Football has a new home
Arsenal FC

Nike UK

Rosie Lee Creative

Client:
Nike UK
Team:
Russell Clayton
Wai Lau
Chris Harris
Photography
Tom Van Heel

In 1913, Woolwich Arsenal Football Club was fighting to stay in the Second Division. Fast forward to 2006, and they had become one of Europe’s top clubs, outgrowing the iconic Highbury stadium. Nike brought us in to create a campaign that would capture the energy and anticipation around the team’s move to their new home at the Emirates while connecting it to the club’s rich history.
        We developed a campaign that dramatised the relocation, featuring a series of heroic shots by Tom van Heel, showing the players walking toward the new stadium in a powerful procession. The aim was to bottle that sense of excitement, anticipation, and pride while giving a nod to the legacy of Highbury.
        Funny story—we were set to shoot this procession for real, but something unexpected came up, and Arsène Wenger changed his mind at the last minute. So, we had to do it all in the post, which ended up being an epic task. Luckily, Tom specialises in complex perspective shooting, and we pulled it off, creating the dramatic look and feel we wanted without missing a beat.