| Story | The Ashes is cricket’s oldest and biggest grudge match. A series of matches played over a long, grueling summer, it pits the game’s most bitter rivals against each other. While the games are on, England hates Australia and Australia hates England. It’s that simple. So imagine an Australian company sponsoring the England cricket team. It’s like Brazil sponsoring Argentina. Like Germany sponsoring Holland. Like dogs sponsoring cats. Well, that’s exactly what Hardys have done. An Australian wine company, they’re sponsoring the England cricket team. So when it came to creating an ident campaign for the duration of Sky Sport’s Ashes coverage, we had no choice but to confront it. We just needed to do it from an English perspective. If there’s one thing England cricket fans enjoy, it’s seeing Australians upset. So we focused on the reactions of Hardys workers when they hear that their company is sponsoring their greatest sporting enemy. Then we showed them being forced into taking part in the sponsorship themselves – and hating every second of it. In other words, we’ve given England cricket fans something to smile about this summer – even if the cricket ends up being a disaster. |