Hey, what’s that glowing thingy above my head want me to do? Ah, finish writing this post. Roger that, my pointy friend!

“From passing techniques to set plays, the shape has also been woven into the DNA of EA Sports football experiences for decades, which is why we used it to transcend the video game into the real world, ultimately showcasing how everyone is able to take possession,” the agency says.

Veteran director Nick (just call him “Soccer”) Ball lensed the spot. Note how a gameplay version of Brazilian superstar Vinicius Junior passes to a flesh-and-blood Jude Bellingham. Ah, the interface of pixels and corporeal existence! Erling Haaland—who else?—takes the final shot.

The :60 will run across TV and digital to trumpet the arrival of EA Sports FC 24. There’s OOH, too, in both traditional placements and 3D.

How many sides in a soccer match? EA Sports says three.

In a triangle-themed rebrand, the gaming titan sheds its ties to FIFA. Moving forward, its bestselling European football title will rock the name EA Sports FC. To trumpet this fresh identity, creative studio Uncommon developed a logo, typefaces and other elements that fuse the realms of virtual and IRL soccer.

Consider: player-control triangles appear above game characters, and the shape features in actual soccer plays, too

Rapper Dave explains the approach in this promo:

Per Uncommon’s blog, “The triangle has been waiting patiently on the bench for over 30 years and it’s time to finally unleash it. It’s a shape that has transformed the game over and over again. From Cruyff to Guardiola. From passing patterns to set plays. The triangle has revolutionized the game as we know it.”

What’s more: “The shape has also been woven into the DNA of EA Sports football experiences for decades; from the isometric angles of our very first 8-bit experiences and the triangular polygons that make up every pixel of our most modern game.”

Two custom typefaces draw inspiration from the game as well. One interprets the legendary Johan Cryuff turn, while another fetes Brazil’s Marta. Limited-edition merch made the rounds at European stadiums last weekend, while Karim Benzema and David Beckham helped amplify the push on social.

 

 

 

 

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All in all, it’s a sleek refresh that plays true to both the real and virtual worlds, cannily acknowledging that they draw closer every day.

“Clients tend to approach the studio in a moment of change,” says Uncommon co-founder Nils Leonard. “To anyone that’s ever kicked a ball, with their foot or their thumb, we hope this does the beautiful game justice.”

“Matchday” arrives with a cinematic splash as EA Sports promotes the latest iteration of its FIFA video game franchise in a film that evocatively equates IRL soccer fandom with the love millions feel for the virtual pitch.

The campaign arrives as FIFA, the global football association, prepares to end its 30-year run with EA. The game will rebrand next year as EA Sports FC.

Wieden+Kennedy Portland and Blink directors Vince Tigre and Marcus Cidreira (aka Jungle) weave a rousing two-minute-plus sendoff with appearances by Kylian Mbappé, Sam Kerr, Zinedine Zidane, Vinicius Junior, Virgil van Dijk, Jack Grealish and Chloe Kelly.

Footage from newly released FIFA 23 melds with live-action sequences, as fans and stars get stoked, heading to homes instead of stadiums to join in the action:

“We shot the film in Madrid, Paris, London, Manchester and Liverpool over four whirlwind weeks during the summer,” says W+K copywriter Jason Scott. “It was pretty intense. Sometimes the only way to know where we were on any given day was by the type of food we were eating.”

That effort yields compelling imagery, portraying FIFA 23 as a thrill-ride akin to watching flesh-and-blood humans play the real game. It’s neat how stars and fans mix, with everyone straining at the leash to join in the fun. Vini Jr. seems especially chuffed. (Of course, the players earn big bucks and fame while fans shell out for the game. Equality only goes so far.)

We’re seeing more brand explorations focused on the intersection of gaming and real life these days, with ESPN’s fantasy NBA excursion and Dove’s push for virtual diversity as prime examples. Look for this trend to accelerate as gamers increasingly drive the culture.

Below, members of W+K’s creative team take us inside the inner workings of “Matchday.”

Muse: Talk about the overlapping of worlds, the idea that virtual and IRL are almost one and the same.

