By Brad Rees, CEO, Mediacells
On his recent appearance on BBC’s Desert Island Discs, Steven Spielberg said that to look at the world through the lens of a child strips out all the cynicism and draws massive audiences in deeper than if, say, E.T. was found by a bunch of adult lab geeks, who grew a bond with the wrinkly alien instead.
Team Jay is the Italian soccer behemoth Juventus FC’s latest foray into the hostile, creative deep waters of children’s entertainment.
The jury is out on whether it will reach the hallowed ratings of Australian, animated preschool TV show, Bluey – but at least it’s having a good old go.
American actor and comedian W.C. Fields is attributed with the saying, ‘never work with children or animals’ but he didn’t mention anything about making kid’s cartoons that feature children and animals, in TJ’s case – a magic zebra, two children, a gerbil and a flying squirrel, who save their town from ‘uppity villains’.
Killjoy Guardian film, TV and music journalist Stuart Heritage was excoriating in his review of the show, framing it as ‘the sort of thing TV channels show at 5am, to punish children for waking up too early’.
In his extended and at times hilarious Team Jay toon-roast, Mister Heritage opined that if you’re making a kids’ show, ‘you should strive for art that serves children, rather than cynically banging out something just to line your pockets’.
This is a noble intent but within the increasingly competitive arena of football fan engagement and the executive perplexity around how to reach Gen Z’s and their younger siblings, the dreaded Gen Alphas, the Strive For Art value pretty much gets pushed into the KPI bin.
Who cares if it looks like garbage as long as little Rocambolesco and Sorellina are iPad-contained, if not content.
And if they are each watching it liveried in Juve black-and-white babygrows, then so be it!
Juventus FC are neither the first, nor are they likely to be the last mega football club to try and hook youngsters into their brands through an animated series of harmless antics and one-dimensional characterisations.
Back in 2019, Variety magazine reported Manchester City had a 26-episode cartoon called Sky Blue Academy, which intended to produce a cartoon depicting ‘a diverse group of boys and girls living and playing at the soccer squad’s training academy’.
As far as I am aware Sky Blue Academy never got past the Cannes MipJunior pitch stage, perhaps the proposition of ‘football stitching friends together’ was misconstrued as more of a Body Horror than, how-to-play-as-a-team show.
Or maybe someone in the marketing department read Georgie Walsh’s excellent 7 Gen Alpha characteristics to know for 2025′, particularly #4 Brand Interactions: They’re calling the shots.
According to the GWI content marketing manager, these miniscule media despots are less likely to stand for any brand bullshiteering.
They download their own apps and eat what they want not what is prescribed to them by the ‘rents.
In short, these diminutive dictators, born between 2010 and 2024, are taking control of their choices from a young age.
Brands now need to target these tiny tastemakers along with their po-faced parents and maybe, just maybe, this is exactly what Juventus FC are framing their original content proposition around.
As Gen Z & A media strategy and fan engagement chief Jo Redfern contends,
“Juventus tried something different, they stepped into unknown territory. They chose to experiment with animation – not because they’re experts (they aren’t), not because it’s guaranteed to succeed (it’s not perfect), but because they’re willing to try something new to build a connection to the next generation of fans.”
Perhaps clubs need to take a leaf out of Steven Spielberg’s book and look at content through the eyes of a child, rather than the bleary orbs of a sleep-deprived young parent at 5am.
