High Five: Reflecting on a Year in Sport

Working on 'This Girl Can', it’s always refreshing to see a brand take a fresh angle on sport. The whole campaign for Gym Group has a very clear and true insight, that many people fear the intimidation of the gym and are terrified of the faces that are pull when working out, but the surreal delivery backed by a fun soundtrack helps to break down this perception. What’s great is that they have been able to balance a huge number of factors: the cast, music, comedic timing, and a variety of tailored messages, but across each execution the gym is always the hero. It’s fun and stands out in a fitness world that often takes itself way too seriously.

I’ve always admired how Beats found and owned a niche for their product - that moment of concentration before a sportsperson or musician takes the stage. When they did this for the Olympics it was all about going for glory, but in this advert, they’ve tapped into wider culture conversations around the harm of online abuse without feeling forced. What’s especially clever is that they’ve managed to make the product feature (noise cancelling headphones) an ally of the likes of Saka and Coman. There’s so much great thinking and craft that’s gone into every stage of this and the whole thing is driven by the perfect choice of music.

Although I do love Nike’s World Cup advert, we shouldn’t forget this amazing send-off that Nike gave Serena only a few months ago. In ‘Change’ they have a big idea that I think we all envy and this is another demonstration about how flexible it can be without losing its power. What is beautiful about this advert, is that Serena defines an era and we have grown up with footage of her since she was a child and the impact she has had on sport (not just tennis) and society. It’s a simple montage but this advert feels like it could only be made for Serena, and it says so much about the times that we live through, and the power of self-belief. All this makes the end line: ‘By changing nothing, she changed everything’ - perfect!

To have Christmas and the World Cup on at the same time is a creative playground and Copa90 have had a great time on this brief. There are so many layers to this campaign. Firstly, subverting your typical supermarket, technology, and perfume advert. They’ve also managed to capture the intimate moments of Christmas and added that layer of obsession that we all experience when the World Cup is on. There are in jokes and plenty of niche football knowledge, but they have delivered in a way that doesn’t exclude anyone. You can tell that they really know who their audience is and what makes them laugh. It’s nice to see good comedy in the advertising world again.

The Premier League is one of the biggest sports brands in the world, but few were aware that it started in 1992 and so have overlooked the impact it has had on communities around the country over the past 30 years. Our 30th anniversary celebration was a huge undertaking that had to celebrate everything that’s been achieved off the pitch, as well as all the glorious highs and lows enjoyed on it. We needed to capture the enormous variety of people, places and moments that make up the Premier League so casting and location were a huge undertaking. Key to our approach was making the players secondary to you, the fans, so there’s a great game of eye spy as you go through. See if you can recognise them all...