Puma revealed the design of the new Italy away kit through a 3D street art stunt in Bari in late August.
As the sun rose over coastal southern Italy, renowned artists 3D Joe & Max drew a large crowd as they created a major mural of current Azzurri stars Verratti, Buffon and Chiellini wearing the new kit.
The startling 3D effect of the painting drew a big crowd of passers-by to Bari’s Piazza del Ferrarese on the evening before the new shirt was worn for the first time on the pitch when Italy took on France in Bari the following night.
The artwork is scheduled to remain in Piazza del Ferrarese for 48 hours to enable Italian fans gathering for the big game to see it both pre- and post-game.
The stunt was amplified across Puma and the Italian Football Association (Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio – FIGC)’s digital and social channels including YouTube
and Twitter.
FIGC and @pumafootball reveal new Italy away kit through 3d street art
(backstage gallery)https://t.co/ji6pKjxq8V pic.twitter.com/GXh8zUNlOO— FIGC (@FIGC) August 31, 2016
‘Italy is such an icon of world football, it was a real honour to create this 3D Street Artwork to show the new shirt design,’ explained Joe Hill of 3D Joe & Max.
‘Puma has great vision for unveiling new products and is a brand we admire for that, we were very happy to give Bari and Italy a taste of our work and hope they enjoy it.”
Using the #ForeverItalia hashtag, the kit roll out was further promoted with social assets fronted by Verratti.
Outstanding tradition. Unmatched class. Introducing the new 2016/17 @FIGC away kit. #ForeverItalia pic.twitter.com/2AVcGAsO4U
— PUMA Football (@pumafootball) August 31, 2016
FIGC e @pumafootball presentano il nuovo kit da trasferta.
Debutto domani vs @equipedefrancehttps://t.co/ITWVqTsd2Y pic.twitter.com/NJ0eJqkIuB— FIGC (@FIGC) August 31, 2016
Italian midfield maestro Marco Verratti (a Puma ambassador) commented: ‘I like to see new shirts being revealed in interesting ways, through this street art we can reach our fans and give them a great experience of the Italian football team. The shirt is a beautiful one and the all players look forward to wearing it as we begin new challenges on the way to Russia.’
This new shirt for the next era of Italian football will be worn by Gli Azzurri throughout their qualification for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
The new Italy away strip aims to offer an innovative design marking the country’s next footballing chapter as the secondary colour to the traditional away kit white moves away from classic Azzurri blue to navy – visible underneath the v neck collar, sleeves and bottom of the shirt with a carbon fibre sublimation print that carries an essence of speed and power.
Comment
Sure, it’s not quite Da Vinci or Michelangelo, but this kind of innovative anamorphic approach to activation using street artists and graffiti stars in sports campaigns is increasingly common.
Other stand out examples of this creative tactic range from this week’s US Tennis Association’s alliance with Bradley Theodore’s on a mural painting project for the 2016 US Open (see case study)
Bradley #Theodore talks about the mural he created for Louis Armstrong Stadium. More: https://t.co/VQ291ISIzl pic.twitter.com/OVQOkBmCfx
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 26, 2016
to the UK Football Pools’ ‘The Real Banksy’ 2014 World Cup campaign (see case study) and Warrior’s 2012 Liverpool FC kit launch (see case study).
Links
Puma Italy Web:
www.puma.com/italy
Puma YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/puma
Puma Twitter:
https://twitter.com/pumafootball
Puma Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/PUMAUK
Puma Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/puma/
FIGC Web:
FIGC Twitter:
FIGC Facebook:
FIGC YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/FIGC
FIGC Google+:
https://plus.google.com/+FIGCVivoazzurro
FIGC Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/azzurri/
FIGC RSS:
