‘Big Air’ and ‘Slopestyle’ may not be the first two words that come to time when it comes to Belgium.
A mountainless nation, known for its flat landscape, Belgium has, unsurprisingly, never hosted the Winter Olympics.
But that hasn’t prevented the country from producing a multi World Champion medal winning snowboarder and several other outstanding winter sports athletes.
So to support the Belgian Winter Olympics team at Sochi 2014 a new ad has been released called ‘In Belgium we don’t need mountains to win medals’.
A collaboration between broadcaster Sporza, the Belgian Olympic & Interfederal Committee (COIB) and ad agency BBDO Belgium, the TV spot features a team of snowboarders riding across Belgium’s flat landscape (without a flake of snow anywhere in sight).
The boarders riding the dirt and grass of the countryside are led by multiple World Champion Belgian Winter Olympic superstar Seppe Smits.
The film, directed by Arnaud Uyttenhove and with production from Caviar, is set to Jacques Brel’s ‘Le Plat Pays / The Flat Land’ – a popular Belgian song.
The track is all about how flat the country’s landscape is and includes the following lyrics:
‘With cathedrals as the only mountains
And black bell towers like pathways to heaven
Where stone devils pull down the clouds
With the passage of time as the only journey
And the wet roads as the only good night.
With the wind from the west, listen to it wish
This flat land that is mine.’
The campaign is presented by Sporza, the TV, radio and online sports arm of the country’s public broadcaster VRT and the channel which covers both the Summer and Winter Olympics in Belgium.
The TVC began airing on 23 November on VRT and RTBF and is supported by colourful print ads featuring leading Belgian boarders, skaters, skiers and tobogganists.
The campaign also spans the Belgium Olympic Team’s Facebook page and Twitter feed.
All year Sporza, which also currently has an ‘Olympic Games City’ gaming app on its Facebook page, has been following the training regimes and performances of Belgian athletes aiming for Sochi 2014.
The initiative is primarily focused on the broadcaster’s website and it includes video, Facebook and Twitter work featuring webfilms, interviews, news and views.
Comment
A light-hearted, humorous and beautifully shot piece of creative, this campaign sees rights owner, broadcaster, ad agency and athlete ambassador combine their skills, rights and reach to generate excitement around the team’s Sochi 2014 adventure across a nation not well known for winter sports.
Links
Campaign YouTube Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f76PQbNAaPE
Sporza Website
http://www.sporza.be/cm/sporza
Sporza Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/sporza
Belgian Olympics Association Website
Belgian Winter Olympics Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/BelgianOlympicTeam
Belgian Winter Olympics Twitter
Sochi 2014 Website
