FIFA reminisce about better times with this nostalgic campaign made possible with modern-day techniques
The Background
50 years ago, the football World Cup was hosted by Mexico in what remains a tournament for the ages.
From the simplicity of the tournament logo and the kits through to iconic players like Carlos Alberto, Pele, Gerd Müller and Bobby Charlton.
Then there’s the venue for the final, the vast Estadio Azteca with a capacity back then of over 100,000 and sitting at an altitude of over 2,200m.
50 years on, and with football on the sidelines, FIFA has gone back in time with a blast of nostalgia across its social and digital platforms.
The Big Idea
FIFA’s bringing back the good times with a ten-day campaign across platforms that combines Mexico 70 using today’s social media techniques and content creation capabilities.
Think players from today reimagined for 1970 or 1970 highlights reimagined as if a moment in a modern video game.
A simple concept but one that, given the global relevance and notoriety of the brand, needs to be delivered well to avoid becoming a bit of a parody.
What They Did
This campaign is essentially the creation of a suite of social content that lives on @FIFAWorldCup channels over the course of 10 days.
Posts include a reimagining of the World Cup in the age of social media, convincing Photoshopped creations of Ronaldo, Messi, and co. in 1970 and tournament highlights.
Another aspect is the replaying of full matches from the tournament, something of a trend that took off during lockdown with even ITV and Premier League clubs on YouTube broadcasting matches from the ‘90s.
The Review
FIFA’s a joke of an organisation in so many ways but putting the bigger picture of corruption to one side, this is not only a designer’s dream brief but an engaging social campaign during these times.
The highlight content for me is undoubtedly the players reimagined back in the day.
Seeing Mbappe, Ronaldo, and Pogba donning those ‘70s moustaches is quite something. In terms of what the campaign actually achieves, its main accomplishment for me is capturing that lockdown hankering for nostalgic sporting moments but delivering it in a more complete and entertaining way than many others have.
It’s also interesting to see FIFA try and pick up on what the likes of Mundial have established in terms of appreciating the game beyond the Premier League and the top tier of footballing commercialisation, looking to the past being an element of that.
And whilst Mundial has a good base of podcast listening, Vice reading and craft beer drinking football aficionados, FIFA has the opportunity to gently (and yes, possibly less legitimately given claims of corruption) take some of those elements to a wider audience.
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