Jason Scott: EA has introduced graphics which make the game look as real as live football. From the hair on players’ heads to the grass on the pitch, the realism is insane. And in pop culture, football teams like Manchester City, PSG, Sporting Lisbon and Valencia are signing gamers to play video games for their esports teams, which draw huge crowds and sometimes fill stadiums. To us, it felt like the two worlds have finally become one. FIFA 23 is football. Football is FIFA 23. That was the spark behind the campaign.

Are you trying to reach both camps—gamers and followers of live soccer?

Sara Phillips, creative director: We set out to create a film which appeals to those who might not have played FIFA before, but love football. We wanted them to get the same feelings of passion, tension, excitement and joy they might feel in a stadium watching their favorite team play.

Nate Nowinowksi, art director: That’s why we went so hard on authenticity, using real fans who live and breathe their clubs. It was all about making gamers and potential gamers realize that the two worlds have finally become one.

What was involved in making the film? Any big challenges for the team?

Nate Nowinowski: We had news of our Liverpool shoot leaked online, which meant that a small crowd gathered to watch our Virgil van Dijk scene being filmed. It was like shooting something in front of a live studio audience and made it feel very authentic.

Sara Phillips: At one point, Kylian Mbappé tried his hand at filming us with the camera, which was really funny at first, and then absolutely terrifying, because if he’d somehow broken the Alexa we wouldn’t have been able to shoot anything else.

The opening sequence with the girl leaning expectantly over the wall, listening intently, waiting for something unseen yet urgent to arrive, is quite stirring.

Jason Scott: We wanted to show how a real football “matchday” plays out in different communities, and in Liverpool football is so important. It’s really hard to convey just how much it means to the people who live there, because it’s so much more than a game. People spend their whole week talking about it. The city stops for it. It’s everything. But that dedication starts young because kids are raised to support teams that their families have been supporting for maybe four generations. It’s in their blood. So, we loved the idea of illustrating that with a scene where a child is looking over the fence of their garden, trying to hear the songs which ring out around their community on the day of the game. And with the women’s game featuring more in FIFA 23 these days, we liked the idea of the child being a young girl.

At one point, there’s a lot of great boisterous chanting, as if the crowd were in the stands, not someone’s house.

Jason Scott: We worked with fans from each club to ensure the chanting was exactly as it would be in the stadium. The Madrid fans are chanting “Madrid!” with quick rhythmic clapping, and the Manchester City fans are chanting “City!” Hearing dozens of people chant with so much passion is powerful in a massive stadium, but absolutely mind-blowing in a tiny living room!

The music is rhythmic and propels the storyline. It’s bright, too, suggesting a positive payoff.

Nate Nowinowski: The song is “Burning” by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. We listened to thousands of songs and tried hundreds to picture, and this was one of the ones that everybody seemed to gravitate to. It felt like it harked back to the rock days of earlier EA games, which we thought the FIFA community would love.

CREDITS

CLIENT: Electronic Arts Inc.
PROJECT NAME: “Matchday”

W+K PORTLAND
ECDs: Ana Balarin, Hermeti Balarin, John “JP” Petty III
Managing Director: Jess Monsey
Creative Director: Sara Phillips
Art Director: Nate Nowinowski
Copywriter: Jason Scott
Head of Production: Orlee Tatarka
Executive Producer: Nicole Kaptur
Lead Integrated Producer: Danielle Magee
Associate Producer: Chloe Jarnac
Group Brand Director: Camille Cheeks-Lomax
Management Supervisor: Jane Han
Brand Executive: Demetrius Wallace, Hector Martinez
Creative Operations: Klarika Huszar
Design Producer/Print Producer: Jason Schwartz
Designer: LaShun Tines
Group Strategy Director: Nathan Goldberg
Group Media Director: Alex Barwick
Head of Business Affairs: Amber Lavender
Senior Business Affairs Manager: Kacey Kelley
Business Affairs Manager: Tristan Martin
Broadcast Traffic: Joe Chaath
Senior Creative Social Strategist: Janelle Wallace

