Sky Sport and DDB NZ Give Sport Fans Reasons to Keep the Faith

Sky Sport, through DDB NZ, has released two new TV led campaigns as Kiwis prepare to welcome live sports back into their living rooms.

Sport Gets Back Up features a variety of hold-your-breath sporting moments, reliving those tough, hard-to-watch occasions where our favourite athletes are left broken or bruised on the ground. In many instances it seems like they won’t be getting back up but then we see the determination and resilience of the athletes come to fore as they rise, often with the support of their team mates.

Sky’s chief marketing officer, Steve Bayliss says the spot is not only reflective of live sports returning to our screen but also the resolve shown by Kiwis preparing to come back after lockdown: “Like those injured on the field, pitch or court, our country is getting back up on its feet. Kiwis have shown resilience and support for each other over the past few difficult weeks. Aotearoa is a proud and strong sporting nation, so we are really excited to be bringing live sports back into people’s homes and hands very soon.”

Earlier this month, in the lead up to live sport returning to screens, Sky Sport and DDB NZ released We Feel the Same using several global sporting stars and coaches to translate the disappointment felt around the lack of live sport on our screens thanks to COVID-19.

Steve Hansen, along with famous co-stars including LeBron James, Jose Mourinho, Serena Williams and others, graced the campaign, sharing their unique thoughts on what it feels like to go through a live sport withdrawal. Kiwi sports commentators, James McOnie and Kate King, took on what appeared to be career-transforming interviewing roles, asking the world’s sporting elite the hard-hitting questions. But a few seconds into the spots it became apparent that perhaps James and Kate hadn’t scaled the heights of sports journalism to secure interviews with Hansen and his mates, and that something a bit more homebrewed was afoot.

Says Damon Stapleton, regional chief creative officer, DDB Australia and New Zealand: “There’s a lot of work out there at the moment from brands commiserating with the public that’s a bit downbeat – empty streets and empty sports stadiums. We didn’t want to do that. We wanted to acknowledge that what’s going on sucks and then find the funny side, because people need a laugh now more than ever.”

DDB New Zealand once again worked collaboratively with Sky Sport’s production department to create both campaigns from home, for those at home, by sifting through and utilising hundreds of hours of pre-existing footage.

Sport Gets Back Up will run across 60’, 30’ and 3 x 15’ TVCs and digital.

We Feel The Same is running across 4x 30’ and 3×15’ TVCs and digital.

Lebron James, Serena Williams and Steph Curry edits can be viewed on Sky TV channels.