The Umbro Invitational

As the first part of a Sound and Vision module at uni, I was asked to produce a 10 second social media advert promoting Umbro as a brand. My outcome focuses on Umbro's heyday of the 1960s and the nostalgia in the national consciousness surrounding that period of time. Soundtracked by The Montana's "You've Got To Be Loved", the piece is a fast paced and visually interesting, reminiscent of the football programs of the time.

For the second part of the module, I was tasked with producing an offline manifestation of the social media campaign. Continuing with the theme of nostalgia, I chose to stage a hypothetical exhibition match celebrating football's working class roots. When Umbro was at the peak of its powers, exhibition matches were all the rage. Whether it be Arsenal vs Brazil in 1965 or Europe vs Rest of World in 1997, football fans look back on these celebrations of the sport fondly. Both the poster and the programme cover are heavily inspired by the work of John Elvin and his work at Coventry City's SkyBlue fanzine. I chose an Umbro Select XI to play against Torpedo Moscow, the Russian capital's working class team to show that football still values the fans. Tickets to the match are only £15 for Adults and all of the proceeds go to Crisis and Mind, two charities working in and around East London, where the game will be hosted.

For context, I posted the posters around East London and took the programme on a traditional pre-match trip to Pellicci's in Bethnal Green.