ELECTRONIC ARTS INC.
Senior Director, Head of Creative: Paul Marr
VP, Brand: David Jackson
Director, Strategy: Ben Prout
Creative Director: Khoi Phan
Senior Creative: Alex Elms
Group Senior Producer: Anthony Doyle
Senior Producer: Andrew Gillooley
Senior Producer: Reza Vajihollahi
Senior Manager, Brand: Michael Bernardi
Director of Global Cinematics: Mattias Lindahl
Lead Cinematic Technica Designer: Jonas Gammelholm
Senior Producer: Marianne O’Reilly
Production Coordinator: Natassia Grieco
Lead Cinematic Artist, Animator: Skye White
Cinematic Artist, Animator: Julian Baquero
Cinematic Artist, Animator: Ivonne Solther
Senior Cinematic Tech Designer: Ashley Raj-Tye
Cinematic Tech Designer: Fabio Santos
Senior Cinematic Artist, Lighter: Rob Starr

PRODUCTION: BLINK
Production Company: Blink Productions
Director: JUNGLE – Vince Tigre, Marcus Cidreira
Director Assistant: Max McLachlan
Executive Producer: Paul Weston
Executive Producer: Patrick Craig
Producer: Corin Taylor
Production Manager: Sebastian Jowers
Production Assistant: Harry Hardwick
Director of Photography: Arnaud Portier
2nd Unit Director of Photography: J .P. Garcia
Production Designers: Tristan Martin & Simon Davis
1st ADs: Ben Gill & Javier Zamarano
Director (London Pick Up): Bob Harlow
Producer (London/ Manchester Pick Up): Emily Atterton
Production Manager (Liverpool): Anna Jones
Production Manager (London): Rosie Marchant
Production Manager (Manchester): Beatrice Warren

24/7
Producer (Madrid): Mario Padilla
Producer (Paris): Angela Gomez-Alba

EDITORIAL: CUT AND RUN
Editorial Company: Cut and Run
Editor: Ben Campbell
Editor: Sam Brown
Editor: Sally Cooper
Editor: Sam Jones
Editor: Moss Eletreby
Assistant Editor: Lawrence Lakshmann
Sr. Producer: Brian Mulvey
Managing Partner: Michelle Eskin
Executive Producer / Partner: Amburr Farls
Head of Production: Brady Austin Fiero

VFX: THE MILL
VFX Company: The Mill
Executive Creative Director: Chris ‘Badger’ Knight
VP, Global Production: Misha Stanford-Harris
Executive Producer: Hillary Thomas
Executive Producer: Troy Smith
Producer: Tennyson Turner
Producer: Rebecca Pemberton
VFX Shoot Sup: Valentin Serafimov

COLOR: THE MILL
Company: The Mill
Senior Colorist: Daniel De Vue
Color Assist: Frederick Agyemang
Color Assist: Baptiste Carrara
Head of Production, Color: Brandee Probasco
Senior Color Producer: Christina de Guzman
Color Producer: Jackson Winkler

SOUND DESIGN / MIX: 750 MPH
Company: 750mph
Sound Design: Sam Ashwell & Mike Bovill
Mix: Sam Ashwell & Mike Bovill
Executive Producer: Martin Critchley
Audio Post Producer: Olivia Ray

As we anxiously await details about Season 3 of Ted Lasso on Apple TV+ (and recent news on that front hasn’t been great, honestly), fans of the series got a boost Wednesday when EA announced that Lasso and his team, AFC Richmond, will be playable in the new version of FIFA, the video game, when it drops later this month.

This is a great move for a number of reasons—not least of which is the tendency many FIFA players have not to upgrade to the new version every season. (I bought FIFA 22, and frankly ended up feeling like I should have just stuck with FIFA 19.) This on its own makes an upgrade more appealing. Also, Ted Lasso, the show, is so beloved, and so central to entertainment culture today, that the connection could also bring a lot of brand-new players into the FIFA universe as well. (And, going the other way, it can’t hurt the potential viewership of Ted Lasso, either.)

Conceptually, it’s delightful as well—a fictional team being somewhat defictionalized (given the same consideration as real clubs) yet within a context where the play remains make-believe. Tonally, it’s perfect as well—a playful series embedding in a playful game (much as Burger King, at the time a very playful brand, got involved in FIFA 20 in a somewhat similar way).

