BBC brings in Elbow for Stadium UK Olympic campaign

By Matthew Chapman, campaignlive.co.uk, Sunday, 01 July 2012 09:00PM

The BBC is focusing its marketing activity and title sequences for the Olympics around the concept of 'Stadium UK', which features a specially commissioned track by Elbow.

The BBC will have near wall-to-wall coverage of the Olympics on BBC One and BBC Three, along with its radio services.

The campaign depicts the UK as a giant stadium with Olympic athletes preparing and competing in quintessential British landscapes, a concept that will feature in all BBC television, radio and digital Olympic content.

Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R created the campaign, which includes a television spot that features swimmers in Scottish lochs, sprinters in terraced streets, a BMX rider on a cliff top and gymnasts on the streets of London.

The animation was created by Passion Pictures, directed by Pete Candeland and produced by Red Bee Media.

Elbow have written the backing track called 'First Steps', which has been recorded with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and the NovaVox gospel choir.

The track will be available as a download from 27 July with all profits going to BBC Children in Need and Sport Relief. Elbow have waived all fees and royalties and retailers have waived all profits.

Creative from the campaign will also be used in digital imagery for desktop, mobiles, tablets and connected TV content.

Louisa Fyans, head of marketing and communications for BBC 2012, said: "It had to deliver a campaign that reflected both the unique role the BBC plays as the UK’s Olympic broadcaster and one that reflected the size and scale of the Olympic Games. 

"Animation enabled us to deliver to this brief and helped us create something really special for the BBC’s London 2012 campaign."

The full two-minute 40-second version of the trail will be premiered at 7.30pm on 3 July on BBC One, with 60, 40, 30 and five-second versions used throughout the campaign.

Follow Matthew Chapman at @mattchapamUK

This article was first published on campaignlive.co.uk