'It's not Football It's War' for SPN's latest LaLiga Season
Conceptualised by J. Walter Thompson, the campaign tries to show the intensity of the football lovers and to what extent they can go to support their teams
BestMediaInfo Bureau | Mumbai | August 19, 2016
The Sports Cluster of Sony Pictures Network India (SPN) kicks off the 86th edition of LaLiga with a bold statement, 'It's not Football It's War.' The channel has also come up with an ad campaign, conceptualised by JWT, to promote the season. This year's campaign has been curated keeping in mind the enormous scale and viewer base of the league. The season will be showed from August 20 on Sony Six and Sony Six HD.
The verbal banter between football club rivals is universal. The sentiments of footy fans are brought out in the open with this campaign, where nobody will spare anybody, at any cost, while supporting their club. The campaign is a sneak peek into daily occurrences in one's lives that can suddenly turn into a warzone for all football fans.
Rajesh Kaul, President, Distribution and Sports Business, Sony Pictures Network, commented, “We always aim to create innovative content for our viewers. Through this campaign, we want to highlight the scale of LaLiga by reaching out to the football fans of India. Since the inception of the sports cluster at SPN, we have strategically worked to establish it as the premier destination for an unparalleled football viewing experience. Through our tactical acquisition of marquee international tournaments and international domestic leagues, we have established ourselves as a one-stop destination for international football and want to give our viewers an experience of the highest quality of club and international football.”
Vinayak Gaikwad, Senior Creative Director, JWT, said, “Football fans love to get the better of each other, be it on the pitch or off it. We found this space very interesting and tried to tell stories where rival fans score goals against each other in real life situations.”
Shounak Guhathakurta, Senior Creative Director, JWT, said, “Legendary manager Bill Shankly famously said, 'Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I don't like that attitude. I can assure them it is much more serious than that.' No one can attest to that notion better than die-hard footy fans who once having pledged their allegiance to a certain club, remain staunch loyalists come what may. This led us to the idea of 'epic revenge tales' where it's every fan for himself.”
The title itself is an open declaration of the rivalry that exists between football fans and their deep loyalty towards a certain club. Any setback or poor result by the players is taken very personally by hard-core fans. The campaign attempts to capture this theme of deep-seated rivalry that exists between the fans, players and clubs alike.
LaLiga, which boasts of top seeds such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez, Neymar, Antoine Griezmann and Gareth Bale, has a massive fan-base globally and is one of the most followed football leagues in the world. Viewers can also look forward to Pione Sisto, Ganso, Marlos Moreno and more who have signed new deals with top tier teams of the Spanish football league.
The campaign kick-starts with three 30-second films, showing pranking between fans in unusual situations. In the first 'The Breakup ad', an Atletico Madrid fan sabotages his colleague's (a Real Madrid fan) relationship by sending a fake break-up message to his girlfriend. In the second 'Airport Security ad', an Atletico Madrid fan sabotages the travel of a Barcelona fan at the airport by clandestinely packing a pair of nunchucks and a huge chopping knife in his hand baggage. In the third 'Pigeons ad', a Barcelona fan who is ready to go on a big date is in for a shock to see his shiny convertible completely covered in bird-poop, courtesy his neighbour – a Real Madrid fan. The films showcase a host of day-to-day scenarios and the football rivalry with powerful message, 'It's not Football It's War', at the beginning of the new season of LaLiga.
The TVCs:
Credits:
Creative Agency: JWT
Chief Creative Officer: Senthil Kumar
National Creative Director: Tista Sen
Production House: Ignition Films
Director: Rensil D'Silva
Executive Business Director: Anitha Krishnan
Sr Creative Director: Vinayak Gaikwad, Shounak Guhathakurta
Account Director: Saptarshi Banik
Creative team: Vinayak Gaikwad, Shounak Guhathakurta, Sreenath Pillai, Ganesh Palkar
Sr Account Executive: Sanat Shende