The Use of Graphic Novel Styles and Special Effects in Football Advertising
THE USE OF GRAPHIC NOVEL STYLES AND SPECIAL EFFECTS IN FOOTBALL ADVERTISING
HUW STARK
A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Interactive & Motion Design, Atrium, Cardiff School of Creative and Cultural Industries, the University of Glamorgan. No part of work referred to in this dissertation has been submitted in support of an application for another degree or qualification in this University or any other institute of Learning.
Division of Design
Atrium
University of Glamorgan
June 2010
Abstract
The following paper explores the uses of graphic novel and comic book style and special effects in advertising for football and relevant products. The paper will begin by looking briefly into the history of special effects and how they have been developed over time, with enhancements in technology helping designers when it comes to advertising. It will look into the history of graphic novels and comic books, and how they have battled through the decades to remain popular to this day, on the shelves as well as on the big screen. Since the turn of the 1990’s, advertising in football has become huge and big companies such as Nike and Adidas have been battling ever since to produce the best advertising campaigns. The paper will look into some of these campaigns, and specifically those that have been influenced by graphic novels, and how special effects and CGI have taken the adverts to a new level. The paper will finish by discussing why such techniques and styles are used in advertising for football, when there is no sustainable link between the sport and graphic novels, and whether they have proved successful.
Contents Page
Abstract
List of Illustrations
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 Graphic Novels, Comic Books and Comix 3
Chapter 2 Advertising Campaigns in Football 8
Chapter 3 The influence of Graphic Novels and Special Effects 13
Conclusion 17
Illustrations 19
Bibliography 28
List of Illustrations
Figure 1: Robert Crumb, Zap! ISSUE 1, 1968
Figure 2: Frank Miller, SIN CITY COMIC, 1992
Figure 3: Frank Miller, SIN CITY MOVIE, 2005
Figure 4: Anonymous, OFFICIAL 1930 WORLD CUP POSTER, 1929
Figure 5: Anonymous, OFFICIAL 1978 WORLD CUP POSTER, 1977
Figure 6: David Sque, ROY OF THE ROVERS, 1985
Figure 7: Brett McManus, ADIDAS EVERY TEAM NEEDS, 2009
Figure 8: Gavin Lamb, ITV FA CUP TITLE 09/10, 2009
Figure 9: EA Sports, ADIDAS EVERY TEAM NEEDS, 2009
Introduction
Advertising of sport is one of the most common forms of media known to people in this day and age, whether it is for a small event happening in the next few days or a worldwide event happening years from now. Whereas a large portion of the advertising will be made up of footage from existing sporting events and games, more and more use of special effects technology and artistic influence from past designers is playing a part in promoting the games that are seen around the world.
Ever since the famous French film maker Georges Méliès began the innovation of special effects in the late 19th Century, the uses of his techniques have been taken advantage upon by people throughout the creative industry. A year after watching his first film, Méliès had purchased himself a camera and started making his own films. By 1986 ‘Méliès had begun combining his knowledge of magic with filmmaking to produce the first “trick” films.’ In 1902 he produced A Trip to the Moon, his most famous film, which ‘employed every trick he had learned or invented’. It was a groundbreaking film, and due to the lack of international copyright laws, and the sheer amount of piracy, it was seen by millions and influenced many filmmakers to not only use his techniques in their own films, but the ‘also began improving on them.’ This way of designing, by continually improving upon what was already out there, meant the use of special effects in films was becoming more popular, and it would only be a matter of time until it was used in other forms of media.
The dissertation will be looking into the use and application of special effects in sports advertising and where the influences have come from. The dissertation will also be heavily focusing on how the advertising world linked themselves to the rise of graphic novels in the 1960s in order to capture the imagination of their target market. The enhancement of graphic novels in the last half a century has influenced advertising massively, especially in football. The development of technology has seen graphic novels transform from books on the shelves through to the cinema in films, via television and cartoons. The dissertation will also be looking into the history of print and animated advertising campaigns in football, and attempt to establish when and why designers began to take influence from graphic novel design, and what effect it had. Chapter one looks at the history of graphic novels, comic books and comix and how they have evolved over time. It will look at the impact they have made not only in their own medium, but how they have advanced in recent years onto other platforms of media. In chapter two the rise in advertising and popularity of football will be discussed, looking at how designers have linked themselves to popular design styles and movements at the time, and how special effects have been used to catapult the image of the footballers into situations usually seen in superhero comics. Chapter three will look at the influence that graphic novel design and special effects has had on advertising in football and why the styles were used in the first place. It will also explore whether there is more to come in the future for this style of advertising.
With many recent advertising campaigns, as well as other sports related use of graphics, involving influences from the graphic novel era, the dissertation will explore why some designers still use this style even though, since the 1990’s, ‘sports comics have largely disappeared’ meaning there may be no guarantee of a target audience for them to appeal too.
Chapter One: Graphic Novels, Comic Books and Comix
The use of storytelling through graphics has been a popular way of communicating for centuries, and over time, as people began looking for entertainment, the use of graphic storytelling was implemented. One form of an entertainment periodical during the 19th Century was the novel, usually involving a ‘sensational adventure or mystery’, and this theme has continued until the modern day. The first graphic novel to be published in the United States was The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck in 1842, which was a humorous look at a young man’s misadventures with the opposite sex. In 1985, The Yellow Kid became the ‘first successfully merchandised comic strip character’, and in turn was known as the first financially successful graphic novel. This success led the way into the 20th Century where several comic strip characters are world famous and returning huge financial rewards to their creators.
It took until the 1930s, the time of the Great Depression in America, for comic books to first become very popular, and according to Steven Krensky in Comic Book Century: The History of American Comic Books, it was the depression itself that sparked the public’s interest. The fall in the economy had let to emotional stress for some of the population, and so people looked to books, music and movies for entertainment whist trying to forget about what was going on in the world for a short time. Newspapers would publish what were known as ‘The Funnies’ every Sunday, and as these gained popularity, publishers decided to make books out of them. However, it was expensive for publishers to pay legal fees for famous strips, and so Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson decided it would be ‘cheaper to hire writers and artists to create new, original stories for comic books’ and publish them instead. It wasn’t until 1937, when National Allied Publications was renamed as Detective Comics (now DC comics) that its popularity soared. It had taken Wheeler-Nicholson until this time to perfect the format and introduce colour to his comics, and this all led to comic books being a ‘booming industry’ by the late 1930’s.
It wasn’t until the late 1960’s, when the underground revolution occurred, that the popularity of comics and graphic novels really soared. It was a backlash against the ‘repressive Comics Code Authority’ that was created in 1954 in order to regulate the content published in comics in the United States. It is argued that the creation of horror and crime titles in the early 1950s led to the ‘creation of the Comics Code’ leaving very few genres intact other than the superheroes. Sales began to rise again in the 1960s, with the introduction of Spiderman from Marvel Comics, whilst war and horror comics returned in a ‘toned-down’ format to provide resurgence in sales. The underground comix movement, which was a new innovation in comics, managed to bypass the regulations of the Comics Code. They name ‘comix’ was used in order to ‘distinguish itself from mainstream comics’, which they did radically, from printing imagery including sex, drugs and violence to expressing their gritty and honest political views. Robert Crumb’s Zap (Figure 1) was the comic that really got the revolution going in 1968. Volume One was an underground success and attracted interest and attention from other artists at the time, including S. Clay Wilson, Spain Rodriguez and Gilbert Shelton, who ‘would eventually from the Zap! collective’. Crumb cites a piece of advice from Wilson as the main reason he got into underground comix, ‘Uncensor yourself, fuck the whole thing’ and it was this attitude that made the revolution so popular with artists and the public. Don Donahue, the publisher of the Zap! Comics, believes the ‘explosion’ of popularity came about because Zap, and underground comix in general, had finally taken hold of a ‘whole medium of expression that had been neglected for so long’, due to the problems in the 1950’s, and done something with it.
The underground revolution was not all successful though due to the fact there was alot of bad work as well as good. Roger Sabin believes the underground ‘encouraged poor work because its central ethic that ‘anybody could do it’ meant that anybody did’, although this didn’t deter from the overall success that Crumb and others provided for the revolution. Many of the comix often featured covers to appeal to the drug and hippie culture at the time, producing LSD-inspired imagery in order to increase sales but this ultimately proved to be a downfall of the revolution. Much like 20 years previous, when the Comics Code regulated content, the censors were out in force again. Drug-related paraphernalia was restricted and new drug laws led to the ‘closure of many headshops, a major outlet for many comix’. Alongside the decline of the hippie culture, the comix lost much of their audience and the revolution was at an end.
A new revival was sparked in the 1980’s when the major comic companies decided to target the ‘hardcore’ adult fans with more mature comics featuring superheroes including the likes of a newly formed Batman, and the Watchmen. Frank Miller was at the forefront of the new revival, and his work, alongside that of Pulitzer Prize winner Art Spiegalman, ‘helped raise the profile of graphic novels’ with their inclusion of more complex storylines and more interesting characters.
