Pepsi Cola is taking on Coca Cola with its own art project - the use of competitive art is suddenly becoming quite exciting!
Pepsi commissioned several of the world’s top football players to work with black-and-white photographer Danny Clinch and emerging street artists from the same countries as the players in “The Art of Football” project to create six large striking painting, 10ft square, using the Pepsi colours of blue and red. This is part of an artistic campaign across all media that combines film, music, art and graphics
Dave Horton, the creative director at 180LA, the agency behind the work, said, “Pepsi at its core isn’t a sports brand but it has a long history of culture, both in terms of celebrities and music, so they wanted to take a stand in the culture of football and do something that brought those things together.” And so, the effort includes an art project called The Art of Football with photographer Danny Clinch and various street artists, a re-imagined version of David Bowie’s “Heros” performed by Janelle Monáe, and a lively interactive spot featuring YouTube musician Stony that takes viewers through the streets of Rio, allowing them to interact with footballers, engage in little subplots, and ultimately affect how the spot plays out.
“Photographing some of the world’s most rhythmic and energetic individuals in a pure and simple way was a really exciting opportunity. Their individual personalities truly come alive in front of the camera,” said Clinch. “Coupled with the chance to collaborate with these amazing artists and have them integrate their art with mine – and mine with theirs – was so creative and inspiring. This project with Pepsi was a personal mustdo.”
The players and artists involved in “The Art of Football” are:
- Chelsea defender David Luiz and Brazilian street artist, illustrator and photographer Ricardo AKN.
- Lionel Messi from Argentina and Ever(Nicolas Romero) from Buenos Aires.
- Jack Wiltshire from England with doodler Hattie Stewart.
- Spain and Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos with Zosen.
- Sergio Aguero and Argentinian graffiti artist Jaz(Franco Fasoli)
- Robin van Persie and Dutch illustrator and visual artist Merjin Hos.
“There is an instinctive connection between artists and footballers in their energy, passion and creativity – whether it’s on a canvas or a pitch,” Kristin Patrick, Pepsi global CMO, PepsiCo, said. “We were passionate about creating a visual language that brought the energy and movement of football to life in powerful, unique pieces of art showcasing our players in the spirit of now. These are the hero images of this year’s global Pepsi football campaign and wonderfully capture our Live for Now brand ethos.”
The players in the wider campaign are Lionel Messi (Argentina), Clint Dempsey (U.S.), Agüero (Argentina), Wilshere (Great Britain), Luiz (Brazil), van Persie (Netherlands), Ramos (Spain), Juan Guillermo Cuadrado (Colombia), Tarik Elyounoussi (Norway), Maynor Figueroa (Honduras), Mario Gomez (Germany), Vincent Kompany (Belgium), Kemar Lawrence (Jamaica), Victor Moses (Nigeria), Peter Osaze Odemwingie (Nigeria), Oribe Peralta (Mexico), Andriy Pyatov (Ukraine), Mohamed Salah (Egypt) and Gylfi Por Sigurðsson (Iceland).
Looking forward to more artistic competition between the teams of Coke and Pepsi!
