Nike, Match Attax, Sheffield Wednesday and Green Day create work to delight their fans

In the latest edition of Magpie, curated by the team at Hope&Glory, we witness a delightful selection of standout campaigns with a focus on sport, fashion, music and video games.

These highlights are a heady mix of ‘creative stuff’ that spark joy, and make you think about and reflect upon the current global cultural zeitgeist. 

Some campaigns may ring a bell, while others might be new to you. Yet, each has ignited conversations and fuelled our collective enthusiasm for the wonderfully curated oddities of the world. 

Without further ado, here’s a glimpse into a few highlights from Magpie which you can peruse at your leisure.

Nigo x Nike

Nigo, the legendary Japanese streetwear visionary behind brands such as A Bathing Ape and Human Made, recently released his first collection with sneaker powerhouse Nike.

To promote the first meeting of these two titans, Nike produced a launch film inspired by classic cartoons and TV shows like Super Sentai (the programme Powers Rangers would take all its fight scenes from).

Featuring giant transforming Zords, Nigo represented by a skyscraper-sized robot, and all the primary-coloured heroes you could wish for, the video expertly hits the spot for anyone who remembers the 80s and 90s with rose-tinted specs.

This incredible animation, which lasts only a minute, really drives home how much of a role nostalgia has played in Nigo’s design philosophy.

Blending his love of fashion and epic storytelling to deliver content that is, whisper it, better than the product it was made to promote.

Mainoo Match Attax Magic

It may be hard to believe if you’re a slightly older Millennial or don’t have kids of the right age. Still, Match Attax have had young football fans in a chokehold for almost two decades, hoovering up their pocket money like the taxman helping himself to your wages.

A trading card game – so you can play with your cards and not just put them in a sticker book to look at – Match Attax has long made itself collectable via a series of innovations across areas like gameplay, design, and finish, making it the go-to brand for young fans.

And there’s nothing young football fans love more than a young footballer. Enter Kobbie Mainoo, the most recent shining light to emerge from Manchester United’s academy, who worked with Topps, Match Attax’s publisher, to surprise several young fans of the Red Devils as they picked up a bundle of Match Attax competition prizes.

Only nineteen himself, Mainoo delivered authentically as someone who used to collect Match Attax cards himself growing up. The success of surprise and delight content is entirely beholden to the reactions of those surprised. However, bringing Mainoo out to meet young football fans guaranteed some great responses, making the video much more shareable than it has any right to be.

They definitely scored a tap-in with this one.

Sheffield Wednesday Score Big with Snake Party

Sheffield-based game developer Sumo Digital has partnered with local football club Sheffield Wednesday to create an interactive entertainment solution that will bring together young fans of both teams.

Part of Sheffield Wednesday’s Owls Esports programme, which aims to engage young football fans in the world of gaming, Sumo Digital created Snake Party, a colourful multiplayer variation on everyone’s favourite retro phone game.

This is played between young home and away fans, with the footage broadcast to the giant screen inside the stadium for all to see. The “away” snakes can also be changed to reflect the colour of the opposition’s away strip.

Video games are a huge draw for young people, and the contest element of battling against a rival team’s representative is a great mechanic for engaging with young football fans. It doesn’t even matter that the game looks relatively simple; that’s all part of the charm.

If there’s one place most football fans would like to play a game, we suspect it’s on the big screen at their club’s home stadium, creating unforgettable memories for young Owls.

Dookie Demastered

What do a toothbrush, a Game Boy cartridge, a wax cylinder, and a doorbell have in common?

They all serve as unconventional platforms for releasing music, as seen in Dookie Demastered, a creative reimagining of Green Day’s 1994 album for its 30th anniversary. Instead of a standard deluxe edition, Green Day presented the album in formats “it was never meant to be heard” on, reminiscent of the various bizarre devices that have run the DOOM game.

Dookie Demastered features tracks like ‘Chump’ playing from a Teddy Ruxpin and ‘F.O.D.’ from a Fisher Price Record.

This campaign cleverly compromises audio quality for a nostalgic twist, showcasing creativity rarely seen in the music industry. By producing and selling these unique formats, Dookie Demastered breathes new life into a classic while honouring its spirit.

It's a brilliant reminder that unexpected ideas can create memorable experiences.