New Balance has unveiled a new commemorative Glasgow Celtic kit as part of the club’s ‘Live the Legend’ campaign celebrating its iconic Lisbon Lions side.
The club’s kit supplier has created a special shirt to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1967 European Cup winning side – the first British team to lift the trophy.
This new 2017/18 home kit pays homage to the jerseys worn by the team that beat Inter Milan in the famous Lisbon final.
For most lifetime Celtic fans, Thursday 25 May 1967 is the greatest day in the club’s long history: the day manager Jock Stein’s side beat the mighty Inter Milan 2-1 at the Estadio Nacional.
The kit itself was unveiled at a Celtic/New Balance event at outside Celtic Park stadium on 4 May which was live streamed across the brand and club’s Facebook Live and YouTube platforms.
Three players from that Lisbon Lions squad – Bobby Lennox, John Clark and Bertie Aulds – were at the unveiling ceremony in person and discussed their memories of the final and reflected on what the club means to them with the fans and the media.
Indeed, this latter facet of the activation approach forms the core creative of the campaigns central content piece: a new film led by archive footage from the famous game and included voiceovers from some of the Lisbon Lions themselves as they reflect on their memories of the occasion.
The video, also launched on 4 May, reaches a climax with the players reprising the now famous quote from manager Jock Stein “This can be a year to remember for the rest of our lives” before revealing the new 50th anniversary Home Kit alongside the campaign tagline “Live the Legend.”
The campaign, created in harness with New Balance Football’s global creative agency Zak, also spans outdoor and print, as well as running on the club’s and the sportswear supplier’s social and digital channels.
The new strip itself, which is officially released on 23 May, features a special gold edition of the Scottish champion club’s crest with the phrase ‘Lisbon 50th Anniversary 25 May 1967’ written around it in Portuguese.
While the two teams who competed in the 1967 final are commemorated in the inner back neck of the jersey: where the green and white hoops of Celtic and the black and blue stripes of Inter Milan are featured.
New Balance’s new jerseys are also a tighter fit that both reflects the 1960s style trend and also acts as a nod to Stein’s tactical instructions for the team to wear tighter strips so that the Inter Milan players could not pull on their tops.
The #CelticFC and @CelticFCWomen players take to the stage! #LiveTheLegend pic.twitter.com/w2VTOVhvbb
— Celtic Football Club (@celticfc) May 4, 2017
The new #CelticFC @NBFootball 2017/18 Home Kit is out now! #LiveTheLegend
Pre-order here https://t.co/Kcw8mR9zMP pic.twitter.com/2Dq3xCbpcH
— Celtic Football Club (@celticfc) May 7, 2017
The various campaign assets are all linked by the #LiveTheLegend campaign hashtag,
and the supporting social media executions focus on amplifying the launch event itself,
We look back at a fantastic day on the Celtic Way as we unveiled our brand new @NBFootball 2017/18 home kit. #LiveTheLegend pic.twitter.com/eQX08Dy0qg
— Celtic Football Club (@celticfc) May 5, 2017
the design details,
New Home Kit introduces a classic look to pay homage to our historic European Cup win. #LiveTheLegend
Pre-order https://t.co/Kcw8mR9zMP pic.twitter.com/PdEA83GLUi
— Celtic Football Club (@celticfc) May 7, 2017
The new 17/18 Home Kit has a specially commissioned, commemorative gold crest.
A unique feature for next season https://t.co/1OeI2k6aaL pic.twitter.com/17nrZunzYG— Celtic Football Club (@celticfc) May 7, 2017
as well as simply driving pre-orders.
#LiveTheLegend of 1967 this summer!
Pre-order the Champions' new 2017/18 Home Kit by @NBFootball today.
https://t.co/1OeI2k6aaL pic.twitter.com/IDc8cHYCM5
— Celtic Football Club (@celticfc) May 8, 2017
“Celtic is one of Europe’s biggest and most successful clubs and we’re excited to be able to celebrate its past and present success,” said New Balance Football senior marketing manager Kenny McCallum at the launch.
“We’ve created a campaign that is inspired by an amazing moment in the club’s history but is also about looking forward and building on the current success.”
“This is such a big anniversary for the club, and we wanted to create a kit which marked the historic victory of the team 50 years ago,” adds New Balance Football GM Richard Wright.
“The kit has a classic look, which is something Celtic is renowned for across the world, but it also incorporates the latest New Balance technology to help the players perform to the very highest level.”
Activative Comment:
This is the second New Balance football club kit launch of the week that is built around an anniversary: the other being its new Liverpool home kit which celebrates the club’s 150th anniversary (see case study).
While the design details of both strips pay homage to the past, the creative approach of the Celtic campaign is backward looking, while Liverpool’s campaign is very much set in the present.
Links:
Celtic FC
https://www.facebook.com/CelticFC
https://www.youtube.com/CelticFC
New Balance
https://www.youtube.com/user/NBFootballOfficial
https://www.facebook.com/NewBalanceUK/
https://www.youtube.com/user/NewBalanceUK
https://www.instagram.com/newbalanceuk/
ZAK