Check out this Lasso-themed trailer that EA released today:

Players will be able to select Lasso as their playable manager in Career Mode, or manage AFC Richmond by swapping them into the Premier League or any other playable Career Mode league. Nelson Road, Richmond’s home pitch, will be part of the game, too.

FIFA 23 launches worldwide Sept. 30. Read more about the partnership here.

Believe it. #FIFA23 x @TedLasso

He’s proven he belongs in the game, now Ted Lasso and @AFCRichmond are playable in FIFA 23 starting September 30.

Learn more ?https://t.co/n4eQXTC4f4 pic.twitter.com/M9tIiqKHPx

— EA SPORTS FIFA (@EASPORTSFIFA) September 21, 2022

Old-timey portable televisions populate “Thanks, Coach,” a moving tribute to John Madden from EA Sports that features his friends, colleagues, NFL Hall of Famers, and mega-star quarterbacks Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes.

Madden—that gruff, gregarious god of the gridiron, gaming and the broadcast booth—passed away in December at age 85, and those TV sets serve as salient symbols of a legendary life and career.

After all, most folks got to know Big John by interacting with various screens through the past six decades. He was a flag-bearer for sports in the digital age, a transcendent presence whose multimedia impact will reverberate for years to come.

“In my mind, John Madden is the most important figure in the history of professional football,” says iconic sportscaster Al Michaels in the nearly eight-minute video, directed by Superprime’s Emmett and Brandon Malloy. “Show me somebody else who did it on three levels [as a coach, commentator and gaming pioneer]. There’s nobody.”

In the ’70s, we watched Coach Madden’s passions flare on the field as he piloted the Oakland Raiders to eight postseason berths and victory in Super Bowl XI.

From 1979 to 2008, boom!, he provided exceptionally colorful commentary across all four major networks, and his voice became synonymous with the game itself. Madden delivered penetrating insights with unbridled enthusiasm, punctuated by tireless trips to the whiteboard for tutorials on strategies and plays.

In 1988, with John’s expert guidance, EA launched its Madden NFL franchise after four years of painstaking development. Establishing a template for realism and thrills that’s never been surpassed, Madden NFL has sold some 130 million copies through the years, generating billions of dollars in revenue.

“Thanks, Coach” explores that trinity of achievements and Madden’s complex personality through interviews with luminaries and archival footage of the man himself. Utterly besotted with the game of football and famously big-hearted—though frequently volatile and quick to anger—Madden demanded perfection from everyone, most notably himself.

“The three rules I had were: Be on time, pay attention … [and] play like hell when I tell you to,” Madden says.

“They were going to be the aggressors,” adds Mahomes. “They were going to be the ones attacking, and I love that style of football.”

Of Madden’s work behind the mic, Brady recalls, “He made everyone just fall in love with the game … He told great stories about players, drew the X’s and O’s, and made the sounds that were so unique to him, the boom!”

EA founder Trip Hawkins tapped Madden for his NFL venture based on the coach’s commitment to making the virtual action as authentic as possible. When John began dissecting the complexity of Raiders plays, insisting that each on-field option—variation upon variation—should be represented in the game, Hawkins knew the title would be a winner, he says.

Today, when prospects make their debut, “the first thing you look at is, hey, what’s my rating on Madden?” notes Mahomes. And Hall of Famer Kenny Houston believes, Madden NFL “keeps football connected. And I think it’ll be that way for a long, long time.”

Eschewing the bells and whistles associated with video games, the Malloys opt for a straightforward presentation, and we get a keen sense of Madden’s legacy and his outsized influence.

“We got to talk with people about a coach that meant so much to them, and so much to us [as longtime fans], so the interviews were emotional from both sides of the camera,” Emmett Malloy tells Muse. “Plus, we got to shoot on 35mm film in black and white, and that opportunity was a dream for us. Shooting interviews on film is something we never get to do.”

