UK sportswear retailer JD Sports rolled out its integrated Christmas campaign on 3 November focusing on British youth culture in general and football in particular and featuring a strong team of athlete ambassadors, entertainer endorsers and influencers competing to see who is ‘King of the Game’.
The youth sports and fashion focused retailer developed the campaign with agency Cake (part of the Vivendi-owned Havas Group) with communications agency Exposure handling communications and experiences of a campaign that sought to celebrate the spirit of competition and the magic of Christmas.
Influenced by the England Lioness’ celebrations after winning UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 and the buzz around the build up to the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup, the joint brand/agency marketing team big idea was to be inspired by and celebrate competition by ‘inviting everyone to be king in their own chosen pursuit’.
The creative features a strong line-up up famous faces: 32 stars from sport, entertainment and music culture including KSI, Kano, Anthony Joshua, Chunkz, SlowThai, Jasmine Jobson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ella Toone and Chloe Kelly, plus plenty more.
For the multi-channel campaign launched with a neon-fuelled experiential event on 2 November in West London when a ‘JD Arcade’ was brought to life for the TVC cast with content creators and media members battling head-to-head to find the ultimate ‘King of the Game’.
A day later an OOH ad strand ran from 3 November that included fully wrapped Routemaster buses, plus taxi and tram takeovers and big billboards and banners in key UK cities including London, Dublin, Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow.
On 4 November, the hero 30-second commercial (set to Kano’s grime track ‘Ps & Qs’) premiered on TV during Channel 4’s ‘Gogglebox’ and then began running in more than 800 UK cinemas from 11 November, after which it will rotate on-air during English Premier League and World Cup games and on VOD for six weeks.
The spot starts with a family Christmas shopping trip featuring actor Cole Weallean-Watts who also starred in last year’s JD Christmas campaign. As boredom sets in, social media star Chunkz catches his eye and points to an illuminated ‘JD Arcade’ sign. Weallean-Watts enters the branded dreamworld where KSI and Tobi Brown are taking a dance machine challenge, boxer Anthony Joshua joins rappers Bugzy Malone, Knucks and Arrdee in an air hockey competition, while Top Boy actor Jasmine Jobson compete with a line-up of footballers including Trent Alexander-Arnold, Thiago Silva, Virgil van Dijk James Maddison, Harvey Elliott and UEFA Euro 2022 stars Ella Toone and Chloe Kelly. Musician Central Cee tries to notch up a top score on the pinball machine, while a host of other famous faces grace the arcade including Ms Banks, Amaria BB, Kojey Radical, Ethan Matthews, RAE and Fumez The Engineer and Ojerime, plus social media influencers like Laurie Elle, Harry Pinero and Amelia Dimoldenberg appear alongside comedian PK Humble and presenters Snoochie Shy and Joanna Chimonides.
The cinema strand is part of a collaboration with Marvel blockbuster ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ and, during the film’s first week from 11 November, the full length two-minute ad (in 4D with surround sound) will preview immediately before the main feature in 68 selected cinemas.
A film tie-in contest asked viewers if they ‘Wanna #WIN 2 x tickets to a private screening of a brand-new blockbuster movie’ and gave 20 winners 2 tickets each and a chance to win prizes in our JD arcade.
The lead assets were further backed by a set of social media supporting executions.
Become the #KingOfTheGame this Xmas at the JD Arcade
Catch the full Xmas Film on our YouTube channel now
https://t.co/l5RdWkdqI4 pic.twitter.com/JpTK4ncYQP
— JD (@JDOfficial) November 3, 2022
While a participatory POS strand invites consumers to play against family and friends and become ‘King of the Game’ the real life ‘JD Arcade’ spaces as part of a tour of JD stores (in Newcastle, London, West Midlands, Bristol, Manchester and Glasgow) which features arcade gaming machines and the JD Christmas App game.
Consumers who purchase in store during the period will also receive a token giving them the chance to play and win instant prizes which can be redeemed in time for Christmas.
This phase is led by two flagship retail sites; Westfield Stratford City will include a takeover of the double-sided bridge and meridian steps, while Piccadilly Circus will see a 3D visual spectacular DOOH event using Ocean’s DeepScreen technology to create a realistic scene from the commercial right in the heart of Central London.
“JD has always been at the forefront of progressing youth culture. This year’s cast list demonstrates that JD takes pride in spotlighting and supporting talent that are pushing boundaries and hustling to be at the top of their game,” explained JD Global Group Marketing Director Nadia Kokni. “The TVC brings to life the power of competition in a fun and festive way that everyone can relate to.”
“Whether you’re performing on the professional stage, creating beats in your bedroom or competing with your friends for the freshest winter sportswear look; as the number one destination for sports fashion, JD is undisputed at Christmas and has you covered. We’re really excited to unveil ‘King of the Game’. The big question is, are you ready?” added Cake CEO Rosie Holden. “Following the success of the Christmas 2021 campaign, this is the second year Cake has been asked by JD to deliver a culturally relevant creative concept. This has been another unique opportunity to bring together all of our strengths and thinking across culture, sport, music and entertainment to create another thoroughly modern Christmas campaign.”
The campaign was created for a JD Sports client team led by Marketing Director Nadia Kokni, Executive Creative Director Paul Mann and Brand Manager Louisa Craggs by a Cake team led by Executive Creative Director Alex Groom, Creative Partner Lex Deasley, Creative Director Alistair Dixon, Creative Issie Mandry, Designer Lewis Oliver and Agency Producer Katie Wood, plus Business Director Charlie Hugill, Account Manager Lola Wallis and Account Executive Ismahane Ileye.
Production was run through Somesuch with Director Rollo Jackson, Executive Producer Tash Tan, Producer Elly Camisa and Production Supervisor Patch Wadsworth, while media was handled by Mediacom and Peach.
Comment
They certainly through everything, including the kitchen sink, into this campaign: one which displays incredible depth and breath in every direction across almost every channel.
At Activative we can’t help but wonder whether it is truly possible to both celebrate the spirit of competition and the magic of Christmas simultaneously. After all, isn’t the festive season about giving not winning?
This year’s festive marketing burst follows in the footsteps of last year’s JD Sports’ November/December 2021 festive ‘King Of the Streets’ campaign.
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