One of Frank Miller’s pieces of work, Sin City (Figure 2), originally released as a graphic novel in 1991, has had success across more than one medium of media. The novel was successfully adapted into a movie in 2005 (Figure 3), with Frank Miller involved as a co-director, whilst empathising with the style of its graphic novel roots, being ‘noteworthy for its attempt to recreate the distinctive visual style’ as opposed to other adaptations such as Batman and Superman which followed the narrative instead. The transition from graphic novel to film was a success in both directions. The film, with a production budget of $40million, took a worldwide gross of over $158m and this propelled the book back ‘to the top of the graphic novel best-sellers list’ in 2005. The success of Sin City in the most popular medium of all provided Frank Miller with confidence to take another of his graphic novels to the big screen, this time with 300. It eclipsed the box office figures of Sin City and its worldwide gross was over $456m. The success of the movie, like Sin City, also helped the graphic novel return to the top of the best-sellers list in America. Graphic novels had ‘moved out of hobby shops to take film and television by storm’ said the Chicago Times. The figures show that the audience for graphic novels and its stylistic imagery in other forms of media is undoubtedly there to be targeted, and this could provide one of the reasons why, in advertising, similar styles are being used more and more at present.
Chapter Two: Advertising Campaigns in Football
Advertising in sport is rife, and with football being the number one sport in the world, the ‘World’s game’ according to FC Football Graphics, this is where the biggest companies in the field, Nike and Adidas, spend a lot of their time and money competing against one another to have the most sought after brand. Football is everywhere, it has ‘influenced fashion, music, advertising, art... even literature’ and for this reason, it is imperative that designers and advertising executives get things right when it comes to promoting the game and their relevant products and/or brand. After all, one journalist in 1998, from The Independent, predicted the World Cup would be ‘a month of advertising with some great soccer thrown in’.
The first type of advertising used in football was in print form, whether it be in match day programmes or in local newspapers. Very few design decisions were made at the time, with adverts serving their means in a formal way to get their message across. It was in 1930, with the introduction of the FIFA World Cup, that conscious decisions over design in print advertising were made. The first official World Cup poster (Figure 4) was heavily inspired by art deco, a popular design movement at the time. By the 1970s, the posters were inspired by pop art (Figure 5), showing that when advertising in football at any level, it has been imperative to comply with current trends, knowing there will be a satisfied market waiting.
The first time graphic novel and comic book influences were seen within football was in the early 1950’s, with the introduction of ‘Roy of the Rovers’, starring a fictional footballer named Roy Race as a weekly feature in a comic called Tiger. It featured as a weekly comic strip for 20 years before its popularity, ‘warranted bringing out a magazine of its own’ (Figure 6), which came as no surprise as sales had reached a million by that time. According to Mike Conroy, ‘football strips were always popular’ in Britain, with other comic strips including Hot Shot Hamish, Billy the Fish, Mighty Mouse and many others, but it was Roy Race who was the ‘most famous of all the sports heroes’ around and the mix of fact and fiction led to the comic being a ‘terrifically exciting sports title’. The phrase ‘real Roy of the Rovers stuff’ is still commonly used by football commentators and journalists, meaning his legacy will never be forgotten. Despite ending in 1993, Titan Books bought the entire catalogue of Roy of the Rovers comics, and in 2008, they released ‘The Bumper Book of Roy of the Rovers’ in graphic novel form.
Football was now becoming popular off the pitch, and in the 1970’s sportsmen started appearing in television adverts for the first time, with former England football international Kevin Keegan being one of the first player to do so. Keegan, alongside boxer Henry Cooper, advertised the popular men’s fragrance Brut, as well as being the face of the governments Green Cross Code advertising campaign. However, it was in the 1990’s when football advertising really hit a peak, with Nike’s famous ‘Nike Vs The Devil’ advert being released. The advancements of technology by this time had helped companies be more creative with their ideas and designs, and they were able to use powerful software, green screens and other techniques to take advertising to a new level. Instead of being at the scene, filming could be done entirely in a studio, leaving the designers to create the environment themselves using computer software. Much like in graphic novels, the theme of the advert was ‘good vs evil’, a concept that has been used in storytelling for decades, and had become very popular in the 1980’s with a succession of superhero graphic novel characters such as Batman and Superman. Some of the most famous footballers in the world overcame the violent, evil creatures in an old coliseum, and when the star of the show, Eric Cantona, scored the winning goal, kids all over the world ‘wanted to be him’ or do the ‘next best thing, wear his boots’. With this kind of response, we can assume that Nike had been successful with their ploy of advertising good beating evil, and the success of the advert led to a sequel a few years later, with footballers defeating an army of ninjas to rescue a precious football.
Adidas followed up with an effort of their own using some clever special effects techniques. Eleven of the best footballers in the world, alongside manager Franz Beckenbaeur, were cloned by a special machine to take part in a match against each other. The clever camera trickery was a new concept for adverts, and it allowed Adidas to show off their use of the new technology in a way that hadn’t been seen before. Although the influence of graphic novels isn’t shown through the design of these adverts, its influence can be seen clearly in the storyline and direction of the adverts. FourFourTwo, a leading football publication, believes that Nike ‘have an uncanny ability to see things from the perspective of a 14 year old boy’ and this could go some way to explaining why they made the decision to style the adverts in the way they did, knowing it would be popular with one of their target markets, as well as older people who may feel some nostalgia towards their past, had they been fans of the football comic strips that were so popular in the 70s and 80s.
With 2010 being a World Cup year, Nike and Adidas will once again go head to head in the battle to be number one. The title has only ever been held by Adidas, but since Nike decided to become serious about football in 1994, the year the World Cup was held in America, they have been ‘striving to be the number one soccer brand in the world’, meaning Adidas have to remain at the top of their game when it comes to advertising. Although Adidas are still the official World Cup sponsor, Nike have managed to ambush recent World Cup campaigns with their clever advertising, by attaching themselves to the most popular football nation in the world, Brazil, and the world’s most popular players, like Ronaldinho. In a 2006 National Public Radio interview, Dean Stoyer, a spokesman for Nike, claimed their ambush campaign had been ‘downloaded 30 million times’ and this meant they didn’t need the tag of official sponsors ‘with exposure like this.’ Regardless of Nike’s ambush tactics over the past few World Cups, Adidas have re-equipped themselves as the official sponsor of the 2010 tournament and their advertising campaign, released just over a year before the World Cup starts, has been massively influenced by graphic novel styles, whilst also using special effects and CGI for some of their adverts in the series.
The advertising campaign, named ‘Every Team Needs’ (Figure 7) and narrated by former World Cup winner Zinedine Zidane, stars a number of the best footballers in the world including Steven Gerrard, Lionel Messi and Kaka, each having their own unique quality. Adidas and communications agency 180 Amsterdam created the campaign in a ‘film noir style’, which is the category the Sin City film falls into, for ‘print, retail, digital, events, ground activation and even gaming in a distinct graphic novel style.’ Despite the style of the introduction promo for the campaign being heavily influenced by graphic novel design, a number of the adverts use special effects and CGI animation as well. In an Adidas press release, it was revealed that this was to ‘entice’ the audience with an ‘intriguing series of films’. However, the graphic novel/comic book series was trusted as the first release of adverts for the campaign, which goes to show the faith Adidas had in the popularity of the style, seeing as this is their biggest advertising campaign since the 2006 World Cup. Their aim, to stay at the top of the football ladder, seems to be working, with the campaign achieving ‘unprecedented results for an ecstatic Adidas’, which leads us to believe that using a graphic novel style of design in order to promote a world leading brand seems is every bit as successful as using special effects and CGI animation.
Adidas aren’t the only company who have adopted a graphic novel design to their work in the past year though, as ITV, trying to breathe life into the FA Cup, have gone from a poetic, historical introduction at the beginning of their broadcasts, to a radical, graphic novel style introduction, depicting footballers as the superheroes so often seen in graphic novels and comic books (Figure 8). Despite the fact that ‘sports comics have largely disappeared’ since the 1990’s and the end of Roy of the Rovers, the decision makers at companies such as Adidas and ITV have been confident enough, and brave enough to assume there is market out there to be targeted, whether through nostalgia for adults or a new interest for children.
Chapter 3: The Influence of Graphic Novels and Special Effects
With the two recent advertising campaigns, mentioned previously in the paper, containing influences of graphic novel styles as well as special effects, it is important to understand why designers and advertising executives have reverted back to this style, which was popular in the 1990’s, as opposed to usual live-action adverts, involving a director and actors.
