Leveraging spiking football interest around the FA Cup Final, 19 May saw BBC Sport launch its Russia 2018 ‘History Will Be Made’ marketing campaign with creative led by a 60-second spot focused on a tapestry.
The hero trailer blends old school embroidery with contemporary CGI to tell the tournament’s story through some of its greatest players and most memorable moments.
Drawing its inspirational influence from Russian tapestries, each frame was individually embroidered to highlight a series of iconic World Cup moments from previous World Cups and drawing influence from Russian tapestries.
The initial brief asked for a trailer that captures ‘the global, cultural significance of the World Cup’ (rather than one that focused heavily on football itself).
The BBC Creative duo tasked with the campaign, Xander Hart and Edward Usher, were inspired by how history was once recorded through tapestries and based the creative on two tapestry projects: a seven-foot, wall-hung tapestry designed for public display, and a series of more than 600 embroideries that could be stitched together to form the creative core of BBC World Cup film.
The montage includes victorious England captain’s Bobby Moore’s 1966 trophy holding moment and Iceland’s famous Viking Clap, as well as images of current stars such as Lionel Messi, Harry Kane and Cristiano Ronaldo.
The lead video was helmed by Nicos Livesey through Blinkink, set to a soundtrack formed from a re-arranged version of the classic Russian folk song Ochi Chernye (recorded at Abbey Road, arranged by Alex Baranowski and featuring the voice of Sir John Tomlinson).
The lyrics speak of unification and friendship – the ambition of the World Cup itself.
As well as running across the broadcaster’s TV channels it is also being amplified on all of BBC Sport’s other digital and social platforms from Facebook and YouTube,
to Twitter
#HistoryWillBeMade #bbcworldcup pic.twitter.com/cZb18TSLzz
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) May 20, 2018
and Instagram.
Furthermore, the physical seven-metre long tapestry, extended to include moments from this year’s tournament and so creating a historical record of the World Cup, will be displayed at a museum in the UK.
The tapestry and the spot’s visual style will form the core of the umbrella look and feel for the BBC’s Russia 2018 coverage: from the on-air graphics and website design, to its social media stling and the studios.
Tim Jones, Creative Director at BBC Creative in Salford, said: “Choosing which iconic moments to feature was a detailed process, where do you start and finish with the most iconic tournament in the world? To have made this film and a real life tapestry, is testament to the creativity, talent and ambition of the team in Salford and everyone involved in this project.”
James Parry, Head of Marketing – BBC Sport and Events, added: “The World Cup is steeped in stories, and our campaign brings to life some of its most memorable moments with a unique interpretation of a centuries-old Russian tradition, accompanied by a traditional and iconic piece of music which we all fell in love with instantly.”
Comment:
This trailer is an operatic montage of World Cup history that aims to capture its historic culture significance through a blend of traditional and modern creative methodologies.
The broadcaster modernises a centuries-old creative tradition with today’s animated technology.
An ambitious and thoughtful approach.
The last time Activative can remember a similar ‘tapestry’ led creative approach sitting at the heart of a sports marketing campaign was Royal Ascot’s 2015 ‘Like Nowhere Else’ initiative (see case study).
For further details see The Drum’s How The BBC Made Its Animated World Cup Film | Anatomy Of An Ad
Links:
BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre
https://www.facebook.com/BBCSport/
https://www.instagram.com/bbcsport/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCW6-BQWFA70Dyyc7ZpZ9Xlg/featured
Blinkink
