A new campaign from Channel 4 captures the energy and pace of a football matchday for The Adobe Women’s FA Cup. 

The mixed-media campaign titled ‘Pure Football’ was made by in-house creative agency, 4Creative. It makes use of real matchday footage and vintage broadcasts to create an unfiltered mash-up of a game day.

A high-energy film directed by Ivo Beckett and James Topley, aka Deadhorses, has a vintage feeling. The spot is a collage of football footage, fan reactions and match day action to bring to life the FA Cup competition. The film was created by Magna Studios.

Designed to reflect the many ways audiences interact with football, the film consists of footage shot on a variety of cameras including vintage broadcast film cameras, hand-cranked Bolex cameras, disposables, iPhones, and Meta glasses, to capture footage on the pitch. 

The mixed-media approach has been utilised to centre authenticity. The campaign draws on the DIY fan football culture from fanzines to flyposting, which has long existed and put the sport in the hands of audiences. 

“Authenticity was the starting point of this idea and carried through the entire process. We wanted to show women’s football for what it really is: players, passion, goals, and fans. Shooting from within the crowd lets you feel the energy that makes the game so captivating,” says Miketta Lane, Director of 4Creative.

Flyposter OOH executions combine stills captured across various stages of the tournament. A limited-edition digital zine will also be created for the final. 

“The Adobe Women’s FA Cup is football in its purest state. We didn’t want to polish that. We wanted to bottle it because this is the version football fans crave. The noise, the grit, the feeling that anything could happen. The Women’s FA Cup still has that energy, and Pure Football is our attempt to capture it,” added David Wigglesworth, Executive Creative Director at 4Creative.

Fronted by Jill Scott and Maisie Adam, Channel 4 holds terrestrial rights to the Women’s FA Cup for the next three seasons and broadcasts one match per round from the third round onwards, co-exclusively with TNT Sports. Coverage will be produced by FilmNova.

The dynamic spot champions authenticity and craft to capture the spirit of the tournament.