In Adidas’ 2010 World Cup campaign, where the first series of adverts released had large elements of graphic novel styles involved, the most recent adverts added to the series are completely CGI based, taking inspiration from the hugely popular football console game, FIFA 10 by EA Sports (Figure 9). With Adidas being a German company, they have featured a German international, Bastian Schweinsteiger, for the first, knowing it’ll immediately get them the attention they crave in their homeland. The adverts are made up completely of in-game footage from FIFA 10, based around the 3 players involved, with a voiceover describing the need for an illusionist on the team. It is interesting that, for the very first time, Adidas have used video game footage for an advert to sell their products, only showing a picture of the actual football boots at the very end of it, whereas there are plenty of close ups on the boots, in their CGI form, during the advert for the viewers to see. So why have Adidas decided to turn their back on their usual style of campaigns, which have served them well over the past two decades? According the Joyce Duncan, who writes about the use of sport in comics, she believes such campaigns are there to ‘exploit the devotion of fans’, whereas elsewhere, it is believed that companies are ‘linking their customers favourite pastimes.’ This could imply that, knowing how popular football is, especially in a World Cup year, the likes of Adidas know they will always have their core support who will appreciate their adverts and buy certain products from them, whatever style of campaign they use. However, in order to grab themselves a larger slice of the market, they have decided to target certain niche markets, such as graphic novel fans and those who play video games, who are less likely to usually be interested in the playing side of football and the products on offer. After all, famous graphic novel creator Robert Crumb believed that ‘comics are a wimpy boy thing and not a sexy boy thing like sports,’ so this could be Adidas’ attempt to try and rectify and eliminate old stereotypical thoughts like those of Crumb’s. Adidas aren’t the first company to create a link between their target markets favourite hobbies as in 1994, Nike created a series of adverts where they turned famous Dutch players ‘into computer games characters’ in an attempt to ‘portray their players as ever more powerful and dynamic’ to boost the promotion of their products.
Another reason why designers may have chosen these techniques in order to promote football and their products is due to the fact both football and graphic novels, comic books and computers games are primarily visual mediums. People can sit back and enjoy a football match much like they can sift through a comic book without having to pay too much attention to the text if they please, unlike if they were reading a book or a newspaper. By targeting people who have an interest in these visual mediums, it seems more likely that they are going to gain success out of their advertising campaigns, which probably wouldn’t be the case if they designed their adverts to target readers of fictional novels.
There is also a chance that designers have targeted the psychological aspect of their potential target market with adverts such as the Nike’s ‘Good Vs Evil’ efforts, where the nature of the adverts is aggressive and there is an underlying question of violence involved, which is an attitude that has been in graphic novels since the underground revolution in the 1960s. Despite the majority of sports encouraging fair play and discouraging violence, there is still a belief that ‘violence in sport is clearly an issue of contemporary concern’ and those who do participate in sports, as well as those who are regulars at sporting events, have a competitive streak inside of them that can turn nasty when things aren’t going their way. Due to this attitude, it is likely that viewers enjoy seeing potentially violent battles on television, and without their being actual violence involved, there is certainly a large element of competitiveness which the viewer can relate too. In contrast to this, the likes of Nike and Adidas are clever in their execution of such adverts, where they portray that the footballers skills are far too powerful for the opposition to handle, and so good can overcome evil without having to resort to violence, much like the stereotypical ‘good vs evil schema of the superhero genre’ in its heyday.
In relation to this, the designers at Adidas have attempted to portray the contemporary footballers as superheroes in their own right, and there seems no better way in getting this image across than linking the style to that of old graphic novels, where superheroes first burst onto the global scene. By simply imitating and taking inspiration from the work of graphic novel artists such as Joe Shuster (Superman) and Steve Ditko (Spiderman), they have given the footballers superhero status amongst viewers, something that may not have been possible had they used an alternative style of design.
Conclusion
The purpose of the dissertation was to explore the uses of graphic novel styles and relevant special effects in advertising for football, the possible reasons why they had been used and if they led to successful campaigns.
It is apparent that, for the first time in over a decade, the return of the graphic novel style and theme has returned as a focal point in advertising campaigns and football broadcasts. When it was first applied, in the mid 1990’s, it was off the back of a very successful period of movies being made out of comic books, The Mask and Batman Returns for example.. According to Sabin, comics had the upper hand on normal movies because of their ‘capacity for picturing spectacular settings and situations.’ With the advancements in technology that had been available to transfer comic book settings onto the big screen, designers were able to take advantage to integrate footballers into these surreal surroundings in adverts, instead of having to use locations such as football stadiums. Even though sports comic books have disappeared since this point, the movies have continued to be released in Hollywood, and the majority have been successful. In 2005, Sin City opened up a whole new door for designers, as it proved that graphic novels could be successful on the big screen whilst sticking to its stylistic roots, and there is every chance that this influenced Adidas’ advertising campaign, albeit 4 years later. Whilst Adidas wouldn’t have had the time to adopt the style for their 2006 World Cup campaign, it could be suggested that they have had it in the forefront of their minds in the last 4 years, ready for their current campaign.
With regards to the final point, measuring the success of Adidas’ 2010 World Cup advertising campaign is difficult, due to the fact the World Cup is still 3 months away and the campaign is still in full flow. There is however indication that, up until now, the campaign has helped Adidas flourish in the year before the World Cup starts. Although there are no concrete facts and figures to back this up, Adidas are said to be ‘ecstatic’ with their output, according to production company Conduit, and the ‘Every Team Needs’ campaign has gone from strength to strength, with the company now using the same style of design to advertise International football jerseys and official match balls for the Champions League and World Cup. With such a reputation at stake, and the prize of being football’s number one brand under threat from Nike, had the campaign not been successful in the early months, it is likely that Adidas would have been ruthless enough to change their marketing and design strategy for their campaign. However, its development and longevity suggest that sales have benefitted from the campaign and there is still more to come. It is likely that, should this campaign be regarded as a success when all is said and done, and Adidas remain the number one brand in football, it could be the start of an influx of not only more advertising campaigns related to graphic novels, but even the re-appearance of a football based comic series, something that has been missing for nearly two decades.
Illustrations
Figure 1: Robert Crumb, Zap! ISSUE 1, 1968
Figure 2: Frank Miller, SIN CITY COMIC, 1992
Figure 3: Frank Miller, SIN CITY MOVIE, 2005
Figure 4: Anonymous, OFFICIAL 1930 WORLD CUP POSTER, 1929
Figure 5: Anonymous, OFFICIAL 1978 WORLD CUP POSTER, 1977
Figure 6: David Sque, ROY OF THE ROVERS, 1985
Figure 7: Brett McManus, ADIDAS EVERY TEAM NEEDS, 2009
Figure 8: Gavin Lamb, ITV FA CUP TITLE 09/10, 2009
Figure 9: EA Sports, ADIDAS EVERY TEAM NEEDS, 2009
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[ 1 ]. Ron Miller, Special Effects: An Introduction to Movie Magic, 2006, p.14-15
[ 2 ]. Ibid
[ 3 ]. Ibid
[ 4 ]. Janet Evans, What’s in the Picture?, 1998, p.138.
