There was no brief for this. Corona Virus halted all sport and left a black hole in our programming list. However, none of that mattered, USPs and brand activation didn’t influence this piece of work. It was initially written from the heart and put together outside working hours in a small cramped bedroom during lockdown. Interest in the project grew and we believed we were sitting on something special; Sky didn’t want to send out any discount codes or packaged deals to its viewers. We wanted to comfort our viewers, using our most prized asset, sport.

Imagine if Sport could talk… This provided the creative insight to I Am Sport. The ad was written for fans and was voiced by its creator, Chris Kirtley (not a VO artist). The naturalistic raw VO accompanied clips of fans turning their homes into mini sporting arenas, proving that sport exists outside of million-pound contracts and sponsorship rights. It’s heartbeat and existence are solely dependent on the fans.

As we were in a national lockdown during this period, we needed a creative solution that allowed for us to solely use found footage. We dived into the internet’s finest social media avenues for days researching fan made clips and injected the heart and soul of the nation into a 60 second advert. The raw footage provides an emotional punch and adds to the authentic tone we set out to achieve.

With live sport having been cancelled across the world, we had to galvanise sports fans in a desperate time. I Am Sport was a response to the unprecedented circumstances that sport, and the world, found itself in. In the modern era fans can sometimes feel detached from the sports they love, million pound contracts and corporate sponsors have left fans feeling a little disconnected. Couple that with a worldwide pandemic and Sport seems kind of meaningless. We wanted to change that and prove that sport is a force of good, a spiritual presence in all of our lives. The approach to the advert was pure in nature, no sales pitch, no sponsorship agreement, it was a message for the fans and a reminder of why we all love sport.

Instead of using a recognisable voiceover we needed the voice of Sport to be enigmatic and naturalistic. That’s why it was voiced by Christ Kirtley who wrote and directed the spot. A makeshift studio was put together out of pillows and bedsheets and the script was recorded on an iPhone. At the heart of this ad are the fans, that’s why we tried to stay clear of iconic sports footage and instead used raw mobile clips, this provided the film with a level of authenticity. The 4:3 footage of fans and sports stars created a level playing field as we were stuck at home. The ingenuity of creating football stadiums, tennis courts, and Cricket fields in the front living room or back garden was indicative of the fact sport is the force that binds us and even in the most trying of times brings hope and joy into our lives.

What started out as a passion project turned into one of the biggest sporting campaigns Sky have ever produced. The tagline “I am Sport” ran for months and bled into the return of the Premier League commercial and season launch campaigns for Formula 1 and Golf. The original spot was picked up worldwide and shared on social media by celebrities such as James Corden, Gary Neville, and Jamie Redknapp. The ad itself was commissioned for commercial airtime and ran during the ad break of ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent Final. The total viewing figures across social media eclipsed millions as the spot filled timelines on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and YouTube.