Football superstars and brand ambassadors Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo front a classic, cerebral, chess-themed, photography-led ‘Victory Is A State Of Mind’ campaign for Louis Vuitton activating its FIFA partnership leveraging Qatar 2022.
The campaign is built around imagery shot by American portrait photography legend Annie Leibovitz which focuses on the two soccer rivals – who regularly feature in the age-old football debate about the greatest player of all time – playing chess.
The chess board sits on top of a Louis Vuitton trunk case and the moody, low-lit, muted lead image sees the Argentina and Portugal players dressed in black and seated opposite one another in thoughtful, almost sculptural poses.
The campaign itself is built around a hero photograph amplified across social and print and supported by a behind-the-scenes online video (which suggests that the pair were not even in the same room when the campaign was shot) and a PR strand.
Both players and the brand posted the hero image on Instagram where it generated more than 60m views within 48 hours.
Comment
This classic campaign is based around a single striking image – with classical composition and atmospheric lighting generating a powerful, contemplative tension – which hints at the artist styles of the Dutch Old masters from 15th to 17th centuries.
After decades of sporting and marketing rivalry (Messi with Adidas and Barcelona, Ronaldo with Nike and Real Madrid), this is the first time that the two greatest footballers of their generation (possibly of all time) have appeared together in an ad campaign.
The campaign leverages the current spiking interest in chess: which stretches from Netflix hit ‘Queens Gambit’, to the game’s resurgence during lockdown and recent high media profile linked to a cheating scandal at the top of the game.
It has also received scrutiny and interest within the chess community itself: with a focus on how the pieces are placed on the board in the hero image asset. Grandmaster Peter Heine Nielsen and Chess.com noted that the chess pieces are positioned to recreate a pivotal moment in the famous 2017 match between World Champion Magnus Carlsen and challenger Hikaru Nakamura.
That game ended in a draw.
https://t.co/zTKf7r0pKn pic.twitter.com/spzdZQgFUQ
— Peter Heine Nielsen (@PHChess) November 19, 2022
Looks like a prearranged draw to me. https://t.co/zTKf7ri0BV
— Peter Heine Nielsen (@PHChess) November 19, 2022
For Louis Vuitton, this campaign follows in the footsteps of its other trophy case linked sports partnership activations including its marketing around the Russia 2018 FIFA World Cup and the campaign leveraging its rights around the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
Leave a comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.