21/07/2022

Man Utd & Adidas 2022/23 Away Kit ‘Upside Down / Melbourne Tram’ Launch On Tour ‘Down Under’

Adidas and Manchester United FC launched the club’s 2022/23 away kit on its promotional tour of Australia immediately ahead of a pre-season friendly against Premier League rivals Crystal Palace at Melbourne’s MCG with a mass event, transport stunt and upside down dressing room recreation.

 

 

Utd’s kit partner Adidas tasked agency Gemba to ‘bring the magic of Man Utd and of the club’s iconic home-ground Old Trafford to Australia’.

 

The resulting integrated, multi-stage kit launch campaign saw the German sportswear giant and the giant Manchester club take over Melbourne’s Federation Square for a fan and media launch event – the only public appearance by players ahead of the match – hosted by Reds legends and club ambassadors Andy Cole and Bryan Robson and fronted by a strong line up of current stars including Bruno Fernandes, Scott McTominay, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Luke Shaw.

 

To kick-off the 19 July event, adidas sent invitations to local celebrities and adiClub members which spelt out a date, a time and a tram stop location and those invited were asked to board a Melbourne city tram re-skinned in Utd colours and adidas branding to share a ride with five players to the event at Fed Square. This provided an exlcusive meet-and-greet opportunity to chat with the stars on the tram journey and to receive a goody bag containing the new away jersey from their soccer heroes.

 

The special Adidas/Man Utd wrapped tram will operate in the kit launch livery throughout the duration of the football club’s tour Down Under: ensuring many more fans had a chance to check out the ride and take and share selfies.

 

At the Federation Square event itself, a replica of the Old Trafford locker room had been built with one notable difference – the replica was upside-down. This formed the stage for the official kit unveiling and provided a compelling media and fan photo opportunity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The event, experience and stunt generated plenty of content which was deployed across club and brand social channels and used by the mainstream and sports media. The Australian generated campaign was further reinforced by a set of pre-shot, photo shoot image and video content pieces featuring new kit which rolled out online and linked to a kit competition.

 

 

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/ManUtd/status/1548294126147317760

 

 

 

“We loved the idea of turning one of Melbourne’s iconic D-Class trams into something more first-class and exclusive – an up-close experience with one of the world’s most iconic sporting teams,” explained Gemba Creative Director John Weir.

 

Gemba ECD Boyd Hicklin added: “We took every single element and detail of United’s real-life changing room and then painstakingly duplicated it to look exactly the same, except for the fact we installed it in an inverted capacity. Our rationale was pretty simple – given the guys were going to be playing Down Under, it made sense to flip a few other things on their head. And so we did. Literally.”

 

The campaign was created for client Adidas by a team at sport and entertainment agency Gemba which included Heads of Client Services Clare Stewart-Hunter and Steph McKenzie, Senior Account Director Lauren Ellis, Account Manager Alannah Brady, Event Manager Bianca Blake, Executive Creative Director Boyd Hicklin, Creative Director John Weir, Head of Creative & Production Alexandra Longbottom, Creative Producer Ally Kirkwood, Graphic Designer Julia Mancuso and Head of Marketing Strategy Adam Hodge.

 

The activation’s design, construction and installation was handled by Little Mill.

 

 

Comment

 

This Australian initiative follows in the footsteps of a strong catalogue of previous Man Utd alternate kit launch campaigns which have included 2021/22’s ‘Made To Turn Heads’, 202/21’s ‘Earn Your Stripes’, as well as 2019’s ‘Fabric Of Football’ and 2017’s ‘Here To Create’.

 

 

 

 



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