Illustrations, design, art direction and copywriting for Ipswich Town Football Club and Adidas UK for the launch of the 2020/21 away kit.

With the home kit marking the 40th anniversary of the famous UEFA Cup win under the legendary Bobby Robson, the away kit presented a totally different approach and represents the most sustainable in the club’s history, being manufactured with Adidas Primeblue technology, which features Parley Ocean Plastic, made from recycled waste that’s intercepted from beaches and coastal communities before reaching the ocean.

As with the home campaign, the club encountered a huge amount of initial challenges, due to the worldwide pandemic. Most of all was the delay in manufacturing, which meant no access to any physical kit. This alongside social distancing measures meaning no access to players or the usual photoshoots which would normally take place during the launch process.

Due to the issues mentioned above, alongside the objective of creating something unique and special, I pitched to do the whole campaign in the form of illustrations. I was then able to work from minimal reference imagery of the new kit and draw four current players in it, which formed the bones of our launch campaign. Aside from the illustrations, I created a variety of assets ranging from social media to digital in-store displays to matchday programme artwork. Alongside this, I worked on copywriting and art direction with staff from inside the club to shape the overall campaign and the launch across all platforms.

Overall the reaction has been immense for both kits, and the sales figures for pre-orders along with engagement numbers have been at an all-time high for this stage of the season.

Due to the success of the kit launch and the illustrative approach, the club and I will now be releasing a series of commemorative illustrative merchandise throughout the season to further monetise this route.

Check out the home kit launch project here