[ 5 ]. Stan Tychinski, “A Brief History of the Graphic Novel”, [on-line], 2004 at http://www.graphicnovels.brodart.com/history.htm (accessed: 17 February 2010)
[ 6 ]. Ibid
[ 7 ]. Steven Krensky, Comic Book Century: The History of American Comic Books, p.10
[ 8 ]. Ibid
[ 9 ]. Patrick Rosenkranz, Rebel Visions: The Underground Comic Revolution 1963-1975, p.4
[ 10 ]. Roger Sabin, Comics, Comix and Graphic Novels: A History of Comic Art, 1996, p.68
[ 11 ]. Ibid, p.74
[ 12 ]. Ibid, p.92
[ 13 ]. D. K. Holm & R. Crumb, Robert Crumb: Conversations, 2004, Introduction p.ix
[ 14 ]. Ibid, p.4
[ 15 ]. Patrick Rosenkranz, Op cit, p.71
[ 16 ]. Roger Sabin, Op cit, p.107
[ 17 ]. Ibid, p.92-94
[ 18 ]. Ibid, p.116-117
[ 19 ]. Ibid, p.157-160
[ 20 ]. Anonymous, “Pulitzer Prize Winners 1992”, 1992 at http://www.pulitzer.org/awards/1992 (accessed: 23 February 2010)
[ 21 ]. Roger Sabin, Op cit, p.165
[ 22 ]. Mark Bould, Film Noir: From Berlin to Sin City, 2005, p.112
[ 23 ]. Anonymous, “Sin City Box Office Ratings”, 2010 at http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=sincity.htm (accessed: 4 March 2010)
[ 24 ]. Paul Lopes, Demanding Respect: The Evolution of the American Comic Book, 2009, p.158
[ 25 ]. Anonymous, “300 Box Office Ratings”, 2010 at http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=300.htm (accessed: 4 March 2010)
[ 26 ]. Paul Lopes, Op cit, p.159
[ 27 ]. Jeremy Leslie & Patrick Burgoyne, FC Football Graphics, Thames and Hudson, 1998, p.7
[ 28 ]. Ibid
[ 29 ]. Jackie Cannon, Advertising and Identity in Europe: The I of the Beholder, 2000, p.130
[ 30 ]. Anonymous, “David Sque Interview Part 1”, [on-line], 2006 at http://www.fustar.info/2006/03/23/120/ (accessed: 2 March 2010)
[ 31 ]. Willie Gannon, “Profiles of the Great and Good: Roy Race: Its real Roy of the Rovers stuff here”, 2000 at http://bleacherreport.com/articles/83883-profiles-of-the-great-and-good-roy-race-its-real-roy-of-the-rovers-stuff-here (accessed: 2 March 2010)
[ 32 ]. Mike Conroy, 500 Great Comicbook Action Heroes, 2002, p.270
[ 33 ]. Ibid
[ 34 ]. Graham Kibble-White, The Ultimate Book of British Comics, 2005, p.191
[ 35 ]. Dan Ross, “The Tuesday 10: Best Football Adverts”, 2010 at http://fourfourtwo.com/blogs/fourfourtwoview/archive/2010/01/26/the-tuesday-10-best-football-adverts.aspx (accessed 3 March 2010)
[ 36 ]. Ibid
[ 37 ]. Wendy Kaufman, “World Cup Battle: Nike V Adidas”, 2006 at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5459929 (accessed 6 February 2010)
[ 38 ]. Ibid
[ 39 ]. Anonymous, “Every Team Needs the Spark – Zidane unveils the Messi legend”, 2009 at http://www.press.adidas.com/PortalData/1/Resources/sport_performance/pressreleases/f50i_campaign_release_final.pdf (accessed: 16 October 2009)
[ 40 ]. Anonymous, “Every Team Needs the Spark – Zidane unveils the Messi legend”, 2009 at http://www.press.adidas.com/PortalData/1/Resources/sport_performance/pressreleases/f50i_campaign_release_final.pdf (accessed: 16 October 2009)
[ 41 ]. Ibid
[ 42 ]. Anonymous, “Adidas International – Every Team Needs”, 2009 at http://www.conduit.co.za/journal/films/adidas-international-every-team-needs (accessed: 5 March 2010)
[ 43 ]. Janet Evans, Op cit, p.138
[ 44 ]. Joyce Duncan, Sport in American Culture: From Ali to X-Games, 2004, p.87.
[ 45 ]. Jeremy Leslie and Patrick Burgoyne, Op cit, p.66.
[ 46 ]. D. K. Holm & R. Crumb, Op cit, p.231
[ 47 ]. Jeremy Leslie and Patrick Burgoyne, Op cit, p.66.
[ 48 ]. Ibid
[ 49 ]. Lynn Jamieson & Thomas Orr, Sport and Violence: A Critical Examination of Sport, 2009, p. xvii
[ 50 ]. Mila Bongco, Reading Comics: Language, Culture and the Concept of the Superhero in Comic Books, 2000, p.221-222
[ 51 ]. Roger Sabin, Op cit, p.174
[ 52 ]. Anonymous, “Adidas International – Every Team Needs”, 2009 at http://www.conduit.co.za/journal/films/adidas-international-every-team-needs (accessed: 5 March 2010)
Bibliography: Secondary Sources Bongco, Mila, Reading Comics: Language, Culture and the Concept of the Superhero in Comic Books, 2000, p.221-222 Bould, Mark, Film Noir: From Berlin to Sin City, 2005, p.112 Cannon, Jackie, Advertising and Identity in Europe: The I of the Beholder, 2000, p.130 Conroy, Mike, 500 Great Comicbook Action Heroes, 2002, p.270 Duncan, Joyce, Sport in American Culture: From Ali to X-Games, 2004, p.87 Miller, Ron, Special Effects: An Introduction to Movie Magic, 2006, p.14-15 Evans, Janet, What’s in the Picture?, 1998, p.138 Jamieson, Lynn & Orr, Thomas, Sport and Violence: A Critical Examination of Sport, 2009, p. Xvii Wendy Kaufman, “World Cup Battle: Nike V Adidas”, 2006 at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5459929 (accessed 6 February 2010) Kibble-White, Graham, The Ultimate Book of British Comics, 2005, p.191 Krensky, Steven, Comic Book Century: The History of American Comic Books, p.10 Lesley, Jeremy & Burgoyne, Patrick, FC Football Graphics, Thames and Hudson, 1998, p.7 Lopes, Paul, Demanding Respect: The Evolution of the American Comic Book, 2009, p.158 Sabin, Roger, Comics, Comix and Graphic Novels: A History of Comic Art, 1996, p.68 Tychinski, Stan, “A Brief History of the Graphic Nvel”, [on-line], 2004 at http://www.graphicnovels.brodart.com/history.htm (accessed: 17 February 2010) Anonymous, “Pulitzer Prize Winners 1992”, 1992 at http://www.pulitzer.org/awards/1992 (accessed: 23 February 2010) Anonymous, “Sin City Box Office Ratings”, 2010 at http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=sincity.htm (accessed: 4 March 2010) Anonymous, “300 Box Office Ratings”, 2010 at http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=300.htm (accessed: 4 March 2010) Anonymous, “Adidas International – Every Team Needs”, 2009 at http://www.conduit.co.za/journal/films/adidas-international-every-team-needs (accessed: 5 March 2010) [ 4 ]. Janet Evans, What’s in the Picture?, 1998, p.138. [ 5 ]. Stan Tychinski, “A Brief History of the Graphic Novel”, [on-line], 2004 at http://www.graphicnovels.brodart.com/history.htm (accessed: 17 February 2010) [ 6 ] [ 13 ]. D. K. Holm & R. Crumb, Robert Crumb: Conversations, 2004, Introduction p.ix [ 14 ] [ 23 ]. Anonymous, “Sin City Box Office Ratings”, 2010 at http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=sincity.htm (accessed: 4 March 2010) [ 24 ] [ 25 ]. Anonymous, “300 Box Office Ratings”, 2010 at http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=300.htm (accessed: 4 March 2010) [ 26 ] [ 27 ]. Jeremy Leslie & Patrick Burgoyne, FC Football Graphics, Thames and Hudson, 1998, p.7 [ 28 ] [ 29 ]. Jackie Cannon, Advertising and Identity in Europe: The I of the Beholder, 2000, p.130 [ 30 ] [ 35 ]. Dan Ross, “The Tuesday 10: Best Football Adverts”, 2010 at http://fourfourtwo.com/blogs/fourfourtwoview/archive/2010/01/26/the-tuesday-10-best-football-adverts.aspx (accessed 3 March 2010) [ 36 ] [ 37 ]. Wendy Kaufman, “World Cup Battle: Nike V Adidas”, 2006 at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5459929 (accessed 6 February 2010) [ 38 ] [ 39 ]. Anonymous, “Every Team Needs the Spark – Zidane unveils the Messi legend”, 2009 at http://www.press.adidas.com/PortalData/1/Resources/sport_performance/pressreleases/f50i_campaign_release_final.pdf (accessed: 16 October 2009) [ 40 ] [ 50 ]. Mila Bongco, Reading Comics: Language, Culture and the Concept of the Superhero in Comic Books, 2000, p.221-222 [ 51 ] [ 52 ]. Anonymous, “Adidas International – Every Team Needs”, 2009 at http://www.conduit.co.za/journal/films/adidas-international-every-team-needs (accessed: 5 March 2010)
HUW STARK
A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Interactive & Motion Design, Atrium, Cardiff School of Creative and Cultural Industries, the University of Glamorgan. No part of work referred to in this dissertation has been submitted in support of an application for another degree or qualification in this University or any other institute of Learning.
Division of Design
Atrium
University of Glamorgan
June 2010
Abstract
The following paper explores the uses of graphic novel and comic book style and special effects in advertising for football and relevant products. The paper will begin by looking briefly into the history of special effects and how they have been developed over time, with enhancements in technology helping designers when it comes to advertising. It will look into the history of graphic novels and comic books, and how they have battled through the decades to remain popular to this day, on the shelves as well as on the big screen. Since the turn of the 1990’s, advertising in football has become huge and big companies such as Nike and Adidas have been battling ever since to produce the best advertising campaigns. The paper will look into some of these campaigns, and specifically those that have been influenced by graphic novels, and how special effects and CGI have taken the adverts to a new level. The paper will finish by discussing why such techniques and styles are used in advertising for football, when there is no sustainable link between the sport and graphic novels, and whether they have proved successful.