They started shooting in 2020, “right as Covid was starting to rear its ugly head,” Malloy says. (The film wasn’t intended as a memorial, so most subjects speak about John in the present tense.) “More than a year went by, and when the world started to figure itself out, we got back on track. We flew to Tampa to shoot with Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes, who were together shooting last year’s cover for Madden. We did every interview in person.”

From its first frames, the presentation conjures a potent vibe of gravitas and nostalgia. There’s ample scope and context, well-served by those old TVs and monochrome sequences. They remind us that John first made his mark in the pre-cable days. Bits of Madden NFL animation emphasize that his footprint looms large as we leap into the metaverse and beyond.

Bob Dylan’s 1975 track “Simple Twist of Fate” strikes a melancholy tone toward the film’s conclusion. Fittingly, Madden gets the final word, his image filling a vintage analog screen as he shares this nugget of philosophy:

“I used to say something before a game. I had no idea what it meant. But I heard it someplace, and it sounded like a pretty good idea. The last thing I’d say was: Don’t worry about the horse being blind. Just load the wagon.”

Those words encapsulate John’s damn-the-torpedoes style. He rewrote three pop-culture playbooks, entertaining, educating and enthralling millions (perhaps billions) along the way.

Thanks, Coach.

CREDITS

Client: EA Sports
Senior Director, Creative: Paul Marr
Creative Director: Josh Kline
Sr Producer: Troy Smith
Senior Director, Marketing Strategy: David Jackson James
Athlete Relations: Ty Stover

Production: Superprime Films
Director: The Malloys
Managing Director / Executive Producer: Rebecca Skinner
Managing Director / Head of Sales: Michelle Ross
Producer: Betsy Blakemore

Editorial: Exile
Executive Producer: CL Weaver
Head of Production: Jennifer Locke
Producer: David Won
Editor: Matt Murphy

On May 18, 2006, Kiyan Prince, a fast-rising 15-year-old soccer star with Queens Park Rangers in England, was fatally stabbed at his London school while trying to prevent the bullying of another student.

The murder made global headlines and sparked intense debate about youth violence and knife crime. Now, robbed of his future IRL, Prince lives on as a playable character in EA’s FIFA 21 video game.

He would be 30 if he’d survived, so that’s Prince’s jersey number and age in the game, his likeness aged 15 years through A.I. by Engine Creative and Framestore.

In the clip below, Kiyan’s father Mark discusses the boy’s legacy.

“There’s two stories to tell about my son, Kiyan,” he says. “The first is about how he lost his life to a young person carrying a knife. But I want to tell you the other story, the more powerful one, about the man he was destined to become.”

“Were he alive today, Kiyan’s hard work, talent and positivity would have made him one of the stars of the game,” Prince says. “Now, I understand not everyone’s got what it takes to become a pro footballer, but everyone has something they’re good at. So, stand tall, stand strong, and make that your story.”

In addition, Match Attax has issued a collectible Kiyan trading card, and QPR “signed” its former star and assigned him squad number 30. Its stadium already bears his name.

Backed by Adidas and other brands, the campaign, dubbed “Long Live the Prince,” seeks to raise awareness and funds for the Kiyan Prince Foundation, which Mark runs, striving to counter youth crime in the U.K. and promote a sense of purpose and belonging for children growing up amid poverty and despair.

“This project started with the realization that were Kiyan alive now, he’d be at his absolute peak as an athlete,” Engine creative director Richard Nott tells Muse. “It made his loss feel particularly poignant. Then we imagined, ‘What if we could bring him back?’ Could we use his star profile to benefit the foundation that lives on in his name? We approached EA, and they immediately got behind the idea.”

“By showing the world the star Kiyan was destined to become and what he could have achieved, we want to inspire kids to become the best possible version of themselves, make the right choices, and reach their full potential,” Nott says.

Kiyan’s avatar will be available to play as part of the QPR squad in FIFA 21’s Career Mode and other game levels. Players can win prizes such as QPR shirts with the foundation’s logo, and also access information about its services.

Though tinged with the sadness of a life snuffed out too soon, of limitless potential unfulfilled, “Long Live the Prince” also resonates with hope and passion. Robbed of his future in the physical world, Kiyan survives in a different form to help others.

