The language of champions

This year London based creative agency Red Bee had the task of designing the introductory footage for the BBC’s coverage of Wimbledon 2012. They described their task thus:

Our creative challenge was to convey the key characteristics of each of the top men and women players. We wanted to demonstrate what could set them apart, and see them crowned champion.

They then went on to say that : As the players are shown playing key shots that they’re known for, their bodies become taken over with words that describe their playing style, past wins and individual traits that could make them the winner. A lot has been said about each of these players over the past few years, but in the end only one word matters: champion.

Image:b.vimeocdn.com

Red Bee’s video is arresting, creative, provocative and memorable. The thing which interests me, though, is that they have featured words so prominently. By all accounts this Summer’s TV sports coverage will be the most advanced, both technically and visually, we have ever seen. Even so, Red Bee have chosen to overlay image with word in order to articulate and enhance the image beneath. As a wordsmith, I find this fascinating. At the end of writing Who Needs Words, after a journey of over two years’ writing, I concluded that we all do:

Who needs words? We all do, since that’s the way we were made.

We need to use them, understand them, invent and reinvent them

– and, in so doing, we shall make many mistakes and describe many new realities.

I applaud Red Bee’s campaign, but I have a confession to make. I am one of those people who used to watch the tennis on the television with no sound on so that I could listen to the radio commentary. This gave me two sets of pictures- one in my head and one on the TV screen.

Anyone for tennis?