The 2012/13 season proved to be the first after the end of the Nike agreement but the emphasis was on ensuring that the quality of the kit launch campaign remained very high.
Villa’s marketing, digital and merchandising teams were very much at the forefront of both the planning and execution, alongside new kit sponsor – Macron.
The campaign revolved around Paul Lambert’s policy of promoting young and hungry players for the campaign ahead.
The side were known as ‘Lambert’s Lions’ so the decision was taken for the kit launch campaign tagline to be ‘Beware of the Lions.’
Although it ultimately proved a difficult season, Lambert’s players certainly did play with aggression in the final few weeks, assuring their Barclays Premier League survival with an unbelievable late run of form.
New signings Christian Benteke and Ashley Westwood didn’t feature in the kit launch campaign as they signed too late to be included.
Darren Bent, Gabby Agbonlahor, Shay Given, Brett Holman, Andreas Weimann, Chris Herd, Gary Gardner and Stephen Ireland were the players chosen.
The photography was shot at Bodymoor Heath by renowned cameraman Martin Brent and each player was given a tagline, which coincided with various traits of a lion – Bent was lethal, Ireland was cunning and Weimann was agile, for example.
Each player was snapped in poses promoting their trait – Bent celebrating a goal and Weimann flying through the air for a header.
Interestingly, Ireland took longer than most to master his moves.
He was asked to do a series of fast-paced twists and turns but, while these wouldn’t have been a problem in game-time, there was some difficulty in camera performance mode.
Some staff members present on the day – including marketing manager Dan Meredith – were used as extras in the background of various shots.
This was the final season with Genting as shirt sponsor.
Villa won the ‘Best Marketing Campaign’ award at the Football Business Awards for this project.
Paul Brown 