Nike, the official kit supplier of The Football Association, leveraged England’s historic 1,000th international match with a campaign called ‘And All Who Follow’ honouring the 93 black players who paved the way in English football.
The activation, conceived and created by Wonderhood Studios, took place on 14 November when England took on Montenegro in a UEFA Euro 2020 qualifier at Wembley – the English men’s national team’s 1000th match.
‘And All Who Follow’ revolved around Nike honouring all 93 players with portraits and numbers for each player: these portraits were displayed in and around Wembley Stadium on the day of the match.
Huge digital posters greeted fans walking to the stadium up the iconic Wembley Way, while the portraits also featured on the matchday programme and on the stadium’s Jumbotron scoreboard.
@culturecitytv down at @BoxparkWembley filming the @nike campaign for @England 1000th game! pic.twitter.com/APD2Qno7NU
— OPEN Media (@openmediauk) November 14, 2019
The Nike advert at Boxpark, Wembley for the 93 black players to represent England.pic.twitter.com/DPR08xHiqv
— England Football Fans (@EnglidsAway) November 14, 2019
During the game itself, perimeter boards displayed each of the players’ names in the same minute as their order in the sequence of 93 players: starting with the image of Viv Anderson who was the first black player to represent England in 1978 and who’s image appeared on the pitch perimeter LED during the first minute and ending with Tyrone Mings who made his debut in October and who name was checked in the 93rd minute.
After the end of the match, an ad showing Anderson passing the ball to Mings ran across press, digital out-of-home and social media (including on the players’ own channels): the illustration shows how the 93 men have inspired generations of black players to aspire to play for England.
Nike honours 93 black players who paved the way in English football
“I will be forever thankful to them”#Trailblazers
Special game last night for @England 1000th game and delighted to secure #EURO2020 qualification. pic.twitter.com/lpHiWlLRwQ
— Tyrone Mings (@OfficialTM_3) November 15, 2019
Lovely advert by Nike for the build up to the England game. Spotted in the Evening Standard tonight. #England #ThreeLions #Nike pic.twitter.com/3levyquuT1
— Tom Bennett (@Tom_J_Bennett) November 14, 2019
Comment:
Since England took on Scotland in the first ever association football international in 1872, 1,244 footballers have been capped by the country – but only 93 of those players were black.
The timing of this Nike takeover was particularly significant due a renewed shameful spate of racial abuse in football which occurred during the last match between the two teams in March and at the October domestic FA Cup match between Haringey Borough and Yeovil Town.
Indeed, the FA itself recently launched a fresh phase of its anti-racism ‘No Room For Racism’ initiative (see case study).
As for The FA’s much hyped and yet oddly low key marketing of the 100th England international the game also saw a special, limited edition shirt marking the occasion, plus the handing out of silver salvers to players with 100 caps: a group of whom were invited to the game and too to the pitch at half time (including David Seaman, Wayne Rooney, Jermain Defoe, Glen Johnson, Paul Gascoigne, Sol Campbell and Tony Adams).
As for the match itself, England’s youngest line-up since 1959 won 7:0.
Links:
Nike
https://www.instagram.com/nike/
https://www.youtube.com/user/nike
The FA
https://www.facebook.com/EnglandTeam
https://www.instagram.com/england/
https://www.youtube.com/user/fatv
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