Contents Page
Abstract
List of Illustrations
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 Graphic Novels, Comic Books and Comix 3
Chapter 2 Advertising Campaigns in Football 8
Chapter 3 The influence of Graphic Novels and Special Effects 13
Conclusion 17
Illustrations 19
Bibliography 28
List of Illustrations
Figure 1: Robert Crumb, Zap! ISSUE 1, 1968
Figure 2: Frank Miller, SIN CITY COMIC, 1992
Figure 3: Frank Miller, SIN CITY MOVIE, 2005
Figure 4: Anonymous, OFFICIAL 1930 WORLD CUP POSTER, 1929
Figure 5: Anonymous, OFFICIAL 1978 WORLD CUP POSTER, 1977
Figure 6: David Sque, ROY OF THE ROVERS, 1985
Figure 7: Brett McManus, ADIDAS EVERY TEAM NEEDS, 2009
Figure 8: Gavin Lamb, ITV FA CUP TITLE 09/10, 2009
Figure 9: EA Sports, ADIDAS EVERY TEAM NEEDS, 2009
Introduction
Advertising of sport is one of the most common forms of media known to people in this day and age, whether it is for a small event happening in the next few days or a worldwide event happening years from now. Whereas a large portion of the advertising will be made up of footage from existing sporting events and games, more and more use of special effects technology and artistic influence from past designers is playing a part in promoting the games that are seen around the world.
Ever since the famous French film maker Georges Méliès began the innovation of special effects in the late 19th Century, the uses of his techniques have been taken advantage upon by people throughout the creative industry. A year after watching his first film, Méliès had purchased himself a camera and started making his own films. By 1986 ‘Méliès had begun combining his knowledge of magic with filmmaking to produce the first “trick” films.’ In 1902 he produced A Trip to the Moon, his most famous film, which ‘employed every trick he had learned or invented’. It was a groundbreaking film, and due to the lack of international copyright laws, and the sheer amount of piracy, it was seen by millions and influenced many filmmakers to not only use his techniques in their own films, but the ‘also began improving on them.’ This way of designing, by continually improving upon what was already out there, meant the use of special effects in films was becoming more popular, and it would only be a matter of time until it was used in other forms of media.
The dissertation will be looking into the use and application of special effects in sports advertising and where the influences have come from. The dissertation will also be heavily focusing on how the advertising world linked themselves to the rise of graphic novels in the 1960s in order to capture the imagination of their target market. The enhancement of graphic novels in the last half a century has influenced advertising massively, especially in football. The development of technology has seen graphic novels transform from books on the shelves through to the cinema in films, via television and cartoons. The dissertation will also be looking into the history of print and animated advertising campaigns in football, and attempt to establish when and why designers began to take influence from graphic novel design, and what effect it had. Chapter one looks at the history of graphic novels, comic books and comix and how they have evolved over time. It will look at the impact they have made not only in their own medium, but how they have advanced in recent years onto other platforms of media. In chapter two the rise in advertising and popularity of football will be discussed, looking at how designers have linked themselves to popular design styles and movements at the time, and how special effects have been used to catapult the image of the footballers into situations usually seen in superhero comics. Chapter three will look at the influence that graphic novel design and special effects has had on advertising in football and why the styles were used in the first place. It will also explore whether there is more to come in the future for this style of advertising.
With many recent advertising campaigns, as well as other sports related use of graphics, involving influences from the graphic novel era, the dissertation will explore why some designers still use this style even though, since the 1990’s, ‘sports comics have largely disappeared’ meaning there may be no guarantee of a target audience for them to appeal too.
Chapter One: Graphic Novels, Comic Books and Comix
The use of storytelling through graphics has been a popular way of communicating for centuries, and over time, as people began looking for entertainment, the use of graphic storytelling was implemented. One form of an entertainment periodical during the 19th Century was the novel, usually involving a ‘sensational adventure or mystery’, and this theme has continued until the modern day. The first graphic novel to be published in the United States was The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck in 1842, which was a humorous look at a young man’s misadventures with the opposite sex. In 1985, The Yellow Kid became the ‘first successfully merchandised comic strip character’, and in turn was known as the first financially successful graphic novel. This success led the way into the 20th Century where several comic strip characters are world famous and returning huge financial rewards to their creators.
It took until the 1930s, the time of the Great Depression in America, for comic books to first become very popular, and according to Steven Krensky in Comic Book Century: The History of American Comic Books, it was the depression itself that sparked the public’s interest. The fall in the economy had let to emotional stress for some of the population, and so people looked to books, music and movies for entertainment whist trying to forget about what was going on in the world for a short time. Newspapers would publish what were known as ‘The Funnies’ every Sunday, and as these gained popularity, publishers decided to make books out of them. However, it was expensive for publishers to pay legal fees for famous strips, and so Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson decided it would be ‘cheaper to hire writers and artists to create new, original stories for comic books’ and publish them instead. It wasn’t until 1937, when National Allied Publications was renamed as Detective Comics (now DC comics) that its popularity soared. It had taken Wheeler-Nicholson until this time to perfect the format and introduce colour to his comics, and this all led to comic books being a ‘booming industry’ by the late 1930’s.
It wasn’t until the late 1960’s, when the underground revolution occurred, that the popularity of comics and graphic novels really soared. It was a backlash against the ‘repressive Comics Code Authority’ that was created in 1954 in order to regulate the content published in comics in the United States. It is argued that the creation of horror and crime titles in the early 1950s led to the ‘creation of the Comics Code’ leaving very few genres intact other than the superheroes. Sales began to rise again in the 1960s, with the introduction of Spiderman from Marvel Comics, whilst war and horror comics returned in a ‘toned-down’ format to provide resurgence in sales. The underground comix movement, which was a new innovation in comics, managed to bypass the regulations of the Comics Code. They name ‘comix’ was used in order to ‘distinguish itself from mainstream comics’, which they did radically, from printing imagery including sex, drugs and violence to expressing their gritty and honest political views. Robert Crumb’s Zap (Figure 1) was the comic that really got the revolution going in 1968. Volume One was an underground success and attracted interest and attention from other artists at the time, including S. Clay Wilson, Spain Rodriguez and Gilbert Shelton, who ‘would eventually from the Zap! collective’. Crumb cites a piece of advice from Wilson as the main reason he got into underground comix, ‘Uncensor yourself, fuck the whole thing’ and it was this attitude that made the revolution so popular with artists and the public. Don Donahue, the publisher of the Zap! Comics, believes the ‘explosion’ of popularity came about because Zap, and underground comix in general, had finally taken hold of a ‘whole medium of expression that had been neglected for so long’, due to the problems in the 1950’s, and done something with it.
The underground revolution was not all successful though due to the fact there was alot of bad work as well as good. Roger Sabin believes the underground ‘encouraged poor work because its central ethic that ‘anybody could do it’ meant that anybody did’, although this didn’t deter from the overall success that Crumb and others provided for the revolution. Many of the comix often featured covers to appeal to the drug and hippie culture at the time, producing LSD-inspired imagery in order to increase sales but this ultimately proved to be a downfall of the revolution. Much like 20 years previous, when the Comics Code regulated content, the censors were out in force again. Drug-related paraphernalia was restricted and new drug laws led to the ‘closure of many headshops, a major outlet for many comix’. Alongside the decline of the hippie culture, the comix lost much of their audience and the revolution was at an end.
A new revival was sparked in the 1980’s when the major comic companies decided to target the ‘hardcore’ adult fans with more mature comics featuring superheroes including the likes of a newly formed Batman, and the Watchmen. Frank Miller was at the forefront of the new revival, and his work, alongside that of Pulitzer Prize winner Art Spiegalman, ‘helped raise the profile of graphic novels’ with their inclusion of more complex storylines and more interesting characters.
One of Frank Miller’s pieces of work, Sin City (Figure 2), originally released as a graphic novel in 1991, has had success across more than one medium of media. The novel was successfully adapted into a movie in 2005 (Figure 3), with Frank Miller involved as a co-director, whilst empathising with the style of its graphic novel roots, being ‘noteworthy for its attempt to recreate the distinctive visual style’ as opposed to other adaptations such as Batman and Superman which followed the narrative instead. The transition from graphic novel to film was a success in both directions. The film, with a production budget of $40million, took a worldwide gross of over $158m and this propelled the book back ‘to the top of the graphic novel best-sellers list’ in 2005. The success of Sin City in the most popular medium of all provided Frank Miller with confidence to take another of his graphic novels to the big screen, this time with 300. It eclipsed the box office figures of Sin City and its worldwide gross was over $456m. The success of the movie, like Sin City, also helped the graphic novel return to the top of the best-sellers list in America. Graphic novels had ‘moved out of hobby shops to take film and television by storm’ said the Chicago Times. The figures show that the audience for graphic novels and its stylistic imagery in other forms of media is undoubtedly there to be targeted, and this could provide one of the reasons why, in advertising, similar styles are being used more and more at present.
Chapter Two: Advertising Campaigns in Football
Advertising in sport is rife, and with football being the number one sport in the world, the ‘World’s game’ according to FC Football Graphics, this is where the biggest companies in the field, Nike and Adidas, spend a lot of their time and money competing against one another to have the most sought after brand. Football is everywhere, it has ‘influenced fashion, music, advertising, art... even literature’ and for this reason, it is imperative that designers and advertising executives get things right when it comes to promoting the game and their relevant products and/or brand. After all, one journalist in 1998, from The Independent, predicted the World Cup would be ‘a month of advertising with some great soccer thrown in’.
