To celebrate the launch of Arsenal’s brand new 22/23 Away Kit, the team has teamed up with Weirdo to release a campaign celebrating the overseas fans that are very much a part of the Arsenal community despite being thousands of miles away from the Emirates. 

The campaign film introduces audiences to the neighborhood of ‘Little Islington’, a mix of North America and North London that seems too good to be true, but that is based entirely on fact. Inspired by both locations, the town is made up of footage weaved together from shoots in four separate cities.

Acting as a guide to the idyllic Arsenal-themed town is Aston Mack, an Orlando-based activist who had been photographed at a Black Lives Matter protest wearing a previous Away kit. Aston drives through the town providing a voice-over remarking that the town is “a slice of North London, a place we can all call home.” The club selected Mack to be central to the campaign to spotlight genuine fans and reciprocate support to supporters.

After a spin around the town, Mack parks and delivers the line to camera: “Wherever we find ourselves the Arsenal is always with us.” To complete the slot, audiences are then shown footage from Arsenal supporters across the globe. 

Weirdo enlisted fans to share photos of their own Little Islingtons to create the climax of the film; proof that wherever the team travels, they’re home, even when they’re away.

The inspiration for the campaign was sparked by research into the places where Arsenal’s supporter groups gather as a community. From sports bars that open for fans as early as 6 or 7am on match days to a pub in Milwaukee named after Highbury and a suburb of Baltimore where Arsenal flags hang above people’s homes, dedication to the team spanned far and wide. Like an Arsenal version of Chinatown or Little Italy, slices of North London can be found all over the world. The campaign also saw Arsenal's biggest ever sales on the launch day of the Away kit.