BMF Sydney poses ‘what is beautiful?’ question in promotional drive for A-League
BMF Sydney has created a TV push for the 2014/15 A-League by promoting Australian football as “something truly unique” which the country is “bloody proud of”.
The 60-second execution promotes the forthcoming season which kicks off on Friday. Live coverage is on SBS One – having been switched from SBS Two – and Foxtel.
The campaign questions what constitutes the beautiful game, with passion, bad tackles and controversy featuring in the ad in addition to traditional moments of skill.
BMF executive creative director Cam Blackley said: “We’re challenging those who compare the A-League to Serie A, La Liga or the EPL. A-League is a uniquely Australian brand of the beautiful game. It’s quick, raw, physical and loaded with skill that impresses the big names that come to play in it. It’s our beautiful game and we’re bloody proud of it.”
Football Federation Australia chief executive David Gallop said it wants to challenge football fans’ definition of the beautiful game.
“Sure, the A-League has the goals, the skills and the moments that leave you wondering ‘how the hell did they do that?’ But it’s about much more than that,” he said. “It’s about the unorthodox, the unpredictable and the unrivalled levels of passion from our fans.
“The team at BMF clearly understood the nuances of our business and our game – leading to a TVC that we’re extremely proud of.”
The opening game on Friday, which sees Melbourne Victory take on Western Sydney Wanderers, will be screened live on SBS whose directors will closely monitor the TV audience after switching coverage from its secondary channel to SBS One.
SBS director of sport Ken Shipp warned that the network could become a “victim of its own success” if it can generate large audiences and pull in solid advertising revenue.
He predicted that free-to-air networks will be circling when the next round of negotiations begin for the A-League should the 2014/15 season prove to be a success for SBS.
Credits:
Head of Corporate Affairs and Communications: Kyle Patterson
General Manager Marketing and Fan Engagement: Rob Squillacioti
Marketing Executive: Matthew Phelan
Executive Creative Director: Cam Blackley
Senior Copywriter: Jim Curtis
Senior Art Director: Ryan Fitzgerald
Group Account Director: Anthony Moore
Account Director: Will Woods
Planning Director: David Hartmann
Agency Producer: Esta Lau
Director: Ash Bolland
Production Company: Curious Films
Producer: Tara Riddell
Executive Producer: Peter Grasse
Editor: Alexandre de Franceschi
Post Production: The Editors
Music: Rafael May
looks like what’s beautiful is violence. hooliganism and aggression. wont be taking the kids along anytime soon
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@bootboy ball, what a childish level to engage with this on – guessing you’re a rugby fan or similar that’s feeling threatened by football’s rapid growth. Do you really want to talk about hooliganism, violence and aggression considering flares were let off at the NRL grand final (no media coverage, surprise surprise) and fans were stabbed after the AFL granny (again, negligible coverage).
I thought it was a pretty solid effort, if a little sameish compared to A-League ads of years gone by. Maybe the option to play on the A-League’s earlier seasons shouldn’t have been passed up, considering this is the 10th anniversary.
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What is beautiful? Certainly not ugly, skinny men taking off their shirts after scoring goals.
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I like it.
Think the A-League needed that kind of claim on its own sense of self. It has a hugely passionate fan base and it’s well reflected here.
Nice varied mix of footage showing football from top to bottom too.
Well played!
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I smell some fear from a few dinasours above. Football growth is the inevitable consequence of globalisation and the sporting landscape will be very different in a decade. On topic, a strong add which, as stated above, seeks to mark out football’s ‘Australianess’ as it should do. Leagues all my er the world seek to present a domestic ‘character’ and the FFA are right to take this direction.
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A brand that has no meaningful connection to soccer trying in vain to justify the sponsorship by trying to be deep. More waste of money
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I’m a huge fan of the game but this is the same old same old rapid cuts of action, fans and tackles scored to a pumping soundtrack that we see time and time again be it for Any code’s propaganda.
I like the premise of what’s Australia’s version of beautiful but these executions fail to demonstrate this. Everything displayed here can be seen in other football markets, only with greater skill and intensity. More kids participate in football than any other Australian sport but yet again the national brand only seems to want to appeal to angry young men.
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@GRU
‘a brand that has no meaningful connection to soccer?’
….apart from being the league’s main sponsor since its inception 10 years ago?
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Agree with you Ronaldo and bootboy ball. My take out of beautiful seems to be hard physical tackles, pushing and shoving and shouting.
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I see this firstly as a strategy build on differentiation – NRL=aggression, AFL=athleticism, Soccer = Beauty? The hard part is that there needs to be an ingrained love for the game for this to resonate. So you’re sort of bringing Australians along for the journey. Execution-wise, you haven’t really got many options. I think it’s pretty good for the strategy. Good luck.
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