategist Kate Knowles, Designer Jack Rawlings and Production Coordinator Tinashe Mpavaenda.
Production was handled by Directors Crooked Cynics, with Producers Eden Clark and Chloe Green, Director of Photography Edward Tucker, Photographer Ellyse Anderson and Stylist Efe Igbinadolor.
Comment
A fine example of how a sports right owner can use light-hearted comedy to tap into fan culture and poke a little fun at itself around the sarcastic supporter in-joke around Arsenal’s tendency to want to be a ‘fashion club’ rather than a ‘football club’.
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