FOOTBALL DECODED

Grand Prix

Demo Film

Presentation Image

TitleFOOTBALL DECODED
BrandMICROSOFT
Product/ServiceXBOX / FIFA 18
Category E01. Standard Sites
Entrant McCANN LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
Idea Creation McCANN LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
Media Placement CARAT London, UNITED KINGDOM
Production CRAFT LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
Production 2 SOMESUCH London, UNITED KINGDOM
Production 3 TWENTYFOUR SEVEN Madrid, SPAIN
Credits
Name Company Position
Rob Doubal and Laurence Thomson McCann London Co-Presidents and Chief Creative Officers
Sanjiv Mistry and Jamie Mietz McCann London Executive Creative Directors
Jim Nilsson McCann London Copywriter
Jacob Björdal McCann London Art Director
Robert Stockton McCann London Account Manager
Francois d’Espagnac, Matteo Della Venezia and Tom Oliver McCann London Account Directors
Sailesh Jani McCann London Managing Partner
Rob Smith McCann London EVP
Paul Gillespie McCann London Senior Project Manager
Claire Colohan and Rebecca Wilford Craft/McCann Producers
Sergio Lopez Craft/McCann Chief Production Officer EMEA
Karen Crum McCann London Head of Planning
Fanni David McCann London Senior Planner
Jack Goss McCann London Planning Intern
Omri Cohen Somesuch Director
Todd Martin Somesuch Director of Photography
Louise Gagen Somesuch Producer
Seth Wilson Somesuch Executive Producer
Reimer Eisig and Lennard van der Last Somesuch Composers
Chris Graves Craft/McCann Music Supervisor
Adam Smyth and Giselle Hall Craft/McCann Senior Sound Engineer and Sound Engineer
Mariona Sauret, Adam Ryzman and Francis Harris Craft/McCann Editors
Miriam Sasiain Twentyfour Seven Production Manager
Yasmina Ikimou Twentyfour Seven Production Coordinator
Lucas Cuevas Twentyfour Seven 1st AD
Frodo Martinez Twentyfour Seven 2nd AD
Ivo Van Vollenhoven Twentyfour Seven Ext. Producer
Bea Cañete Twentyfour Seven Producer
Joe Richardson Craft/McCann Artworker
Liam White Craft/McCann Print Producer
Ellis Faint Craft/McCann Studio Manager

Write a short summary of what happens in the ambient or digital execution or campaign.

Xbox’s competitor had bought all the marketing rights to FIFA 18, a huge football videogame. So Xbox leveraged something bigger than videogame football - real football. Partnering with superstar club Real Madrid, we translated real football matches, move by move and in real time, into the corresponding commands for FIFA on Xbox. The dynamic, animated perimeter boards at Real Madrid’s stadium were the centrepiece of the campaign. The perimeter boards became a utility, teaching the audience (at the stadium and those watching at home) how to play like Real Madrid – on Xbox’s version of FIFA, all while never mentioning the game. When all other brands were just using perimeter boards as a space for branding, Xbox used the perimeter boards to not just sell FIFA 18, but make people better at it.

Cultural/Context information for the jury

In the lead up to the launch of many big videogames there’s a bidding war for marketing rights. For FIFA 18, an important game for Xbox, our competitor PlayStation snapped up all the marketing rights. This meant that while PlayStation had total freedom to advertise the game any way they wanted, we at Xbox had the opposite – a 100% ban on marketing the game. We couldn’t use any game assets, the logo or even show our own game packshot. So we had to somehow market a game we were forbidden from marketing.