A Columbian beer brand tackles kit prices and Wimbledon returns.

Weekly Sports Marketing Creative Showcase 26th June

Welcome to the third weekly sports marketing creative showcase. Each week I’ll be highlighting what’s caught my eye over the past week in sports marketing from brand adverts, social media content, OOH, activations and more. This week the team behind the team is in focus, brands get reactive at the World Cup and the eve of Wimbledon sees a masterclass from a GOAT…

Campaigns / Platforms

Aguila - Resize the Price

The World Cup of ads, if you will, has been taking place in the south of France this week as the advertising industry drinks a lot of Rosé and talks about ads and AI. It is a chance to see work that sometimes escapes the attention when following too many western brands and trade publications and I was very pleased to discover work from Columbian beer brand Aguila. ‘Resize the Price’ responds to the ever increasing rip off that is football shirts with the campaign giving Columbia fans the chance to own the national team shirt at a reduced prize, in return for wearing the brand’s logo. The bigger the logo, the bigger the discount. Next week I’ll have a deeper run down of the all the sports work that was honoured at Cannes and what the main themes running through were. I will try not to use the headline ‘Cannes they kick it? These ads Cannes!’ but I make no promises.

Wimbledon set to serve up a feast of brand activity

The 139th edition of Wimbledon starts on Monday and we’re starting to see a range of official sponsors and brands connected to the sport roll out creative work, activations and collabs. Lacoste are rolling out a content series of masterclasses with Novak Djokovic.

Wimbledon is bringing SW19 to New York this weekend with Andre Agassi and a host of activations and experiences taking place in Central Park. Lavazza is giving it’s London store a Wimbledon makeover. Evian are releasing limited edition bottle bags created by UK artists Ed Curtis, Hattie Stewart and Diana Al Shammari. Stella are releasing a limited edition strawberries and cream edition with associated merch.

Callaway Golf - Nothing Beats This Father’s Day Ad

Lovely film built around real people rather than the professionals, with the final scene even featuring a member of Callaway’s own marketing team sharing an unscripted moment with his son.

Chase - A Coach’s Influence

Chase have launched a new campaign to celebrate the power of grassroots coaching and their commitment to it, with an emotive film from Droga5 that shows the coaching influence. The American bank sponsors the home nations teams in the UK and has funded 6,000 coaching qualifications to date. The campaign is through the line and supported by a nice social idea by We Are Social, who are behind the Oracle Teller Machine that will embrace the World Cup’s unpredictability through fortune-telling mini statements that show support for the England and Scotland teams.

Volvo - Parents

Keeping with the grassroots theme is Volvo, who celebrate the unsung heroes of grassroots football, the mums and dads who are up early, showing their support, sorting out kit, organising lifts and being the transport to games. Zlatan Ibrahimović appears briefly as star power, but blends into the film as one of many football parents. Nice craft and storytelling by Qvennerstedt Eghammer Malm.

Walmart - Believe

Canadian soccer star Jonathan David stars in a Walmart ad titled Believe, which charts the story of his journey to representing his nation at the World Cup.

Google Pixel - Made for the Beautiful Chaos

I caught the short idents on ITV of Google Pixel’s World Cup campaign after I did a big World Cup ad round up so want to highlight them now as they do a great job of showing product features through the beautiful chaos of fan moments only a global tournament can bring. The campaign from Dark Horses showcases the Pixel’s AI-powered camera features through beautifully shot, visceral fan moments with specific films for France, Spain and Germany.

Heineken - Soccer Translation Billboards

Heineken are running OOH billboards translating soccer terms for fans more used to other US sports across select World Cup Host Cities including New York, Philadelphia and Atlanta.

Molson Coors - The Beer Fling

With so many people visiting North America from around the world and people having their domestic beer habits and go to favourites, Molson Coors are inviting visitors to have a beer fling this summer. I love this. Such a simple insight turned into nice copy and execution.

Coors Light - Tall Girl Can

Coors Light recently became the first Official Beer of the Toronto Tempo, Canada’s inaugural WNBA team and created the Coors Light Tall Girl to celebrate. A 473ml beer can, commonly known as a Tall Boy is renamed for this limited-edition version that will be available at forthcoming Tempo games.

Social Media / Content

Rassvet and Nike SB: Every Dawn Counts

Skateboard brand Rassvet and Nike SB come together for this engrossing film called Every Dawn Counts that explores creativity, rhythm and self-expression.

And the No.1 pick in the draft goes to…AJ Dybantsa’s sponsors

I love how Name, Image, Likeness has helped college athletes cut brand deals before needing to go pro. Now come NBA draft night, lottery picks are already working with multiple brands and those expected to go number 1 will have their brands all lining up with their pre-planned reactive content. When AJ Dybantsa went no.1 this week to the Washington Wizards, Nike, Red Bull, Hublot, Kenzo and Topps were all ready.

KD x Champagne Papi

Been loving the back and forth between Kevin Durant and Drake in these videos to promote the release of the Purple Candies.

The most wonderful time of the year

Fixture release day gives football fans the chance to look ahead with optimism and plan potential away days, look for the tough run of fixtures and how they might start or end the season. Some clubs get very creative with this. Mansfield and Port Vale used the best and weirdest of the internet to reveal theirs. Birmingham and Wrexham made digs to Southampton over Spygate and Charlton brought back their legendary manager Alan Curbishley as their new head of AI.

Experiential / Stunts / PR

Non-Sponsors get around the ban

FIFA didn’t let any stadiums in the US with naming rights to keep the branded name for the tournament as they aren’t official sponsors. Levi’s (San Francisco) and Gillette (Boston) both got around the ban creatively using brand and category cues. Heinz were gifted with an open goal to tap in when a picture went viral of their condiments having the Heinz name taped over. It lent perfectly to their ‘It Has to be Heinz’ campaign and the brand has even created their own ‘Unofficial Stadium Ketchup’ censored bottles and sachets in Toronto.

Look Up

Coca-Cola announced their partnership with the Rugby World Cup with a drone show over Sydney Harbour.

Visit Seattle has created the first drone scoreboard with a nightly show over the city’s skies following each game they’re hosting at the World Cup. People are gathering at the Seattle Center to catch the futuristic scoreboard next to the iconic Space Needle. The scoreboard broadcasts each final score along with the two team’s flags.

Germany and Nike kit tease

Nike are teasing their partnership with Germany on a floating billboard on the Hudson River. It’s going to be so weird seeing Germany in a Nike jersey after 70 years with adidas. Nothing is $acred any more.