The first type of advertising used in football was in print form, whether it be in match day programmes or in local newspapers. Very few design decisions were made at the time, with adverts serving their means in a formal way to get their message across. It was in 1930, with the introduction of the FIFA World Cup, that conscious decisions over design in print advertising were made. The first official World Cup poster (Figure 4) was heavily inspired by art deco, a popular design movement at the time. By the 1970s, the posters were inspired by pop art (Figure 5), showing that when advertising in football at any level, it has been imperative to comply with current trends, knowing there will be a satisfied market waiting.
The first time graphic novel and comic book influences were seen within football was in the early 1950’s, with the introduction of ‘Roy of the Rovers’, starring a fictional footballer named Roy Race as a weekly feature in a comic called Tiger. It featured as a weekly comic strip for 20 years before its popularity, ‘warranted bringing out a magazine of its own’ (Figure 6), which came as no surprise as sales had reached a million by that time. According to Mike Conroy, ‘football strips were always popular’ in Britain, with other comic strips including Hot Shot Hamish, Billy the Fish, Mighty Mouse and many others, but it was Roy Race who was the ‘most famous of all the sports heroes’ around and the mix of fact and fiction led to the comic being a ‘terrifically exciting sports title’. The phrase ‘real Roy of the Rovers stuff’ is still commonly used by football commentators and journalists, meaning his legacy will never be forgotten. Despite ending in 1993, Titan Books bought the entire catalogue of Roy of the Rovers comics, and in 2008, they released ‘The Bumper Book of Roy of the Rovers’ in graphic novel form.
Football was now becoming popular off the pitch, and in the 1970’s sportsmen started appearing in television adverts for the first time, with former England football international Kevin Keegan being one of the first player to do so. Keegan, alongside boxer Henry Cooper, advertised the popular men’s fragrance Brut, as well as being the face of the governments Green Cross Code advertising campaign. However, it was in the 1990’s when football advertising really hit a peak, with Nike’s famous ‘Nike Vs The Devil’ advert being released. The advancements of technology by this time had helped companies be more creative with their ideas and designs, and they were able to use powerful software, green screens and other techniques to take advertising to a new level. Instead of being at the scene, filming could be done entirely in a studio, leaving the designers to create the environment themselves using computer software. Much like in graphic novels, the theme of the advert was ‘good vs evil’, a concept that has been used in storytelling for decades, and had become very popular in the 1980’s with a succession of superhero graphic novel characters such as Batman and Superman. Some of the most famous footballers in the world overcame the violent, evil creatures in an old coliseum, and when the star of the show, Eric Cantona, scored the winning goal, kids all over the world ‘wanted to be him’ or do the ‘next best thing, wear his boots’. With this kind of response, we can assume that Nike had been successful with their ploy of advertising good beating evil, and the success of the advert led to a sequel a few years later, with footballers defeating an army of ninjas to rescue a precious football.
Adidas followed up with an effort of their own using some clever special effects techniques. Eleven of the best footballers in the world, alongside manager Franz Beckenbaeur, were cloned by a special machine to take part in a match against each other. The clever camera trickery was a new concept for adverts, and it allowed Adidas to show off their use of the new technology in a way that hadn’t been seen before. Although the influence of graphic novels isn’t shown through the design of these adverts, its influence can be seen clearly in the storyline and direction of the adverts. FourFourTwo, a leading football publication, believes that Nike ‘have an uncanny ability to see things from the perspective of a 14 year old boy’ and this could go some way to explaining why they made the decision to style the adverts in the way they did, knowing it would be popular with one of their target markets, as well as older people who may feel some nostalgia towards their past, had they been fans of the football comic strips that were so popular in the 70s and 80s.
With 2010 being a World Cup year, Nike and Adidas will once again go head to head in the battle to be number one. The title has only ever been held by Adidas, but since Nike decided to become serious about football in 1994, the year the World Cup was held in America, they have been ‘striving to be the number one soccer brand in the world’, meaning Adidas have to remain at the top of their game when it comes to advertising. Although Adidas are still the official World Cup sponsor, Nike have managed to ambush recent World Cup campaigns with their clever advertising, by attaching themselves to the most popular football nation in the world, Brazil, and the world’s most popular players, like Ronaldinho. In a 2006 National Public Radio interview, Dean Stoyer, a spokesman for Nike, claimed their ambush campaign had been ‘downloaded 30 million times’ and this meant they didn’t need the tag of official sponsors ‘with exposure like this.’ Regardless of Nike’s ambush tactics over the past few World Cups, Adidas have re-equipped themselves as the official sponsor of the 2010 tournament and their advertising campaign, released just over a year before the World Cup starts, has been massively influenced by graphic novel styles, whilst also using special effects and CGI for some of their adverts in the series.
The advertising campaign, named ‘Every Team Needs’ (Figure 7) and narrated by former World Cup winner Zinedine Zidane, stars a number of the best footballers in the world including Steven Gerrard, Lionel Messi and Kaka, each having their own unique quality. Adidas and communications agency 180 Amsterdam created the campaign in a ‘film noir style’, which is the category the Sin City film falls into, for ‘print, retail, digital, events, ground activation and even gaming in a distinct graphic novel style.’ Despite the style of the introduction promo for the campaign being heavily influenced by graphic novel design, a number of the adverts use special effects and CGI animation as well. In an Adidas press release, it was revealed that this was to ‘entice’ the audience with an ‘intriguing series of films’. However, the graphic novel/comic book series was trusted as the first release of adverts for the campaign, which goes to show the faith Adidas had in the popularity of the style, seeing as this is their biggest advertising campaign since the 2006 World Cup. Their aim, to stay at the top of the football ladder, seems to be working, with the campaign achieving ‘unprecedented results for an ecstatic Adidas’, which leads us to believe that using a graphic novel style of design in order to promote a world leading brand seems is every bit as successful as using special effects and CGI animation.
Adidas aren’t the only company who have adopted a graphic novel design to their work in the past year though, as ITV, trying to breathe life into the FA Cup, have gone from a poetic, historical introduction at the beginning of their broadcasts, to a radical, graphic novel style introduction, depicting footballers as the superheroes so often seen in graphic novels and comic books (Figure 8). Despite the fact that ‘sports comics have largely disappeared’ since the 1990’s and the end of Roy of the Rovers, the decision makers at companies such as Adidas and ITV have been confident enough, and brave enough to assume there is market out there to be targeted, whether through nostalgia for adults or a new interest for children.
Chapter 3: The Influence of Graphic Novels and Special Effects
With the two recent advertising campaigns, mentioned previously in the paper, containing influences of graphic novel styles as well as special effects, it is important to understand why designers and advertising executives have reverted back to this style, which was popular in the 1990’s, as opposed to usual live-action adverts, involving a director and actors.
In Adidas’ 2010 World Cup campaign, where the first series of adverts released had large elements of graphic novel styles involved, the most recent adverts added to the series are completely CGI based, taking inspiration from the hugely popular football console game, FIFA 10 by EA Sports (Figure 9). With Adidas being a German company, they have featured a German international, Bastian Schweinsteiger, for the first, knowing it’ll immediately get them the attention they crave in their homeland. The adverts are made up completely of in-game footage from FIFA 10, based around the 3 players involved, with a voiceover describing the need for an illusionist on the team. It is interesting that, for the very first time, Adidas have used video game footage for an advert to sell their products, only showing a picture of the actual football boots at the very end of it, whereas there are plenty of close ups on the boots, in their CGI form, during the advert for the viewers to see. So why have Adidas decided to turn their back on their usual style of campaigns, which have served them well over the past two decades? According the Joyce Duncan, who writes about the use of sport in comics, she believes such campaigns are there to ‘exploit the devotion of fans’, whereas elsewhere, it is believed that companies are ‘linking their customers favourite pastimes.’ This could imply that, knowing how popular football is, especially in a World Cup year, the likes of Adidas know they will always have their core support who will appreciate their adverts and buy certain products from them, whatever style of campaign they use. However, in order to grab themselves a larger slice of the market, they have decided to target certain niche markets, such as graphic novel fans and those who play video games, who are less likely to usually be interested in the playing side of football and the products on offer. After all, famous graphic novel creator Robert Crumb believed that ‘comics are a wimpy boy thing and not a sexy boy thing like sports,’ so this could be Adidas’ attempt to try and rectify and eliminate old stereotypical thoughts like those of Crumb’s. Adidas aren’t the first company to create a link between their target markets favourite hobbies as in 1994, Nike created a series of adverts where they turned famous Dutch players ‘into computer games characters’ in an attempt to ‘portray their players as ever more powerful and dynamic’ to boost the promotion of their products.
