We shoot, we score: Speak Media’s football favourites
World Cup kick-off has, as usual, resulted in football fever here at Speak HQ. From office sweepstakes to baby-foot tournaments, our little corner of E1 has become a shrine to the beautiful game. To mark the occasion we’ve looked back at our favourite football-related projects, from Premier League legends to the world’s most successful football club. PLUS, members of the Speak crew go up against Lampard with our World Cup predictions.
1. Getting Frank with Lampard
As huge fans of the Premier League we were thrilled at the chance to interview former England midfielder Frank Lampard as part of our regular ‘Leading Questions’ strand for Barclays. Opening up about everything from the best player he’s played with to taking the perfect penalty, we spent an insightful morning with the Chelsea legend and came away with an interview and a two-minute video that’s soon to be posted on both the Barclays corporate website and its social media channels. Watch this space.
2. The world’s most successful football team
One of the things we love most about our work with Barclays is it gives us the opportunity to explore all sorts of wonderful stories. One such opportunity arose in February when we zipped across to north London to meet Stonewall FC – the world’s most successful gay football team.
We filmed the lads training and interviewed club manager Eric Najib – a man who has won the Gay World Cup as both a player and a manager – about Stonewall’s decorated history, fighting homophobia and the club’s longstanding association with Barclays.
3. Amaze-balls Amazon content for one of football’s oldest brands
Formed in 1817 – that’s a whopping 45 years before Notts County (the UK’s oldest football club) – it’s fair to say that Mitre symbolises the beautiful game. It’s for that reason that we were delighted to be invited on board to produce effective copy for the brand’s ‘coach the shopper’ tool and its Amazon product descriptions. Our specialist e-commerce writers applied their knowledge to a wide range of product categories – from footballs to shin pads – to craft copy specially tailored to its target audience.
The proof is in the pudding and at full time our content boosted Mitre’s Amazon sales by 20%. Back of the net!
4. “The Parkinson’s World Cup”
The FIFA World Cup may have kicked off this month but in October 2017 our award-winning online magazine Parkinson’s Life – which we produce on behalf of the European Parkinson’s Disease Association – covered the Ray Kennedy Cup. The international tournament brings together Parkinson’s football teams from all over Europe to compete in Copenhagen, Denmark. In the Q & A-style feature tournament organiser Eigil Sabroe chatted to our writer about the inspiration behind the event and how playing football can greatly benefit those with Parkinson’s.
World Cup Predictions: Speak vs Lampard
Well it wouldn’t be a World Cup-inspired feature without Speaksters putting their neck on the line and making some outlandish predictions that we can laugh at when they are inevitably wrong. We’ve pitted ourselves against Frank Lampard, who predicted that Germany would retain the greatest trophy on earth.
–– George, Editorial Director
Who’s going to win it?
Well I’ve got the big three of South Korea, Poland and Serbia in our office sweepstake so any of those will do.
Top goal scorer?
Merging my real team (Spurs) and one of my sweepstake countries I’ll go for Son Heung-Min (there’s no money on this, right?).
Surprise of the tournament?
Robbie Williams performing at the opening ceremony. I was holding out for Chas n Dave.
–– Laura, Managing Editor
Who’s going to win it?
Well let’s face it, it won’t be England. I’ll plump for Brazil, they’ve come a long way in the last four years.
Top goal scorer?
Keeping with the South American theme I’ll say Lionel Messi – he’s the best player of all time and I think he’s got a golden boot in him.
Surprise of the tournament?
I’d like to see Gareth Southgate shed his ‘nice guy’ image in a press conference and go absolutely berserk.
–– Joe, Copywriter
Who’s going to win it?
Tough to call as ever but I’ll go for the French. Any side who leave Anthony Martial and Kingsley Coman at home have got to be good.
Top goal scorer?
If the French are going to win it then it’s a toss-up between Antoine Griezmann and Kylian M’bappé, I’ll go with experience and say Griezmann.
Surprise of the tournament
Dele Ali to score the winning goal in the World Cup Final and head straight into the Love Island villa – winning that as well. You’ll get great odds on that.
–– Paul, Client Director
Who's going to win it?
Silly question, England will bring it home. 100%. You’ve got to have faith!
Top goal scorer?
I’d love to say Mo Salah but I don’t think Egypt will play enough games. It’s usually a surprising player so I’ll go for Colombia’s Radamel Falcao. They’ve got a fairly straight forward group and – despite an underwhelming couple of years in the Premier League – on his day he’s a deadly finisher.
Surprise of the tournament?
Vladimir Putin – drawing inspiration from the PAOK FC owner who entered the field of play with a gun this year – storming onto the pitch to successfully overturn a disallowed Russian goal.