Industry Shorts: Uefa, Bt, Bath Rugby

UEFA, in partnership with production agency Shoot The Company, has brought together some of football’s famous faces to appear in a new documentary, Outraged, which will highlight players’ experiences of discrimination in the sport.

Launched today on UEFA.tv, the documentary will hear from the likes of men’s stars Paul Pogba, Olivier Giroud and Tyrone Mings, as well as women’s players Megan Rapinoe, Pernille Harder and Lucy Bronze. It will also feature referee Stephanie Frappart – the first female referee to take charge of a men’s Champions League game – and coaches and legends Jose Mourinho and Ruud Gullit.

They explore stories of exclusion and discrimination, whether it’s based on ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation or refugee backgrounds, and feature the stars’ thoughts on the best way to help eradication those issues from the sport. 

BT has announced the extension of its partnership with Welsh rugby union regions, the Cardiff Blues, Dragons, Ospreys, and Scarlets.

The new three-year extension keeps BT aligned with the regions until 2023, taking its partnership with the four regions up to the nine year mark.

BT will continue to have its logo displayed at home matches featuring the sides, as well as supporting each region’s community programmes, which will place a particular focus on technology and digital skills.

Bath Rugby has signed a new multi-year partnership with blister plaster brand Compeed.

The agreement follows a successful short term strategic campaign that was trialled during the culmination of the 2019/20 season, and will see the Compeed logo feature on the right sleeve of Bath’s playing jerseys.

As part of the deal, Compeed will also headline the launch of two inclusive community programmes designed to improve levels of exercise and mobility amongst adults. Set to launch in the New Year, they will be delivered by Bath Rugby’s community coaches across the region.

To celebrate Lionel Messi’s record-breaking 644th goal for Barcelona – which saw the Argentinian beat Pelé’s 1974 record for the most goals scored by one football player for one club – adidas launched a remixed version of its ‘Impossible is Nothing’ campaign from 2006.

2006 was the first year of the brand’s sponsorship of the player, and the edited footage of the advert features Messi being asked ‘how would you rewrite history?’ Messi then responds by writing the number 644 on the screen.

The campaign was developed by We Are Social Sport, the sports specialist division of socially-led creative agency We Are Social.