Don't Conform. Be Delusional.
Intro on me and GGm8 + Slawn's recent collaboration with The FA and the lessons to take with you.
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Now before I dive into this certified collaboration between Slawn and The FA, it’s probably worth introducing myself and my mission behind this newsletter.
Who am I?
A delusional Manchester United fan and Sunday League Rojo / Tamil Mahrez (an on my day baller). Aside from the above, I’ve also worked in the sports industry for 4 years, spending 3 years in Insights and Strategy roles at Premier League clubs.
I learnt a lot at these clubs, check the LinkedIn CV for my Ronaldinho highlights reel. Overall grateful for the experience at these clubs but something was missing…
The crowds at games were not representative of the passionate communities I speak to about football. The content I watched outside of work wasn’t reflected at clubs and there were many lazy narratives on Gen Z…
So I left and have spent the last year building my strategic and creative agency, GGm8. A Gen Z led agency made for Gen Z. Built to help brands and athletes engage the modern day sports fan and the sub-cultures within.
GGm8. A term used be me and my mates frequently whilst gaming to trigger an emotion from opponents. You can send GGm8 to congratulate or rattle an opponent. The choice is yours but emotion is evoked regardless. GGm8 is here to evoke emotion.
Why Read?
Intro track over, now onto the newsletter. I want this to be a space for weekly insight on things that evoke emotion in the world of sports. Whether thats partnerships with purpose, compelling content or just cool sh*t we’ve seen. Because at the end of the day we’re fans first and that’s what makes this industry great.
Also as a South Asian of Tamil origin, I believe more people like me should be working in the industry. I want this to be a space where people from these communities can find information on how to navigate the industry.
Don’t Conform. Be Delusional 🔁 - That’s the over-arching mantra that’s served me my whole life and brings me on nicely to this week’s topic.
Olaolu Slawn x The FA x Thomas Lyte
An iconic triple threat collaboration which saw Olaolu Slawn, the Nigerian born artist, provide his distinctive take on the oldest national football competition in the world. The FA Cup.
The FA in collaboration with Thomas Lyte (makers of the FA Cup trophy) went to Slawn to create a replica of the current FA Cup trophy, which has been around since 1911. A smart move by the FA in an attempt to connect with Slawn’s highly engaged community and the new generation of sports fans.
The FA would have taken notes from Slawn’s iconic moment last year where he was commissioned to design the 2023 Brit Award statuette. In doing so he became the youngest artist to ever design the award, at the age of 22.
Football now exists in so many more spaces. When we were younger the access point to football was purely participation. If you were good at football growing up, it was a cheat code. Fast-forward to the modern-day and it seems like football is finally accepting these wider spaces. This provides more entry points into football for those who may not necessarily play the game.
Through this collaboration The FA can engage communities who love art, fashion and music and introduce these communities to their brand. These communities may not have even had an interest in football but through their connection with Slawn they are now interested in The FA’s brand. It builds the brand outside of just football.
To unveil the trophy, The FA launched the ‘Cup Culture’ event on Monday which I was grateful to experience. It was a combination of communities and sub-cultures around fashion, art, music, football and gaming. The best brands are the ones who are able to blend online and real-life experiences for the communities they want to reach. Despite the lazy narratives of Gen Z wanting to live in the metaverse all day. 😴
The event itself was unique to anything I’d experienced in the industry before. Testament to The FA for creating an event authentic to Slawn and what he represents as an artist. If you’ve followed Slawn and his art you’ll see that he’s unapologetically himself. His art is an extension of who he is as a person. He’s never conformed to societal rules. This will be so inspiring to upcoming artists who will see a heritage brand like The FA be brave and enter new spaces, giving the creator license to create.
Something that could have elevated this partnership further was if Slawn was allowed to create the winning medals for players. Allowing the players to engage with his creation on the day of the final. The next generation of players are in-tune with his brand. This can allow this collaboration to have a legacy past the initial cup reveal.
I digress, overall this collaboration was top tier. Congrats to everyone involved in bringing this to life. Now onto the career advice you can take from Slawn’s approach…
Don’t Conform. Be Delusional. 🔁
When people ask for advice on navigating the industry, one thing I always mention is be delusional. I’ll share how I got my first full-time role. Hopefully it inspires more of you to become delusional thinkers 🙏
5 years ago I was straight out of uni with an Economics degree. I knew I didn’t want to work in Finance after a boring placement in audit. I wanted to work in football but had no blueprint in my environment so I thought f*ck it let me carve my own lane.
This led to applying to every role under the sun in the football industry. Countless rejections, one of which was a Senior Research & Insights role at Southampton. What gave me the right to apply? Nothing. I’m a delusional optimist.
I sometimes speak to people who rule themselves out of roles before anyone else has. Don’t worry about rejection, it’s all a part of the process. Don’t conform to society’s expectations and work on removing the limiting beliefs projected on you.
Fast forward 3 months. Southampton reached out asking me to interview as they changed it to an executive position. After 2 interviews, I ended up finessing my way into the industry and the rest is history.
If I never applied for that senior role I wouldn't have been asked to interview for the executive one.
So next time you see a role you might not be 100% qualified for (fun fact - no one ever is), don’t rule yourself out. Apply.
Don’t Conform. Be Delusional 🔁