Football Manager 24

Xbox

DIRECTED by

‍Brightnight

Carbon Footprint

The Brief

Xbox wanted to cut through the noise of traditional game launches by turning Football Manager 24 into more than just a game - it needed to be a gateway to real-world opportunity. The challenge: engage with Football Manager 24’s stat-obsessed fanbase while promoting Game Pass, Xbox’s subscription model, in a way that felt authentic, exciting, and rewarding.

Our Approach

To kick off the Everyday Tactician campaign, we were brought on to create a high-impact launch film that would turn heads and drive entries. Targeting Football Manager’s most dedicated players, the film needed to feel sharp, authentic and aspirational - all on an extremely lean budget. With the campaign already in motion and a documentary series planned, this launch piece had to not only introduce the competition but set the tone for everything that followed.

Directing duo BRIGHTNIGHT took the reins on the film - and it made total sense. As the agency creatives who came up with the concept, who better to see it through on screen? We slotted in as the production partner to support that transition, guiding them as they swapped hats from in-house creatives to directors. Our role was to provide the practical and creative framework to bring their vision to life.

With just one shoot day and a tight budget, we had to think smart. The creative hinged on a hero transition from a gamer’s bedroom to the pitch at Bromley FC, capturing the leap from virtual to real-world management. To keep costs down, we shot everything at Bromley FC’s stadium. In the morning, we built and dressed a bedroom set inside one of the club’s offices. By afternoon, we’d moved out to the pitch to capture the second half of the transformation.

To pull off the transition, we shot three separate plates with a motion control slider: a clean pass of the bedroom, a green screen pass with the hero talent, and a plate on the pitch. These were stitched together in post, with the bedroom digitally collapsing away to reveal the stadium - a moment that brought the campaign’s fantasy-to-reality concept to life.

Despite being an add-on to the main campaign with limited resources, the film made noise. It went viral across Football Manager and Xbox communities, picked up press attention and was shared by major partners like TNT Sports. Thousands of players entered the competition off the back of the film.

From there, Nathan Owolabi was chosen as the winning tactician and went on to join Bromley FC in a five-month real-world role - a journey that was captured in a follow-on documentary series.

The campaign as a whole was a huge success, earning widespread industry recognition and multiple awards at Cannes Lions, including: