Episode 80 - Adidas x Arsenal FC "No More Red" Ad Reviewed by Lion Little World Beverages, Social Chain Agency and TikTok
In the latest episode, Arsenal Football Club and Adidas have partnered up for the “No More Red” campaign, brought to you in partnership with Contagious.
This powerful ad aims to shed light on knife crime among the youth in London. All the more significant as big brands are getting involved in the conversation, the video is cinematic and gripping.
But is taking away such a distinctive brand asset like the Arsenal red the right step? Do they have a right to be in this space? And what’s the long-term impact of this campaign?
Watch the full video to see the ad and hear what our guests Michael Birtwistle (Brand Manager at Lion Little World Beverages), Pollyanna Ward (Head of Paid Social at Social Chain Agency) and Rameez Maher (Brand Partnerships Manager at TikTok) had to say about it.
You can find out more about the campaign here: https://www.arsenal.com/nomorered
Transcript
The following transcript is automatically generated so may not be 100% accurate, but will give you a good idea of what was discussed.
Amy Wright 0:07
Good morning, everybody. This is Amy for Advertisers Watching Ads brought to you by Automated Creative and Contagious magazine. And this week we are going to be discussing a really interesting video created in collaboration with Arsenal and Adidas. And for their football club and a anti kind of sort of gang warfare, knife crime campaign. Super, super interesting, but what I would love to do is introduce my guests this week. So kicking off with our first guest.
Michael Birtwistle 0:38
I'm Michael. I'm Brand Manager at Lion Little World Beverages, so brand manager of Fourpure Beer and Little Creatures, Australian craft beer brand.
Pollyanna Ward 0:46
Hi, I'm Pollyanna Ward, and I'm Head of Paid Social at Social Chain agency in Manchester.
Rameez Maher 0:51
And hi, I'm Rameez Maher, and I am the Brand Partnerships Manager at TikTok.
Amy Wright 0:57
So this is "No More Red" from Adidas and Arsenal.
So guys, kicking off our discussion. What were your initial reactions?
Rameez Maher 3:07
I mean, it's a super powerful campaign, and I think the message is right on point, especially with some of the issues faced within the UK and in London. And I think for a brand like Arsenal and Adidas as well to jump into the conversation, but do it as well an authentic way. I think it was quite a powerful message. The approach from a PR lens on how the campaign widened by using specific talent, by using specific actors and as well as jumping full in for a brand of doing something that's never been done before. I think it was quite a fantastic leap to jump in. So overall, I thought it was quite a good campaign and quite a relevant campaign for what's going on.
Pollyanna Ward 3:47
Following on from that, I sort of echoed the sentiment that it had a really powerful message, I think, because while it sort of ticked a lot of the boxes of... You know, if you're going to do long form, I sort of imagined it being in a cinema. Obviously, I watched it on YouTube. But you know, it's got fantastic pacing. It was very cinematic. It had a really strong narrative. It had a featuring celebrities. The brand was woven in, again, as echoing previous thoughts, it was kind of very authentically done.
Michael Birtwistle 4:14
I think just really strong message for the power of sport and why brands attach themselves to sport. You always want your brands to be adored by all of your consumers and then to come back and buy it and and have that relationship. But it's never going to be the same as what sports teams can generate, and people have a real passion for these sports teams. So, you know, I think we're seeing more and more of it where sport is used as a platform for social change. We've had Colin Kaepernick, we've had Serena Williams. Lewis Hamilton does it a lot for all of the races that he does in the Middle East. Yeah, really powerful, like a continuation of what's been happening in the world in the last couple of years was for intertwining with social change. So I really enjoyed that.
Amy Wright 4:51
How would you be feeling about taking away such a distinctive brand asset? I mean, red is, is Arsenal.
Rameez Maher 4:58
The most distinctive thing when any time knife violence happens, anything related to night violence is like blood on a shirt or shirts related sort of getting blood on them. And I think for them to take it a complete step forward and let's remove the most identifying thing for us was quite an amazing feat for our brand.
Amy Wright 5:16
Do we think Arsenal has a right to be in this space? Quite often responsible for violence and crime with sort of football rivalries with... Arsenal's had a lot of issues with racism and attacks in the stands? Do they have a valid position to be talking about this more broadly?
