How Uncommon made football a funny old game

If you're a football fan, and old enough to recall the World Cup of 1994, which took place in the United States, then you may remember that there were lots of rumours - in Britain, at least - about the ways in which Americans considered 'improving' the game.

Whether they were serious considerations, misunderstood suggestions or, more likely, wild conjecture by tabloid newspapers is unclear. However, playground talk of how a country that was yet to fully embrace the beautiful game might destroy it by instigating ideas such as bigger goals, multiple balls and kick-ins was rife. 

But what if there were added rules? And what if those rules were far weirder than the above? That's the premise for FC 26's recent campaign, created by Uncommon London and directed by Gary Freedman through MJZ. So, to explain how they introduced polar bears, got rid of VAR and - most complex of all - corralled a fleet of high-end footballers, we speak to Uncommon's Global Creative Partner, Sam Walker.

Above: Our recent Ad of the Week, FC 26's The Club is Yours.

Incorporating fan feedback into the game is a great idea; how quickly did that concept arrive?

It came from a strong client insight. FC fans are always feeding back and suggesting how the game can be better, and this year in particular FC have really acted on it and done 12 new changes inspired directly by that feedback. Which is great, but what if they did EVERYTHING the fans were suggesting? Absolute insanity! 

It just seemed like a creatively rich and anarchic approach to what is, at heart, a product message.

It just seemed like a creatively rich and anarchic approach to what is, at heart, a product message. It’s just that in this case we’ve done it with players getting mauled by polar bears. 

Why was Gary Freedman the best choice to direct this spot and what did he bring to the project?

It’s a pretty monstrous film in scale, and it was changing all the time so we needed someone we could partner with and pivot with day-to-day, writing and rewriting scenes without derailing the production. Gary really understands comedy beats and timing but he can also do cinematic scale too, so he was an obvious choice for the project. 

Above: Sam Walker, bottom right of image, on location for the FC 26 shoot. 

It's common knowledge that footballers' time is closely guarded; how challenging was it to schedule the shoots and appearances of so many famous players?

Yes, they do have very limited time, and yes, we do try to cram a lot of asks into very short shooting times, but in general they’re total pros, not just on the pitch but in the studio too. The EA Sports team have great relationships with all of the talent which makes everything a lot easier, to be honest. 

The footballers also seemed to find what we were shooting fun, compared to some of the other shoots they’re asked to do. 

The footballers also seemed to find what we were shooting fun too, compared to some of the other shoots they’re asked to do. Kicking a mannequin, shouting ‘offside!’ in the face, or being struck by lightning has got to be more enjoyable than advertising deodorant. 

How much input - if any - do the players have into the scenes they're in and how those scenes play out?

All of the players’ scenes have to be OK’d by them and their teams but, to be honest, they were game for pretty much everything we suggested. 

Above: From polar bears to monster trucks and flaming footballs, The Club is Yours throws everything at the screen. 

Were there any 'fan ideas' you wanted to shoot but couldn't, or which didn't make it into the final spot? 

We discussed maybe around a hundred different vignettes in total, and shot 27 in the end. Most ended up in this film and others were used across the wider campaign. It was quite an unusual process where we were still coming up with new ideas even while we were shooting.  

More than being just individual scenes, they needed to contrast and compliment each other, keep developing and surprising the audience.

All credit to the amazing team at EA Sports who were totally up for this fever dream of an idea. We had players being hypnotised, multiple Zlatans, and other teams stealing the Liverpool ‘Allez Allez Allez’ song, but the ones in the final edit are my favourites. More than being just individual scenes, they needed to contrast and compliment each other, keep developing and surprising the audience, and work as a whole more than just individually.

Do you have a personal favourite of the vignettes?

The referee’s VAR suggestion and unanimous rejection by everyone is reflecting back what fans across the world in real life are thinking. No one really thinks VAR has made the game better. More than just a joke, it’s prodding at a genuine cultural tension. 

Can you tell us a bit about the music and its importance in the spot? 

It’s surprisingly tricky to pick the right track for something like this. It needed to be powerful, and driving, and keep developing throughout. But, conversely, it also can’t be the star of the show. The fans' insane suggestions and the devs’ sometimes frantic responses are the heroes.