His teenage features lovingly updated to those of an adult, his playing style meticulously recreated, Kiyan’s avatar blazes across FIFA 21’s pixelated pitch. Liberated from the constraints of life and death, Prince’s image serves a higher purpose, inspiring at-risk kids to create their own triumphant stories in the here and now.

Kiyan Prince’s story, told through the lens of this campaign, is already driving results. With copious media coverage across the U.K., “we’re already seeing money pouring in” to the foundation “despite [the campaign] only having been live for a couple of hours,” says David Dearlove, creative director at Engine.

CREDITS

AGENCY:
Chief Creative Director: Billy Faithful
Creative Directors: David Dearlove, Richard Nott, Orlando Warner
Campaign Developers: David Dearlove, Richard Nott
Executive Producer: Katie Farmer 
Agency Producer: Seb Roskell 
Photographer: David Clerihew – Icon
Director/ Production Co: Engine Film  – David Dearlove
Film Producer: Debbie Impett
Assistant Producer: Jakub Pieta
Editor: Engine film: Sam Hopkins
Account Manager: Leo Birch, 
Client managing director: Ed Norrington
Business Director: Matt Kiernan
Content Strategist: Leo Birch 

POST PRODUCTION – FRAMESTORE
Framestore
EP & Supervisor: Karl Woolley
Lead Creative Technologist: Johannes Saams
Lead Character Artist: Chris Scalf
CG Supervisor, Electric Lens Co: Matt Hermans
Lead Designer, Framestore Design: David Lochhead

POST PRODUCTION – NINETEENTWENTY
Nineteentwenty
2D Lead: Robert Lilley
Senior Producer: Paul Branch
Producer: Claire Cullen
Asst Producer: Robyn Borrageiro

Grade: Nineteen Twenty – Kai Van Beers
Sound Design & Music: String and Tins: Joe Wilkinson & Jim Stewart
Audio Producer: Laura-Leigh Smith
DoP: Oliver Schofield / Steve Montgomery

” ‘The Michigan’ has been a hockey legend forever, but this is the first year you can actually pull it off in a video game,” says Trevor Gourley, who directed the mini-doc through Partners Film. “Anyone who grew up playing or watching hockey knows about the shot, but very few people know the history behind it.”

The play’s novelty and enduring popularity drew EA to immortalize it in pixels.

“It’s a unique story to tell—so much attention is paid to the superstars of the game, but there are people who aren’t household names that have also had a really big impact,” Gourley says. “This year’s iteration of NHL 21 is all about recognizing greatness. This film is a perfect expression of that—paying homage to someone who helped shape the game as we know it today.”

Indeed, the original “Michigan” clip became one of hockey’s first viral videos. Gourley recalls visiting a computer lab in the ’90s and “waiting 20 minutes to download a blurry six-second QuickTime file. It was the hockey equivalent of footage of the Loch Ness Monster.”

Gourley shot his film, “The Man Behind the Michigan,” in late October, directing the action—which took place in British Columbia—from facilities in Toronto.

“Getting on the phone with Mike before the shoot was surreal,” he says. “I had seen his goal probably thousands of times since I was a kid. He was such an easygoing guy, a total natural storyteller.”

“Mike downplayed the difficulty of the move and said he could teach any hockey player how to do it in half an hour,” Gourley says. “That was probably the only time I was glad to be shooting remotely. As a very bad beer-league player myself, I feel like I might have put us into overtime trying to get Mike to teach me to pull it off.”

CREDITS

Client: EA Sports
Senior Manager, Global Marketing Strategy: Drew Hebb
Senior Manager, Global Brand Marketing: Ashkon Nowtash
Global Marketing Partnerships Manager: Matt Sacks
Producer, EA Sports: Reza Vajihollahi

Production Company: Partners Film
Director: Trevor Gourley
Director of Photography: Liam Mitchell
Executive Producer: Aerin Barnes
Line Producer: Madeleine Davis
Post Producer: Wendy Tao

Editorial House: Saints Editorial
Editor: Christopher Chang
Executive Producer: Tory Osler
Producer: Mackenzie Goodwin

Online House: Darling VFX
Executive Producer: Kristen Van Fleet
Producer: Morgan Campbell
Colourist: Kassi Bellamy
Jr. Flame Artist: Lauren Rempel

Audio House: Imprint Music
Executive Producer: Cassandra Salz
Producer: Tim White
Engineer: Sydney Galbraith

Dude’s pretty smooth. His job, we’re told, is to speak up for the rising generation of athletes so they don’t have to. They’re just too darn busy making highlight-reel plays to chat with the media or indulge in self-promotion. (As if.)