Pollyanna Ward 5:33
I think they definitely have a valid position to be talking about it. If you're going to have this purpose, then you kind of need to live and die by the purpose. Putting my, maybe my social media lens on, it had full coverage for like two weeks on Instagram. In fact, it was a week and now it's gone back to red. And the fact that the shirts, okay, they weren't sold. It's almost like they know that they need it. They need to sell red shirts because that's how they make their money. I think they've got such a relevant space to talk in. But now what's the next iteration? Because they've done this one piece but I almost wonder whether should they have kept those shirts...
Michael Birtwistle 6:08
Could have been in season long. They have, they have the home shirt, they have their second shirt, theirthird shirt. They could have had the shirt of the entire season. All of the players taking the knee is still going on. It wasn't just a one week thing. The issue wasn't solved. It's still a problem in our society. We're not going to have a campaign from Arsenal and Adidas and, and suddenly knife crime has gone from London. They can talk about, for as long as we can... So I would have quite liked it to be a little bit more longevity. It could have been something maybe more of a statement if it was for the entire season.
Amy Wright 6:40
Who do you think it was aimed at? Because if I'm thinking about the people who are potentially going get caught up in knife violence like, then they're not there. Is it talking to them? Is it talking to sponsors? Is it talking to Arsenal fans? Who are we trying to reach with this campaign?
Rameez Maher 6:56
As marketers, we kind of live and breathe, we watch campaigns, I would say more than the average consumer as well, though what I liked about this one is the awareness and the wideness of it. Seemed to be just beyond the advertising and marketing realm, like football fans tuned into it. People tuned in to it. The press on it was fantastic, so I think it was able to reach sort of football fans and beyond there because it became a moment within the span of the two weeks it ran.
Pollyanna Ward 7:20
It's done very, very well with the right people and in the right message. And yet the PR was fantastic. But I think if we were to come out of our sort of advertising marketing bubble, I would wonder whether like my brother who is much younger than me lives in London. I don't think he ever saw.
Michael Birtwistle 7:38
But you know, I think that's why they had Saka and Smith Rowe in the campaign. Idris Elba, Ian Wright, legends. And really highly respected. But then the two younger guys, part of the current Arsenal squad and will be idolized by some of the younger, younger audience, and you know, they'll have more weight and more impact than Ian Wright. I know he's a club legend, but. There's a lot of people who won't have been old enough to watch him play, and they're like, lie second now. So to have them in the campaign, I think was a really important part and and does speak to a lot of the fans directly.
Rameez Maher 8:11
For me, the power of it was, it read like a cinema ad, like if I sit in a room and I watch it and I watch the entire two minutes in like an enclosed space, it's very powerful, I think. But even me, I'm looking at YouTube, like, I understand the message, I understand the power of it. But I think it's built really for that cinema watching audience or you're sitting and tuning into something.
Pollyanna Ward 8:31
I think it's definitely made for cinema, for sure. I wonder where it was shown, actually. I haven't been to a cinema in a while, but...
Amy Wright 8:40
Stadium, even potentially. Maybe it's something that they show for match games or things. But yeah, generally speaking, massive, amazing launch piece. But I really want them to be following up with accountability. Like what are the actions like? How are these charity sponsorships affecting, you know, what have they done with the money? I want an infographic in like years time, saying like, "These are the things that we've achieved. This is how we're sticking to it."
Pollyanna Ward 9:01
There's been a lot of talk about purpose in like, the world of marketing over the last few weeks, but I still sit on the side of, well, we should be doing something. I know we're not all perfect with our brands, but in the right direction, absolutely. But yeah, to your point, let's see an infographic next year.
Amy Wright 9:19
Cool. I think we will do as of ranking out of five. On the count of three... One, two, three... Oh, high scores. I think that's the highest, most consistent score I've had on an episode of AWA. So that is a fours across the doors for Arsenal. Broadly speaking, I think a pretty successful campaign and would be looking keenly to see where it goes in the future. So thank you, everybody for watching this week's episode. It's been Advertisers Watching Ads and thank you to our fantastic guests for such considered an interesting conversation, and we'll see you next week.
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