Here’s our selection of the latest in video communications from female engagement in sport to heritage and brand values. For more from #CommunicateLens, follow @Communicatemag

Disney

Disney, owner of ESPN, and existing supporter of health programmes for children, has partnered with Uefa to launch Playmakers. The new initiative teams Disney’s storytelling capabilities – and characters – with football as it seeks to inspire young girls to exercise and engage in sport. The programme will focus on girls aged five to eight who are not currently playing football in seven Uefa nations. Playmakers puts the Incredibles at the heart of the content to begin with. The programme teaser film combines live action youth football with animated elements that bring an element of Disney magic to the pitch.

Disney said using its characters as a ‘force for good’ is a key element of its healthy living commitment. Nadine Kessler, Uefa’s head of women’s football, adds, “If you’re going to teach football through the power of storytelling and play, you have to do it with the best stories and characters in the world, and Disney is the perfect partner for this. By taking that Disney magic, and implementing the first-ever pan-European girls’ grassroots football programme, we will give any girl the best possible opportunity to fall in love with football.”

Dr Martens

To spearhead its new campaign for the spring/summer season, iconic leather footwear brand Dr Martens has teamed up with creative agency We Are Social to launch the ‘Tough as You’ video, which educates people on Dr Martens’ 60-year history of empowerment and rebellion. To do so, the video features punk musician Bob Vylan, body positivity activist Lotte Van Eijk, rock band Naked Giants and male model Avie Acosta, all of whom epitomise resilience and nonconformism and inspire the audience to be tough.

Andrea Moore, global marketing director at Dr Martens says, “Looking back on six decades of Dr Martens and youth culture, we identified four stories which are manifesting themselves in new ways in 2020. Our contributors, all of whom are already Docs wearers, inspire others to be resilient every day.” The video is edgy, thanks to its grainy black and white shots, and reflects the character of the Dr Martens’ brand and its heritage while appealing to the Gen Z audience.

Scandinavian Airlines

The three-minute video ‘What is truly Scandinavian?’ launched by Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) questions the very origins of Scandinavia and what being Scandinavian really means. Created by Danish agency &Co with the help of production company New Land, the video informs the audience that the idea of Scandinavia was brought by travellers ‘piece by piece’ and that everyone comes back with a new cultural baggage from a trip. To the question that titles the video, the people featured answer: ‘Absolutely nothing,’ ‘niente,’ ‘nada,’ slowly deconstructing the pillars of Scandinavia which are envied across the world. Democracy? Credit the Greeks. Windmills? Persia. Swedish meatballs? Turkish.

By showcasing a fast sequence of different photos taken across the world, the video stresses why travelling is important and the profound ways in which it can shape the culture and identity of Scandinavians. Martin Adonis, integrated marketing manager of SAS says, “At SAS, we are proud of our Scandinavian heritage and the role our travellers play in shaping tomorrow’s Scandinavia. We’re already seeing a change in travellers and in ourselves today – we’re more conscious of how and why we travel. When going abroad, most travellers want inspiration. They want something to bring with them home, be it memories or knowledge. And that’s going to move our society forward.”

Sport England

To continue the success of its ongoing ‘This Girl Can’ campaign, Sport England has released a new film that showcases diversity through women’s sport. The film explores the exercise habits and preparations of a range of real women, with different skin colours and different body shapes, as they play a variety of sports.

The song ‘Me Again’ (sung by a woman) playing in the background and the sequence of images showing the women playing different sports from rock climbing to football to boxing, gives the video a fast rhythm and reflects the idea that anyone can do sports. This notion is particularly emphasised by a woman who is shown wearing a tampon as she pulls up her gym leggings, while another is pictured breastfeeding her baby before she joins a netball game, and another is disabled but happily swimming. Through the experience of real women, ‘This Girl Can’ empowers viewers to be active regardless of fitness level, menstruation cycles or physical disabilities.