Though they appear in the film, A-teamers Lamar Jackson (Madden 21’s cover star and the reigning NFL MVP), Patrick Mahomes and Cam Newton are relegated to the second string. Each surfaces briefly via NFL footage, and we hear Jackson at the ad’s beginning and end. 

Even so, the Spokesplayer quarterbacks this narrative, hyping the game’s elite and welcoming fans to “a whole new era” as he bops around town. Keraun exudes cheeky style, even if the character’s gameplan feels a bit convoluted.

Directed by David Gordon Green, the work signals a big change from JL’s splashy, star-studded teasers for Madden 19 and 20. The latter spotlighted last year’s cover athlete, Mahomes, while the former turned a fictitious gamer into a hero extolled by celebs including Nicki Minaj.

JL deserves credit for switching up the playbook with the Spokesplayer, but this particular rookie may need more seasoning before settling into the starting (and starring) role.

Below, agency creative director Omid Amidi discusses the campaign:

Muse: Why create a character rather than showcasing athletes and celebrities?

Omid Amidi: Our insight came from the fact that there is a rising generation of superstars that are radically changing the game for the better, without boasting about it. They’re too busy ushering in this new era of football and creating highlights than giving out soundbites. Look no further than Mark Ingram having to hype up Lamar Jackson all last year.

And unlike previous campaigns that relied on a mix of celebrities, athletes and gamers for a couple of big hits in the world, we wanted our content to be able to live all year long. To be reactionary and nimble based on what’s happening, especially during these uncertain times. So, it only made sense that we’d create a character—someone we can leverage throughout the season.

So, this approach wasn’t driven by not being able to get the players together for a shoot?

The idea of the Spokesplayer wasn’t born out of Covid restrictions. We never felt the Spokesplayer needed to have athletes around him. He’s not an entourage member. He’s his own person. We purposely set out to create something that felt authentic, rather than star-studded like previous years. While we followed health and safety guidelines, we also set out to create a campaign that wouldn’t feel like it was shot during Covid.

How will the work evolve?

The Spokesplayer will be popping up throughout the season in a multitude of ways. The man has a lot of things to say. You might see him on Twitch, Twitter, Instagram, maybe some NFL shows, speaking on behalf of players and Madden. He’s simply going to be there, when and where he’s needed.

Why did you cast Keraun?

King Keraun was one of those people on the list, among big-name actors, musicians, etc. When it came down to it, he felt right. He’s charismatic and his comedy is self-made, providing people with bite-sized content. He gets what we’re trying to do with this campaign and was excited to make himself available through the season.

He’s a huge sports, football and Madden fan, so when we started fleshing out the Spokesplayer, King was a no-brainer. We felt the character wasn’t just in good hands, but in the hands of someone who wants to make it as big as we want to make it, too.

Talk about making the spot. Was the shoot challenging?

We got lucky in the sense that we were able to shoot safely just as L.A. County was reopening for production, with most of our teams joining remotely. Our team loves to do quick rewrites and improvise jokes on the spot, so that became something that was less fluid, being remote.

An amicable fight broke out about who got to keep which props. There was a lot of cool stuff—a panther painted in Carolina Panthers colors, an NFL helmet gumball machine, bobbleheads, a painting of Lamar Jackson rising like a raven over a huddle. A few games of rock, paper, scissors broke out.

…and that “65” score is a real eye-opener:

“This has been an incredible collaboration to be part of, working with some of the best loved brands in the world to create a wearable tech product with proper impact,” says agency joint CEO Matt Goff.

Florian Alt, vp of marketing at Adidas, calls GMR “a whole new way” for gamers and IRL players “to use their creativity for the betterment of sport.” 

