A wild idea by BBC Creative captures the excitement of European football as a manic pinball game. The commercial, directed by Blinkink’s Balázs Simon and Raman Djafari, is a brilliantly bright 40-seconds of 3D pinball action, full of twists and turns and footballing easter eggs that mimic the unpredictable nature of the tournament itself, with 2D illustrations from Spanish illustrator, Kristina Doraura, an instrumental version of Nothing But Thieves track Welcome to the DCC, and archival and new commentary from famous BBC commentators such as Guy Mowbray, Vicki Sparks, Steve Wilson, Liam McLeod, James McFadden and Robyn Cowen.

The film is set against a backdrop of famous landmarks from the host nation Germany – as a ball pings through the pinball machine, the action ricochets back and forth between the biggest names in European football – Kane, Bellingham, Robertson, McTominay,  Musiala, Ronaldo and De Bruyne. The film will be used both as a promo for the tournament and the opening titles across all BBC television coverage of the event that starts on June 14.

The full campaign will cover BBC channels and socials. The hero film premiered during the BBC’s coverage of the FA Cup final on May 25.

Credits:

Client: BBC
Head of Marketing: James Parry
Marketing Manager: John Sprott
Marketing Executive: Kate Plowright
Executive Producer: Phil Bigwood
Content Producer: Mark Woodward
Producer: Colm Harty
Design Director: John Murphy
Media Manager: Marc Jones