While her football team remains on the cusp of glory this season, Globe’s co-MD in the UK, Jennifer Hills, is basking in the glow of a big win.
Universal Music UK’s sync and creative partnerships division scooped the Music & Brand Parntnership trophy at the Music Week Awards earlier this month, in recognition of its work with LeoStayTrill and Arsenal’s away kit launch.
The team plays its penultimate league game of the season tonight (May 18) and have the Champions League final to look forward to, but Hills (above, holding award) told Music Week she and her team are happy to have a trophy of her own already.
“We’re absolutely delighted,” Hills said. “I’m really, really excited and I’m so proud of this campaign, it was a really exciting creative opportunity and a new partnership for us with Arsenal. LeoStayTrill is such a young, exciting artist and he brought so much to the creative, it feels so special to see one of our new artists celebrated in this way. It makes me feel very proud.”
It was a very natural step for Leo to lean in and make a music video and do a freestyle
Jennifer Hills, Globe
The rapper, who is signed to 0207 Def Jam, joined Arsenal on a pre-season tour in Singapore, where the kit was launched by a selection of players and actor Will Poulter.
“The most exciting thing about this campaign is that it isn't our usual kind of brand partnership, it's something that felt very different,” explained Hills. “When we're working with partners, we always have to be respectful of what works for both sides, and we landed on something that absolutely made sense.”
Hills spoke about the process that led to the artist writing and recording a new freestyle, So Sick, and filming and accompanying video during the trip.
“It was a very natural step for Leo to lean in and make a music video and do a freestyle, and we actually hadn't planned for all of that ahead of the trip, it happened when we were out there,” she said. “Arsenal kindly entrusted us and brought us into the circle of that particular trip, and from that, things were shared that enabled us to then give Leo the confidence to be creative. That's really where the magic came from, the fact that the artist was inspired.”
Speaking alongside Hills on the night was Jean-Luc Bragard (second from right), interim head of brand & marketing at Arsenal.
It was about asking how Universal could understand our world and how we then could take a leap of faith and understand theirs
Jean-Luc Bragard, Arsenal
“It’s an incredible achievement from a real partnership,” he said. “I mean, as a football club, you don't expect to do these kinds of things, but the journey that we've been on as a brand has allowed us to earn the right to play in these types of cultural arenas.”
“Doing something like this while we were on tour allows international fans to get closer to the club than ever before,” he added. “We've got a lot in common with music, we've got unbelievable, passionate fans and when two worlds like football and music collide, it [shows a glimpse of] a pretty powerful future for culture and fans.”
Hills noted that “it felt very natural to have a young, bright talent like LeoStayTrill to be the face and sound of the launch”, adding that, as a fan of the team, he “absolutely understood what would connect with the audience”.
Bragard also underlined the importance of the long relationship between the two companies.
“Trust is key,” he said. “We were talking for a long time beforehand, and it's about finding the right moment that works for both of us and earning that trust to be able to then go into each other's worlds. Going on tour with a football club has all of its accompanying realities and football comes first. So it was about asking how Universal could understand our world and how we then could take a leap of faith and understand theirs. That's the kind of partnership that makes something so brilliant.”
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