The last week of April saw sports retailer Decathlon roll out its first ever UK ATL campaign led by a spearhead spot called ‘Let’s Play’ which is set to a new rendition of Cyndi Lauper’s ‘Girls Just Want To Have Fun’ and literally brings sporting goods to life.
The initiative introduces a new Decathlon marketing strategy which sees the brand focus on speaking to families and democratising sport by looking beyond elite performance and showing the fun side that sport brings to life.
The campaign spans TV, digital, social (led by YouTube), BVOD and OOH, as well as PR.
The lead spot features various pieces of sports equipment – ranging from bikes to tents – animated and breaking into song as soon as the shop closes and its light are turned off.
The idea is to highlight the object’s desire to be used and to emphasise how much more sport can now be played as lockdown eases and shops start re-opening.
The 30-second hero spot was posted on 23 April and was launched on TV during Alan Carr’s Epic Gameshow and the media plan kicked off with a regional approach from 24 April via a ITV deal across select regions which will run throughout summer 2021.
The hero commercial was backed by a series of 6-second social cut down clips.
The creative aims to reflect the wide range of products available from the retailer: which exceeds 45,000 items of sports clothing and equipment linked to more than 70 sports
The campaign, which was developed in harness with recently appointed creative agency Forever Beta and media agency Goodstuff, was timed to leverage the easing of the pandemic lockdown across the UK.
This is the first Decathlon work from the agencies since they scooped the client following an informal five-way pitch in January and February.
PR Agency One, Decathlon’s retained PR agency for the previous three years, led on the corporate brand story supporting the national Let’s Play UK ad campaign.
The campaign followed on from brand research showing that 83% of Brits had athletic activity levels disrupted by Covid and the aim was to re-activate them.
Thus the creative targets Decathlon’s audience of families, campers, sports enthusiasts and UK adults of all ages seeking to become more physically active and healthy.
“Let’s Play UK is our rallying cry across the UK, announcing that Decathlon is here and we are your number 1 destination to have fun this summer!” said Decathlon UK Marketing Director Chris Gilroy. “This is a really important time for Decathlon, with over 90% of UK adults having post pandemic health and fitness goals*. Our job is to help inspire them of the benefits of sport. Our unique range of over 70 sports instore and online, ensures we have something for everyone. This campaign brings to life our brand and our offering like never before. It’s fun, it’s memorable and has great energy – It’s not your typical sports brand campaign. This is Decathlon.”
Forever Beta Chief Creative Officer Paulo Areas commented: “Sports and leisure has been crucial to us during this challenging time, and as the world starts to open consumers are not going to forget that this a key form of escapism and fun pastime. The work reflects the customer journey in a humorous and entertaining way, we wanted to keep the sense of joy from sports throughout the work but also communicate that Decathlon offers a huge amount of quality sporting goods.”
Goodstuff Group Planning Director Hary Moss added: “This past year, sport and exercise have been invaluable to so many different people. As the days get warmer and Britain comes out of lockdown, we’re excited to help unlock the UK’s best sporting secret. A destination for everyone’s sporting needs; be that your first tennis racket or camping equipment for the family staycation. This multi-media campaign marks Decathlon’s largest investment to date, a campaign that will be full of fun, joy and positivity!”
The campaign was conceived and created by a team at creative agency Forever Beta which included Chief Creative Officer Paulo Areas, Creative Directors Lipe Faria and Majken Gram, Copywriters Jess Purchon and Matt Walker, Lead Strategist Nick Radley, Content Strategist Siobhan Richmond,, Account Director Rupert Bloor, TV Producer Paula Mackersey and Lead Producer Sasha Oglanby.
Media Agency Goodstuff’s team included Managing Partner Sam Drake, Group Planning Director Harry Moss, Group Strategy Director Malin Herrstrom, Planning Manager Paige Spencer and Planning Executive Josh Cohen.
The production partner was Jam with sound handled by Bacchus Creative
Comment:
This campaign from Europe’s biggest sports retailer marks Decathlon’s first UK ATL marketing push, aims to deliver a fun message to the whole family whilst simultaneously building brand awareness.
Quite how the UK work fits in with Decathlon’s other new April marketing campaigns in France (Sports Makes The World Better), Belgium (The Breakaway) and Singapore we will leave up to you to decide.
The Activative team can’t help but feel there are creative similarities between this campaign and Dick’s Sporting Goods 2019 ‘New Kid’ and 2020 ‘Every Season Counts’ seasonal campaigns.
We’d also like to warn Cindy Lauper fans that too many repeat viewing of this creative might put you off the classic track forever.
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