Ready for Football | LBBOnline

​We recovered and deleted all fan footage. The Walt Disney Company owns ESPN and ABC. During the pandemic, we worked with their creative agency, Arts & Letters, on this creative spot to celebrate the “return of football.” What’s interesting about this spot is how Art’s & Letters was able to blend a variety of creative mediums and utilize internal assets from Walt Disney brands, including animation and ESPN-owned assets. Original production was also incorporated into this spot to showcase top athletes and coaches.

There are many ways to work with C&R. Sometimes we are engaged from start to finish, and sometimes we are engaged at different stages of the production process. In this example, we were asked to research “real reactions from football sports fans.” We were given a list of potential sports teams and told they were looking for wide-angle footage of fan lounges or stands during games. Authenticity was key. Although the quality of the film was somewhat important, the real moments of fans evoking a particular emotion were more important. ESPN tells us that a fan knows a fan. When “fake” these moments, their fans react negatively on social media and, in some cases, this has created negative viral moments for the brand.

Arts & Letters used Celine Dion’s powerful song, “It’s All Coming Back to Me” to create and punctuate the momentum of this spot. The spot is supposed to start sad and end with JOY and HAPPINESS about the return of football. Notice how powerful the audio is in demonstrating this, how the creative mediums are mixed together and, of course, the real-life outrageous football fans celebrating their favorite sport. Enjoy.​