AFL turns to fans rather than players to celebrate season return in new ad
Fans and commentators from across the ages are the stars in a new AFL campaign that stitches together various games and eras to celebrate the return of the code ahead of its season-opener next week.
The latest work from Cummins & Partners, under the ‘You Make the Game’ platform, features a continuous panning shot of crowds down the years at the MCG celebrating some historic milestones in the competition’s history, and features the voices of some of the best known commentators.
Julian Dunne, head of marketing & insights for the AFL said “The atmosphere at footy games makes the live experience truly unique, both our new and traditional fans tell us this consistently.
“We have some of the most loyal and passionate fans in the world and we wanted to ensure our season launch campaign reflected the role that our supporters play in the game. The objective of the campaign was to communicate this to our fans and really build anticipation for the start of the season”.
Jim Ingram, executive creative director of Cummins & Partners said: “The AFL challenged us to create something epic and original, and we’d like to think we’ve done that.
“Further, we’ve tried to balance capturing the energy and excitement of the game, without relying on footage of players taking species, and kicking bananas.”
The AFL football season kicks off on March 24 when Richmond take on Carlton at the MCG.
Finally the penny has dropped and someone has produced a sporting ad that celebrates the experience of “being there”. I think this is what the NRL tried to do with their ad using the same insight and strategy. Unfortunately they fell way short by mostly using TV game footage and strange shaky phone camera video to string their ad together. Congratulations to C&P and the AFL. Incidentally I am far from being a fan of either but credit where it is due
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Thanks Tom G
It’s nice to hear an insightful and positive comment.
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Sensational. I’m sitting at my desk with the hair on my arms standing to attention. It’s beautifully emotive work; well done 🙂
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Wonderful presentation. Well done to all.
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