Title | A-LEAGUES - HERE COME THE FUTURE |
Brand | A-LEAGUES |
Product / Service | A-LEAGUES |
Category | D01. Use of Original Composition |
Entrant | R/GA Sydney, AUSTRALIA |
Idea Creation | R/GA Sydney, AUSTRALIA |
Media Placement | OMD Sydney, AUSTRALIA |
Production | R/GA Sydney, AUSTRALIA |
Production 2 | BRING Sydney, AUSTRALIA |
Production 3 | ENTROPICO Sydney, AUSTRALIA |
Post Production | R/GA Sydney, AUSTRALIA |
Post Production 2 | BRING Sydney, AUSTRALIA |
Post Production 3 | ENTROPICO Sydney, AUSTRALIA |
Additional Company | A LEAGUES Sydney, AUSTRALIA |
Name | Company | Position |
---|---|---|
Seamus Higgins | R/GA | Chief Creative Officer |
Claire Waring | R/GA | Executive Creative Director |
Ben Newman | R/GA | Associate Creative Director |
Ben Miles | R/GA | Exec Creative Director, Brand, Design & Consulting |
Justin Phang | R/GA | Creative Director |
Henry Cook | R/GA | Design Director |
Jane Duru | R/GA | Verbal Design Director |
Louis Johanson | R/GA | Senior Designer |
Gabriel Gasparinatos | Entropico | Director |
James Griffiths | BRING | Executive Creative Director - Music |
Football is the most played grassroots code in Australia, but the least watched at professional level. Whilst nearly 6 million Australians are fans of or watch the beautiful game in some capacity, only a quarter of that figure follow the A-Leagues. Since 2014, A-Leagues attendance and viewership have declined year-on-year, not helped by poor broadcast quality, consistent comparison to elite European football, and a lack of a distinct identity in the Australian sporting landscape. Recent advertising efforts have failed, employing similar tropes, imagery and messaging in the same mediums where more established and well-known sporting competitors operate. Adhering to the conventions of the category had rendered the A-Leagues both unheard and indistinct. Our task was to find a way to overcome these barriers and move the game forward so that Australian professional football was no longer seen as uninspiring and unequal in the eyes of fans and the next generation.
“Real Nice” is a one-of-a-kind music collaboration between three of Australia’s hottest young artists - DJ/Producer YoungFranco, Aria Award R&B winner TKay Maidza and Rapper Nerve. It’s a piece of culture, rather than another sporting ad, sitting at the heart of A-League’s new creative platform “Here Come the Future”. The ask of the artists was simple: Creative self expression through football. Tkay was the lyricist working on the initial bed of music that young Franco had laid down. Tkay in particular wanted to empower fans, grassroots players and professionals to play their own way on and off the pitch. Nerve wrote his own lyrics in response to TKays, coming forth in the track as a hip-hop back and forth exchange. Real Nice translates football culture into a music track with enough universal appeal to reach a new, younger audience, whether they play the game or not.
Sport and entertainment access in Australia is unrivalled, creating fierce competition for our free time. Traditionally, the A-Leagues tried to ‘out-shout’ sporting competitors with advertising - using similar sporting tropes, imagery and messaging in the same media where more established and well-known competitors would easily outspend us. By following the logical, proven formula of our competitors we'd fail. We identified that Football and youth culture are uniquely entwined - in music, fashion, gaming, and beyond - in a way few sports are. By leveraging this connection and appearing authentically in culture, we’d seize a headstart on attracting Australia’s next generation; future watchers, buyers and participants who’d power the game for years to come. Our campaign wasn’t powered by media, but by culture - seeded through the touchpoints most relevant to Australia’s young taste-makers and trend-setters, attracting their fandom, and helping redefine the A-League’s identity as one reflective of Australia’s next-generation.
A platform for football focused creative collaboration, the video was directed by Aria nominated Gabriel Gasparinatos. It tells the story of two of the A-League’s most exciting emerging players: Jada Whyman: talented First Nations Goalkeeper whose dream is to inspire indigenous youth. Marco Tilio: a dynamic striker, in spite of being one of the shortest players in the league, has become one of its best. The film features some of Australia’s best up-and-coming artists, illustrators and animators - Serwah Attafuah, digital artist, Tom Stone, animator, Sam Whiteside, lighting artist, and Masterbucks, a gamer. A springboard for participation on digital platforms - choreographed tik tok routines by influencers like, The Xhan and Kusini Yengi, sparked creation while cultural gems and much-loved commentator Simon Hill fuelled social conversation. These collaborators represent A-League’s more diverse and creative future, celebrating our purpose to inspire everyone to play their own way on and off pitch.
The aim of our campaign was to take a sporting competition that had become stagnant and overlooked in the minds of most Australians, and have it break into the cultural narrative once again. The campaign started off strong with ‘Real Nice (H.C.T.F.)’ organically becoming a TikTok Top 10 trending sound in our launch week, for a combined 13.2m earned media views to date. Our music video received over 167k views on YouTube, but through our broadcast partnership with Channel 10, and the narrative around the music video's meaning, would go on to be shown to millions more through earned and partner media. The track also received regular daily spins on all major commercial radio stations with over 17m earned radio impressions to date, and even managed to become the number 1 most played song on the largest independent radio station ‘Triple J’ for the key summer listening month of December.