Another reason why designers may have chosen these techniques in order to promote football and their products is due to the fact both football and graphic novels, comic books and computers games are primarily visual mediums. People can sit back and enjoy a football match much like they can sift through a comic book without having to pay too much attention to the text if they please, unlike if they were reading a book or a newspaper. By targeting people who have an interest in these visual mediums, it seems more likely that they are going to gain success out of their advertising campaigns, which probably wouldn’t be the case if they designed their adverts to target readers of fictional novels.
There is also a chance that designers have targeted the psychological aspect of their potential target market with adverts such as the Nike’s ‘Good Vs Evil’ efforts, where the nature of the adverts is aggressive and there is an underlying question of violence involved, which is an attitude that has been in graphic novels since the underground revolution in the 1960s. Despite the majority of sports encouraging fair play and discouraging violence, there is still a belief that ‘violence in sport is clearly an issue of contemporary concern’ and those who do participate in sports, as well as those who are regulars at sporting events, have a competitive streak inside of them that can turn nasty when things aren’t going their way. Due to this attitude, it is likely that viewers enjoy seeing potentially violent battles on television, and without their being actual violence involved, there is certainly a large element of competitiveness which the viewer can relate too. In contrast to this, the likes of Nike and Adidas are clever in their execution of such adverts, where they portray that the footballers skills are far too powerful for the opposition to handle, and so good can overcome evil without having to resort to violence, much like the stereotypical ‘good vs evil schema of the superhero genre’ in its heyday.
In relation to this, the designers at Adidas have attempted to portray the contemporary footballers as superheroes in their own right, and there seems no better way in getting this image across than linking the style to that of old graphic novels, where superheroes first burst onto the global scene. By simply imitating and taking inspiration from the work of graphic novel artists such as Joe Shuster (Superman) and Steve Ditko (Spiderman), they have given the footballers superhero status amongst viewers, something that may not have been possible had they used an alternative style of design.
Conclusion
The purpose of the dissertation was to explore the uses of graphic novel styles and relevant special effects in advertising for football, the possible reasons why they had been used and if they led to successful campaigns.
It is apparent that, for the first time in over a decade, the return of the graphic novel style and theme has returned as a focal point in advertising campaigns and football broadcasts. When it was first applied, in the mid 1990’s, it was off the back of a very successful period of movies being made out of comic books, The Mask and Batman Returns for example.. According to Sabin, comics had the upper hand on normal movies because of their ‘capacity for picturing spectacular settings and situations.’ With the advancements in technology that had been available to transfer comic book settings onto the big screen, designers were able to take advantage to integrate footballers into these surreal surroundings in adverts, instead of having to use locations such as football stadiums. Even though sports comic books have disappeared since this point, the movies have continued to be released in Hollywood, and the majority have been successful. In 2005, Sin City opened up a whole new door for designers, as it proved that graphic novels could be successful on the big screen whilst sticking to its stylistic roots, and there is every chance that this influenced Adidas’ advertising campaign, albeit 4 years later. Whilst Adidas wouldn’t have had the time to adopt the style for their 2006 World Cup campaign, it could be suggested that they have had it in the forefront of their minds in the last 4 years, ready for their current campaign.
With regards to the final point, measuring the success of Adidas’ 2010 World Cup advertising campaign is difficult, due to the fact the World Cup is still 3 months away and the campaign is still in full flow. There is however indication that, up until now, the campaign has helped Adidas flourish in the year before the World Cup starts. Although there are no concrete facts and figures to back this up, Adidas are said to be ‘ecstatic’ with their output, according to production company Conduit, and the ‘Every Team Needs’ campaign has gone from strength to strength, with the company now using the same style of design to advertise International football jerseys and official match balls for the Champions League and World Cup. With such a reputation at stake, and the prize of being football’s number one brand under threat from Nike, had the campaign not been successful in the early months, it is likely that Adidas would have been ruthless enough to change their marketing and design strategy for their campaign. However, its development and longevity suggest that sales have benefitted from the campaign and there is still more to come. It is likely that, should this campaign be regarded as a success when all is said and done, and Adidas remain the number one brand in football, it could be the start of an influx of not only more advertising campaigns related to graphic novels, but even the re-appearance of a football based comic series, something that has been missing for nearly two decades.
Illustrations
Figure 1: Robert Crumb, Zap! ISSUE 1, 1968
Figure 2: Frank Miller, SIN CITY COMIC, 1992
Figure 3: Frank Miller, SIN CITY MOVIE, 2005
Figure 4: Anonymous, OFFICIAL 1930 WORLD CUP POSTER, 1929
Figure 5: Anonymous, OFFICIAL 1978 WORLD CUP POSTER, 1977
Figure 6: David Sque, ROY OF THE ROVERS, 1985
Figure 7: Brett McManus, ADIDAS EVERY TEAM NEEDS, 2009
Figure 8: Gavin Lamb, ITV FA CUP TITLE 09/10, 2009
Figure 9: EA Sports, ADIDAS EVERY TEAM NEEDS, 2009
Bibliography
Secondary Sources
Bongco, Mila, Reading Comics: Language, Culture and the Concept of the Superhero in Comic Books, 2000, p.221-222
Bould, Mark, Film Noir: From Berlin to Sin City, 2005, p.112
Cannon, Jackie, Advertising and Identity in Europe: The I of the Beholder, 2000, p.130
Conroy, Mike, 500 Great Comicbook Action Heroes, 2002, p.270
Duncan, Joyce, Sport in American Culture: From Ali to X-Games, 2004, p.87
Miller, Ron, Special Effects: An Introduction to Movie Magic, 2006, p.14-15 Evans, Janet, What’s in the Picture?, 1998, p.138
Gannon, Willie, “Profiles of the Great and Good: Roy Race: Its real Roy of the Rovers stuff here”, 2000 at http://bleacherreport.com/articles/83883-profiles-of-the-great-and-good-roy-race-its-real-roy-of-the-rovers-stuff-here (accessed: 2 March 2010)
Holm, D. K. & Crumb, R, Robert Crumb: Conversations, 2004, p.ix
Jamieson, Lynn & Orr, Thomas, Sport and Violence: A Critical Examination of Sport, 2009, p. Xvii
Wendy Kaufman, “World Cup Battle: Nike V Adidas”, 2006 at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5459929 (accessed 6 February 2010)
Kibble-White, Graham, The Ultimate Book of British Comics, 2005, p.191
Krensky, Steven, Comic Book Century: The History of American Comic Books, p.10
Lesley, Jeremy & Burgoyne, Patrick, FC Football Graphics, Thames and Hudson, 1998, p.7
Lopes, Paul, Demanding Respect: The Evolution of the American Comic Book, 2009, p.158
Rosenkranz, Patrick, Rebel Visions: The Underground Comic Revolution 1963-1975, p.4
Ross, Dan, “The Tuesday 10: Best Football Adverts”, 2010 at http://fourfourtwo.com/blogs/fourfourtwoview/archive/2010/01/26/the-tuesday-10-best-football-adverts.aspx (accessed 3 March 2010)
Sabin, Roger, Comics, Comix and Graphic Novels: A History of Comic Art, 1996, p.68
Tychinski, Stan, “A Brief History of the Graphic Nvel”, [on-line], 2004 at http://www.graphicnovels.brodart.com/history.htm (accessed: 17 February 2010)
Anonymous, “Pulitzer Prize Winners 1992”, 1992 at http://www.pulitzer.org/awards/1992 (accessed: 23 February 2010)
Anonymous, “Sin City Box Office Ratings”, 2010 at http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=sincity.htm (accessed: 4 March 2010) Anonymous, “300 Box Office Ratings”, 2010 at http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=300.htm (accessed: 4 March 2010)
Anonymous, “David Sque Interview Part 1”, [on-line], 2006 at http://www.fustar.info/2006/03/23/120/ (accessed: 2 March 2010)
Anonymous, “Every Team Needs the Spark – Zidane unveils the Messi legend”, 2009 at http://www.press.adidas.com/PortalData/1/Resources/sport_performance/pressreleases/f50i_campaign_release_final.pdf (accessed: 16 October 2009)
Anonymous, “Adidas International – Every Team Needs”, 2009 at http://www.conduit.co.za/journal/films/adidas-international-every-team-needs (accessed: 5 March 2010)
--------------------------------------------
[ 1 ]. Ron Miller, Special Effects: An Introduction to Movie Magic, 2006, p.14-15
[ 2 ]. Ibid
[ 3 ]. Ibid
[ 4 ]. Janet Evans, What’s in the Picture?, 1998, p.138.
