How Paddy Power Leveraged English Stereotypes for Euro 2024
UEFA Euro 2024 is well underway, and in an ironic turn of events, it looks like England is Europe’s favourite for the win.
Any good brand knows an insight ripe for comedy when they see one, so before adland knew it, Irish gambling company Paddy Power was on it. Lining up English actor and presenter Danny Dyer and getting MindsEye’s Andrew Gaynord to direct the film, Paddy Power banked on the classic English self-deprecation and dry humour.
The film - creatively led by BBH - is chock-full of hilarious stereotypes, pushed to just one level before cancellable. We see Europeans - presented as classy and almost stuck-up in comparison with the English - sarcastically praising their island neighbours for their “gracious exits”, impeccable style - with an incredible cameo here by the ‘four lads in jeans’ (yes, the real ones) - and seamless integration into foreign cultures.
Danny Dyer’s performance is as expected - hilarious, with his ‘ladishness’ bumped up to the max, and the cut done by Adam Buckmaster, editor at Shift Post, is the perfect bow to tie the geniusness of the film.
To find out more about the making and meaning of the film, LBB’s Zoe Antonov spoke to BBH associate creative directors Luke Till and Lawrence Bushell, and Shift Post’s Adam Buckmaster.
LBB> How did the idea for this campaign come about and what were the initial conversations surrounding it like?
Luke & Lawrence> For us, Paddy Power always does its best work when it’s topical, or ‘on the ball’, as the brand guidelines go. We were trying to come up with insights that were relevant to this Euro season specifically, rather than just being generic.
This time around, England are ‘Europe’s favourites’ (to win the tournament), so we knew we had stumbled across a territory rich for taking the piss out of. After discussing some initial vignettes ideas, Kev went off to do his thing and we think the initial script was nailed in about 30 minutes.
LBB> Adam, reading the script for the first time, what were your initial thoughts?
Adam> My initial thoughts were, ‘That's a lot to fit into 60 seconds!’, but there was a real sense of tongue-in-cheek fun, so [I was] excited to be part of the project.
LBB> What was it like working with Danny Dyer and why was he perfect for the role?
Luke & Lawrence> Having watched films such as ‘The Football Factory’ and ‘The Business’ in our teens, it was an utter fantasy and privilege to work with the great man, who we consider a cult hero for our generation.
It’s difficult to embody a quintessential English laddishness yet at the same time be charming and lovable. He manages to pull it off effortlessly. This also became very clear on set in Palma where he was mobbed by British holiday makers asking for selfies.
LBB> Peter Crouch also makes a cameo in the film - was it difficult to get him on board and how did working with him go?
Luke & Lawrence> Peter’s worked with Paddy Power numerous times and is always super collaborative with ideas we put on the table, no matter how self-deprecating they might be. It’s his preparedness to poke fun at himself that makes him so lovable for us, alongside Danny – modern national treasures.
LBB> Tell us about the different scenarios that you came up with to paint the picture of Europe's views on the English. Were there other ideas that you scrapped?
Luke & Lawrence> As always with vignette-based scripts we dug the mine of insights as deep as we could manage, and plenty of ideas got tossed into the furnace as we sweat from every pore. Ultimately, the ones that we felt would resonate with footy fans and not get us cancelled made it into the mix.
Our favourite runner up revolved around a ‘stag do’ in Amsterdam where a bunch of lads were shouting ‘Gogh Gogh Gogh’ at a stag dressed as a self portrait of Vincent Van Gogh. Alas.
LBB> Adam, did you have a favourite vignette? Which was the most fun to assemble?
Adam> The bar scene with Danny and the Scottish fan is always a standout and consistently made everyone laugh; I immediately knew it would be funny ,as Danny's performances and the fans' reactions were great.
LBB> Did you actually get the four lads in jeans to act in the film or were these just good lookalikes?
Luke & Lawrence> We can confirm the bejeaned lads are indeed 100% genuine. One thing we found surprising was for four internet jokes, how tall, muscular and handsome they all were in real life.
LBB> Tell us about the locations and the scouting you did around them! How long did the filming of the campaign take?
Luke & Lawrence> The ‘abroad’ aspects of the film were shot in Palma and Wembley whereas the other scenes were shot in a pub in Ealing, which made for a convenient wrap drinks location. The team at Mindseye, as per usual, went above and beyond to find locations that felt authentic and epic under big production constraints.
LBB> Tell me about the copywriting process for the campaign - what considerations were taken to make it quintessentially English?
Luke & Lawrence> One thing we quickly identified in the writing process was the more flowery we made the set ups to the jokes, the harder the punchlines landed. So we tried to make the European actors sound eloquent in comparison to the English actors to achieve a comedic contrast between the two tribes.
As for Danny’s bits, we made sure we leaned into Dyerisms such as ‘jog on’, 'let's have it right’ and ‘treacle’, to ensure his performance banged as hard as possible. Andrew Gaynord (the director) was involved in the writing at every stage and sprinkled his magic as we went along.
LBB> Adam, when you began editing, did you stick to the script and storyboard?
Adam> As the commercial is such a tight knit of separate vignettes, everything was scripted extensively, so I stayed true to the storyboards. There were a number of alternative lines and performances giving us different options for particular scenes but it soon became clear what worked. We never really deviated far from the initial concept.
LBB> Are there any rules for editing comedy, dialogue or action that you like to follow - or like to break?
Adam> When it comes to comedy, Saam Hodivala (Shift founder and editor) always says to cut something that makes me laugh. I think a lot of it is just relying on your instincts for timing whether it be landing a joke, dialogue or action.
LBB> What was the most fun part of the creation of the campaign? What about the most difficult?
Luke & Lawrence> Ensuring the lads in jeans iconic pose was as accurate as possible proved tricky, never before have we been so anal when referencing an image, in terms of how they were positioned and what they were wearing. Creating authentic-looking England kits that didn’t breach IP rights was also a fun one, that took us back to our custom kit designing days on ‘Pro Evo 6’.
LBB> How did you collaborate in the editing suite?
Adam> I spent a few days with Andrew Gaynord to refine an assembly to first cut, and once the creative team joined, they were really passionate and energetic about the project so it was great to take their ideas on-board. It was very much a case of refining the jokes we had to maximise their impact.
LBB> What has the audiences' reaction been like so far?
Luke & Lawrence> Banging! When your brother-in-law, who has absolutely no interest in what you do, tells you he’s been sent it three times by his mates, you know the job’s a good'un.
