Boosting funding for grassroots sports
through film

The challenge

Greene King IPA sought to create a series of ads that would promote their beer and support their “Proud To Pitch In” initiative, which funds grassroots sports. The campaign aimed to drive beer sales both in pubs and shops, aligning with the Rugby World Cup, despite not having official sponsorship rights.

The challenge was to make rugby a central theme while navigating rights restrictions, ensuring the ads were funny, visually striking, and resonated with the target audience.

The approach

From brainstorming, we knew we wanted to create a campaign that balanced humour with the passion people have for grassroots sports. The standout concept focused on the contrast between how grassroots sports players perceive themselves, feeling like elite athletes, and the often humorous reality of their performance. This approach allowed us to showcase the importance of grassroots sport while cleverly avoiding explicit references to the World Cup.

The campaign’s narrative aligned with Greene King IPA’s grassroots sports initiative, keeping rugby at the core while celebrating the authenticity of community-level participation.

Production

The shoot took place across two locations in Huddersfield: Huddersfield Laund Hill Rugby Club and the Old Mill Pub. The entire production was completed in one day, using high-quality equipment like the Red Ranger Gemini camera and Cooke Panchro 6 Prime lenses to deliver a cinematic, polished look.

A key challenge was creating the visual contrast needed for the “rug-pull” effect, where the scenes shifted from professional-looking sports to the more relatable, humorous reality of grassroots games.

Post-Production

Post-production played a crucial role in delivering the contrast between how the grassroots sportspeople felt and how they actually appeared. We used a high-end, cinematic look for the first half of the ads and a more natural, toned-down colour grade for the second half to emphasise the shift. One of the three ads required visual effects, including tracking numbers and charts onto the screen, in a style reminiscent of “A Beautiful Mind”.

The sound design was equally important, with custom soundscapes created for each ad to amplify the contrast between the intensity of the sport and the everyday reality.

The results

This campaign became an award-winning success, recognised as the Best FMCG Campaign at both the Global Content Awards and the European Content Awards. The ads not only successfully promoted Greene King IPA but also deeply connected with grassroots sports communities through the “Proud To Pitch In” initiative.

The innovative contrast in storytelling resonated strongly with the audience, making it one of Greene King IPA’s most memorable and impactful campaigns.