O2 release stunning Rugby World Cup animation to rally England Rugby support
By Rich Leigh on Wednesday, September 9, 2015
In a brilliant piece of sports sponsorship marketing, England rugby sponsors O2 has created a wordless animation that stands head and shoulders above the other Rugby World Cup campaigns I’ve seen so far, tying into its #WearTheRose campaign.
Called ‘Make Them Giants’, the 2 minute short highlights the importance of fans getting behind a team – and how, as the YouTube description says, ‘in top level sport, the power of support can be the difference between victory and defeat’.
Rugby was my first love, and the animation in this is just beautiful. It genuinely gave me goosebumps. Also, keep an eye out for Easter eggs in the form of player mentions throughout!
According to the announcement release:
Directed by award-winning director, illustrator and animator Elliot Dear, the animation is twelve months in the making, and features more than 6,500 hand-drawn and hand-coloured character frames and 74 hand-painted backgrounds. The 2D animation was created by 30 animators – headed up by lead animator Dominic Carola – who worked 18,420 hours in total to create the 2 minute call to action for English pride and support.
The animation has been released on the same day as Wear the Rose Live, the ‘official England Rugby 2015 send off’, featuring Take That.
