Stand Red x Bob Paisley • Bringing Liverpool FC Legend Bob Paisley to a New Generation of Fans

Liverpool Football Club is a team with a rich and celebrated history that spans generations. To honor both the team and its fans, we gave fans intimate access to the club’s late legendary manager Bob Paisley, on what would have been his 100th birthday. 

In collaboration with Octagon and Standard Chartered, we brought fans closer to the club by creating the Stand Red mobile app. Celebrating Bob Paisley’s life and legacy, the immersive AR experience allowed people to enter Liverpool’s fabled Boot Room and converse back and forth with the club’s famed manager.

Stepping into the virtual Boot Room let fans step back in time, where they could engage with Bob’s legacy through several interactions. They could discover historic radio broadcasts by turning the knob of a vintage radio, view shoes signed and worn by the club’s most legendary players, and test their own sense of strategy by perusing Bob’s own playbook. These artifacts provided fans with a tangible experience that met them on a more personal level.

Accompanying the Boot Room experience were five films that provided fans with a front-row seat to see the sporting icon again through a mix of CGI and live-action acting. With Bob’s family’s blessing, we shot an actor with a similar body shape over four shoot days and tracked his facial movements using 42 facial markers. 400 hours, 200 facial shapes and 200,000 meticulously placed hair follicles later, we delivered an authentic performance to the club’s most dedicated fans.

While many virtualized representations of celebrities or athletes draw a red card, both the AR experience and films won big with fans and players alike, who took to social media to share the poignant and moving experience. By introducing Paisley and Liverpool FC history to a new generation of fans, we brought everyone closer to the club and won them over.