[ 5 ]. Stan Tychinski, “A Brief History of the Graphic Novel”, [on-line], 2004 at http://www.graphicnovels.brodart.com/history.htm (accessed: 17 February 2010)
[ 6 ]. Ibid
[ 7 ]. Steven Krensky, Comic Book Century: The History of American Comic Books, p.10
[ 8 ]. Ibid
[ 9 ]. Patrick Rosenkranz, Rebel Visions: The Underground Comic Revolution 1963-1975, p.4
[ 10 ]. Roger Sabin, Comics, Comix and Graphic Novels: A History of Comic Art, 1996, p.68
[ 11 ]. Ibid, p.74
[ 12 ]. Ibid, p.92
[ 13 ]. D. K. Holm & R. Crumb, Robert Crumb: Conversations, 2004, Introduction p.ix
[ 14 ]. Ibid, p.4
[ 15 ]. Patrick Rosenkranz, Op cit, p.71
[ 16 ]. Roger Sabin, Op cit, p.107
[ 17 ]. Ibid, p.92-94
[ 18 ]. Ibid, p.116-117
[ 19 ]. Ibid, p.157-160
[ 20 ]. Anonymous, “Pulitzer Prize Winners 1992”, 1992 at http://www.pulitzer.org/awards/1992 (accessed: 23 February 2010)
[ 21 ]. Roger Sabin, Op cit, p.165
[ 22 ]. Mark Bould, Film Noir: From Berlin to Sin City, 2005, p.112
[ 23 ]. Anonymous, “Sin City Box Office Ratings”, 2010 at http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=sincity.htm (accessed: 4 March 2010)
[ 24 ]. Paul Lopes, Demanding Respect: The Evolution of the American Comic Book, 2009, p.158
[ 25 ]. Anonymous, “300 Box Office Ratings”, 2010 at http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=300.htm (accessed: 4 March 2010)
[ 26 ]. Paul Lopes, Op cit, p.159
[ 27 ]. Jeremy Leslie & Patrick Burgoyne, FC Football Graphics, Thames and Hudson, 1998, p.7
[ 28 ]. Ibid
[ 29 ]. Jackie Cannon, Advertising and Identity in Europe: The I of the Beholder, 2000, p.130
[ 30 ]. Anonymous, “David Sque Interview Part 1”, [on-line], 2006 at http://www.fustar.info/2006/03/23/120/ (accessed: 2 March 2010)
[ 31 ]. Willie Gannon, “Profiles of the Great and Good: Roy Race: Its real Roy of the Rovers stuff here”, 2000 at http://bleacherreport.com/articles/83883-profiles-of-the-great-and-good-roy-race-its-real-roy-of-the-rovers-stuff-here (accessed: 2 March 2010)
[ 32 ]. Mike Conroy, 500 Great Comicbook Action Heroes, 2002, p.270
[ 33 ]. Ibid
[ 34 ]. Graham Kibble-White, The Ultimate Book of British Comics, 2005, p.191
[ 35 ]. Dan Ross, “The Tuesday 10: Best Football Adverts”, 2010 at http://fourfourtwo.com/blogs/fourfourtwoview/archive/2010/01/26/the-tuesday-10-best-football-adverts.aspx (accessed 3 March 2010)
[ 36 ]. Ibid
[ 37 ]. Wendy Kaufman, “World Cup Battle: Nike V Adidas”, 2006 at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5459929 (accessed 6 February 2010)
[ 38 ]. Ibid
[ 39 ]. Anonymous, “Every Team Needs the Spark – Zidane unveils the Messi legend”, 2009 at http://www.press.adidas.com/PortalData/1/Resources/sport_performance/pressreleases/f50i_campaign_release_final.pdf (accessed: 16 October 2009)
[ 40 ]. Anonymous, “Every Team Needs the Spark – Zidane unveils the Messi legend”, 2009 at http://www.press.adidas.com/PortalData/1/Resources/sport_performance/pressreleases/f50i_campaign_release_final.pdf (accessed: 16 October 2009)
[ 41 ]. Ibid
[ 42 ]. Anonymous, “Adidas International – Every Team Needs”, 2009 at http://www.conduit.co.za/journal/films/adidas-international-every-team-needs (accessed: 5 March 2010)
[ 43 ]. Janet Evans, Op cit, p.138
[ 44 ]. Joyce Duncan, Sport in American Culture: From Ali to X-Games, 2004, p.87.
[ 45 ]. Jeremy Leslie and Patrick Burgoyne, Op cit, p.66.
[ 46 ]. D. K. Holm & R. Crumb, Op cit, p.231
[ 47 ]. Jeremy Leslie and Patrick Burgoyne, Op cit, p.66.
[ 48 ]. Ibid
[ 49 ]. Lynn Jamieson & Thomas Orr, Sport and Violence: A Critical Examination of Sport, 2009, p. xvii
[ 50 ]. Mila Bongco, Reading Comics: Language, Culture and the Concept of the Superhero in Comic Books, 2000, p.221-222
[ 51 ]. Roger Sabin, Op cit, p.174
[ 52 ]. Anonymous, “Adidas International – Every Team Needs”, 2009 at http://www.conduit.co.za/journal/films/adidas-international-every-team-needs (accessed: 5 March 2010)
Bibliography: Secondary Sources Bongco, Mila, Reading Comics: Language, Culture and the Concept of the Superhero in Comic Books, 2000, p.221-222 Bould, Mark, Film Noir: From Berlin to Sin City, 2005, p.112 Cannon, Jackie, Advertising and Identity in Europe: The I of the Beholder, 2000, p.130 Conroy, Mike, 500 Great Comicbook Action Heroes, 2002, p.270 Duncan, Joyce, Sport in American Culture: From Ali to X-Games, 2004, p.87 Miller, Ron, Special Effects: An Introduction to Movie Magic, 2006, p.14-15 Evans, Janet, What’s in the Picture?, 1998, p.138 Jamieson, Lynn & Orr, Thomas, Sport and Violence: A Critical Examination of Sport, 2009, p. Xvii Wendy Kaufman, “World Cup Battle: Nike V Adidas”, 2006 at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5459929 (accessed 6 February 2010) Kibble-White, Graham, The Ultimate Book of British Comics, 2005, p.191 Krensky, Steven, Comic Book Century: The History of American Comic Books, p.10 Lesley, Jeremy & Burgoyne, Patrick, FC Football Graphics, Thames and Hudson, 1998, p.7 Lopes, Paul, Demanding Respect: The Evolution of the American Comic Book, 2009, p.158 Sabin, Roger, Comics, Comix and Graphic Novels: A History of Comic Art, 1996, p.68 Tychinski, Stan, “A Brief History of the Graphic Nvel”, [on-line], 2004 at http://www.graphicnovels.brodart.com/history.htm (accessed: 17 February 2010) Anonymous, “Pulitzer Prize Winners 1992”, 1992 at http://www.pulitzer.org/awards/1992 (accessed: 23 February 2010) Anonymous, “Sin City Box Office Ratings”, 2010 at http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=sincity.htm (accessed: 4 March 2010) Anonymous, “300 Box Office Ratings”, 2010 at http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=300.htm (accessed: 4 March 2010) Anonymous, “Adidas International – Every Team Needs”, 2009 at http://www.conduit.co.za/journal/films/adidas-international-every-team-needs (accessed: 5 March 2010) [ 4 ]. Janet Evans, What’s in the Picture?, 1998, p.138. [ 5 ]. Stan Tychinski, “A Brief History of the Graphic Novel”, [on-line], 2004 at http://www.graphicnovels.brodart.com/history.htm (accessed: 17 February 2010) [ 6 ] [ 13 ]. D. K. Holm & R. Crumb, Robert Crumb: Conversations, 2004, Introduction p.ix [ 14 ] [ 23 ]. Anonymous, “Sin City Box Office Ratings”, 2010 at http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=sincity.htm (accessed: 4 March 2010) [ 24 ] [ 25 ]. Anonymous, “300 Box Office Ratings”, 2010 at http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=300.htm (accessed: 4 March 2010) [ 26 ] [ 27 ]. Jeremy Leslie & Patrick Burgoyne, FC Football Graphics, Thames and Hudson, 1998, p.7 [ 28 ] [ 29 ]. Jackie Cannon, Advertising and Identity in Europe: The I of the Beholder, 2000, p.130 [ 30 ] [ 35 ]. Dan Ross, “The Tuesday 10: Best Football Adverts”, 2010 at http://fourfourtwo.com/blogs/fourfourtwoview/archive/2010/01/26/the-tuesday-10-best-football-adverts.aspx (accessed 3 March 2010) [ 36 ] [ 37 ]. Wendy Kaufman, “World Cup Battle: Nike V Adidas”, 2006 at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5459929 (accessed 6 February 2010) [ 38 ] [ 39 ]. Anonymous, “Every Team Needs the Spark – Zidane unveils the Messi legend”, 2009 at http://www.press.adidas.com/PortalData/1/Resources/sport_performance/pressreleases/f50i_campaign_release_final.pdf (accessed: 16 October 2009) [ 40 ] [ 50 ]. Mila Bongco, Reading Comics: Language, Culture and the Concept of the Superhero in Comic Books, 2000, p.221-222 [ 51 ] [ 52 ]. Anonymous, “Adidas International – Every Team Needs”, 2009 at http://www.conduit.co.za/journal/films/adidas-international-every-team-needs (accessed: 5 March 2010)
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