Adidas designed the insole, priced at $35, to fit any boot, and it’s available in stores and online.

Wired argues that the data’s exclusivity to FIFA Mobile makes for a somewhat limited offering compared with other sports-focused wearables because “if Google’s algorithms could be trained to address form or technique, say, it could have real benefits more far reaching than unlocking features in a mobile game.”

Scott Zalaznik, senior vp of Adidas’ digital ops, tells the magazine that FIFA Mobile represents “the perfect starting point” for the gamification of performance data. “There aren’t limitations to Adidas GMR; instead we’ve channeled the data into what we think will be the most intuitive and seamless experience for users that they will come back to again and again,” he says.

In a separate and troubling development, Paulo Dybala, who features prominently in the promo film, has apparently become the second Juventus star stricken by coronavirus, according to press reports. This sad trend is sure to accelerate across the marketing spectrum, with more high-profile endorsers testing positive as the global health crisis worsens.

Big-time stars Eden Hazard, Raheem Sterling, Jadon Sancho, Vinícius Jr. and Megan Rapinoe appear, as do millennial street-soccer ace Lisa Zimouche (aka Lisa Freestyle), boxer Anthony Joshua and other luminaries.

This is one great-looking spot from Anonymous Content director Patrick Daughters, who deploys his stars to maximum effect, fusing passion and playfulness (nice kit, Vinícius!) to keep the story rolling at a brisk, compelling pace. If the vibe seems to channel Nike, well, is that so wrong? After all, the crew from Portland has done commercials right for quite some time. 

“There has always been a ‘right’ way to do things in football,” explains Mat Goff, joint CEO of adam&eveDDB. “But the global FIFA community are constantly making and breaking their own rules to show that wrong is the new right and changing the game for the better.” 

Alas, FIFA—the organization, not the game—has weathered scandals in recent years, so notions of “rule breaking” perhaps strike too close to home. Then again, maybe that gives the campaign some extra kick, an edginess that flies in the face of convention and serves as an example of the themes in play. 

CREDITS

Client: Electronic Arts (EA)
Brand: EA Sports
Project: FIFA 20 – Break New Ground

Clients:
Group Senior Producer: Anthony Doyle
Senior Producer: Andy Gillooley
Senior Creative Director: Paul Marr
Creative Director: Tom Gent
Senior Director of Strategy: David Jackson
Senior Brand Manager: Josh Farber

Agency: adam&eveDDB
Chief Creative Officer: Richard Brim
Executive Creative Director/s: Ant Nelson & Mike Sutherland
Creative Director/s: Tim Vance & Paul Knott
Copywriter: Richard Gayton
Art director: Darren Beresford

Agency producer/s: Ben Sharpe, Rosie Grayson, Nia Maclean, Nikki Cramphorn
Planner/s: Martin Beverley, David Mortimer
CEO:Mat Goff
Managing Partner: Mike Stern
Business Director/s: James Derrick
Account Director/s: George Fox
Account Manager/s: Jake Gidley
Legal Council: Trine Odin
Designer/Typographer: Alex Fairman, Roberto Celentano
Motion Graphics: George Fowler, James Ireland

Media agency: Msix

Production company: Pulse Films
Executive Producer: Lucy Kelly
Producer: Lucy Gossage
Director: Yann Demange

Cinematographer: Tat Radcliffe
D.O.P: Tat Radcliffe

Editing Company: Trim Editing
Editor: Paul Hardcastle & Magdalena Plugowska

Post Production: The Mill
Post Producer: Alex Fitzgerald & Dan Crozier
2D Artist Lead: Gianluca Di Marco & Venuprasath D
3D Artist Lead: David Hempstead
Colorist: James Bamford

Music Supervisor: Raphaella Lima (EA)
Audio Post Production: Factory
Recording Engineer: Phil Bolland
Sound Producer: Deborah Whitfield

Soundtrack name and composer: “Offence”, performed by Little Simz. Written by Simbiatu Abisola Abiola Ajikawo, Dean Wynton Josiah Cover and Cleopatra Zvezdana Nikolic. Music remix for advert by Mad Planet.