Channel 4 celebrates Pure Football with The Adobe Women’s FA Cup Promo

-This campaign puts the passion and authenticity of Women’s Football front and centre-

To celebrate Channel 4’s coverage of The Adobe Women’s FA Cup, its award-winning in-house creative agency, 4Creative is launching Pure Football. This mixed-media campaign captures the noise and energy of a matchday.

At the campaign’s centre is a high-energy mixed-media film from Magna Studios and directed by Ivo Beckett and James Topley aka DEADHORSES. The footage was captured across real Adobe Women’s FA Cup matchdays and is an unfiltered mash-up of the competition. To reflect the many ways women’s football is seen, shared, and experienced, the directors shot on an eclectic mix of cameras. This included vintage broadcast film cameras, hand-cranked Bolex cameras, disposables, iPhones, and Meta glasses that allowed them to capture moments from the pitch itself.

From fanzines and flyposting to disposable-camera matchday photography, this campaign has drawn inspiration from the diverse DIY culture that has long surrounded football. Flyposter OOH executions combine stills captured across various stages of the tournament. A limited-edition digital zine, the small circulation prints long associated with football fandom, will also be created for the Final.

Miketta Lane, Director of 4Creative, said: “Authenticity was the starting point of this idea and carried through the entire process. We wanted to show women’s football for what it really is: players, passion, goals, and fans. Shooting from within the crowd lets you feel the energy that makes the game so captivating.”

David Wigglesworth, Executive Creative Director at 4Creative, said: “The Adobe Women’s FA Cup is football in its purest state. We didn’t want to polish that. We wanted to bottle it because this is the version football fans crave. The noise, the grit, the feeling that anything could happen. The Women’s FA Cup still has that energy, and Pure Football is our attempt to capture it.”

Nic Moran, Head of Marketing at Channel 4 said: “The Adobe Women’s FA Cup deserves a campaign that captures the real energy around it. We wanted something raw, visceral and rooted in the passion of the fans who make the competition so special. The result is a creative approach that feels authentic and relatable, while bringing the unmistakable attitude and creative spirit of Channel 4 to the tournament.”

Fronted by Jill Scott and Maisie Adam, Channel 4 holds terrestrial rights to the Women’s FA Cup for the next three seasons and broadcasts one match per round from the third round onwards, co-exclusively with TNT Sports. Coverage will be produced by FilmNova.

Credits

• Chief Marketing Officer: Katie Jackson
• Director of Brand & Content Marketing: Lisa Nash
• Interim Director, Brand & Content Marketing: Laura Ward-Smith
• Head of Marketing: Nic Moran
• Marketing Lead: Laura Woodcock, Liv Snellgrove
• Marketing Manager: Gabi Schuman
• Senior Marketing Executive: Taf Muchenje
• Planner: Alice McGinn
• Consideration: C4 Media Planning

Agency: 4creative

• Director of 4Creative: Miketta Lane
• Executive Creative Director: David Wigglesworth
• Deputy Executive Creative Director: Lex Down
• Senior Creatives: Stuart Gittings, Reuben Dangoor
• Creative Apprentice: Laura Whitworth, Amelia Rudzinski
• Creative Placement team: Tilly Glancy, Giorgia La Vecchia
• Head of Production: Charlie Bettice
• Head of Creative Operations: Olivia Jones
• Head of Design: Rob Boon
• Senior Designer: Sarah Jones
• Promo Director: Alecia Kelter
• Executive Producer: Jason Delahunty
• Senior Producer: Paul Gleeson
• Project Manager: Claire Walters
• Production Assistant: Cera O’Rourke

Production Company: Magna Studios

• Directors: Ivo Beckett and James Topley AKA DEADHORSES
• Executive Producer: Joel Spencer
• Head of Production: Alistair Payne-James
• Producer: Bradley Smith
• 1st Assistant Director: Ali Copland
• Runner: Ella Souzan-Clarke
• Runner: Maisey Crabtree
• DOP: Jed Darlington-Roberts
• 1st Assistant Camera: Christina Ivanova
• 2nd Assistant Camera: Laura Heilanen
• Sound Recordist: Adina Istrate
• Make Up Artist: Carly Guy
• Make Up Trainee: Lucy Alcock
• Special Effects: Jack Kirby
• Props: Sean Kelly
• Medic: Steve Boston
• Editor & VFX: Ivo Beckett

Cast:

• Football Fan 1: Leoni Smith
• Football Fan 2: Billy Clark
• Football Fan 3: Zea Hilland
• Dulwich Hamlet Women’s FC

Colour: Selected Works

Audio Post Production: String & Tins

• Supervising Sound Designer: Jim Stewart
• Audio Producers: Esi Jonuzi

4Studio:

• Social Channels Lead: Alan Toner
• Senior Content Strategist: Sophie Grundy
• Social Media Manager - Emma Lyskava

Coverage producers: FilmNova

Considerations:

Adobe & The FA