A city as a source of the ‘creative spark’. Urban streets as basis for bold and massive campaigns. For many decades, smaller towns and megalopolises have been inspiring advertising agencies behind multiple marketing projects, which on the one hand are targeted at promoting brands and, on the other hand, encourage consumers to compare different cities, unveil creativity and strong dedication to sport, cinema and quests, or even bring rural accents to urban settings. We at Popsop have reviewed global brands’ ad activity during 2010 and first two months of 2011 to see how they’ve been embedding city into their promotions. Now, we are presenting our 3-part study dedicated to the subject. The first section of this review will highlight competitions, cross-city studies, urban sport-related promotions, which have been taking place within big cities around the globe and in a way were dedicated to them.

On February 01, Umbro announced the launch of Umbro 1350 — a new global campaign to support the range of its off-pitch sports apparel. According to the blog of the football apparel manufacturer, this «collection…is inspired by the iconic ‘taping’ that featured on some classic kits in the 1970s» and represents a range of ‘Diamond icons’ to be worn both during the footbal game and off-the-pitch life.

The campaign was developed by Manchester-based Love Creative agency. 

Umbro, Manchester-based branch of Nike specializing in football wear, recently revealed more details on its collaboration with critically acclaimed designer Aitor Throup that led to creation of some iconic sportswear pieces for Archive Research Project (A.R.P.). In course of the project, Umbro’s creative team along with Aitor delved into 87-year-old archive of the brand in search of inspiration to create new clothes.

Umbro, the Greater Manchester-based sport apparel manufacturer, is paying a tribute to its home area and does everything possible to keep creative fire burning in the hearts of local artists by launching another phase of Umbro Industries program. Through its project, Umbro provides authors of greatest ideas with an up to £10,000 helping hand for making their projects become real.

On June 11, the day when the World Cup 2010 kicked off, Umbro launched its colourful contest called “Spirit of South Africa”, inviting all of its fans to capture the spirit of the championship (both in their countries and on the spots where the matches were actually played). The quality of the image or the place, where the snap was taken, was optional, the main thing about the work was that it was supposed to embody the spirit of the festive sport season in the best way. With the tournament over, Umbro is glad to announce the winners.