Published by Sue Johns-Chapman
Published Date 16.06.2022 
Hot Icarus – proud to be shortlisted for our campaign to transform boring into beautiful.
About Hot Icarus
Hot Icarus is an independent studio based in London that sits at the intersection of creative and production, offering services that stretch from concept to craft and through to final execution. We bring together the next generation of award winning, multidisciplinary talent in an effort to inspire brands, agencies and platforms to push themselves to their creative limits and, above all else, entertain people. Afterall, life’s more exciting when you fly closer to the sun.
Small by design, we champion our roster of creatives and directors to bring raw creativity to the foreground and provide agile creative and production solutions to our partners. Our work stretches across everything from sports, to automotive, to tech – we don’t pick favourites, we simply favour partnering with brave brands with an ambition to do things differently.
At this year’s UK Content Awards, we’re proud finalists in the low-budget category – a source of pride for the studio, as in this particular campaign we set out demonstrate that blockbuster budgets aren’t always required to create work that not only looks good but, well… works.
About the work
Our shortlisted campaign was completed in partnership with contemporary golf apparel brand, Manors Golf and adidas. Together, we asked the question of why golf seems to keep its head buried firmly in the sand when it comes to fashion.
Golf clearly has an identity problem. An exclusive, expensive game, with a regressive clubhouse culture, it is consistently ranked among the most boring sports in the world. And who can forget the on-course clothing that fits better as a punchline than it does as an outfit.
Our challenge was to rediscover the character, spirit and flair that were once a fundamental part of the game; to grow brand affinity for Manors, rekindle awareness and strengthen sales.
Our solution was to drive the game away from a performance-first attitude and towards an inclusive perspective that would secure the enthusiasm and patronage of a new breed of golfer and create a cross-culture, coming of age campaign to form a springboard for Manor’s ambitions for the future.
But to make that happen we would have to start changing the perception of golf across the country and challenge the traditions of the old-guard.
Fan culture is critically underrepresented in golf, largely because of the old guard’s unwillingness to embrace the cohesive power of sports-tribalism found elsewhere.
That got us thinking differently. The issue had never been the playing of the game – like many others, a thrilling sport of fierce competition and flamboyant strokeplay. No, golf’s own character had been stifled by pernickety rules and a chronic lack of opportunity for fan participation. To tackle the problem, we needed to draw on an alternative sporting identity that had the right ingredients to build an alternative vision for golf.
Enter football. A game which would allow us to call on all of its most positive tropes and re-couple them to golf, layering in Manors’ own unique brand of storytelling in the same stroke. The sports traded places and we gave a familiar narrative a new hero, putting golf back at the heart of British popular culture and propelling Manors into the spotlight.
Golf became ‘The Beautiful Game’.
How we feel about being shortlisted
A note from our Managing Partner, Kit Rowcliffe: ‘When we approach a project, we try to set ourselves three aims: to do work that elicits a powerful response through emotion and entertainment, to be recognised for doing something epic by people who know what they’re talking about, and to have fun doing it. So, when we were nominated for this award, it filled me with pride in our team. We started this particular project with a clear intention – to change audience perceptions using the power of brand storytelling – and I feel this not only represents a realisation of that goal but punctuates a truly enjoyable campaign and celebrates an excellent relationship between Hot Icarus and our client friends at Manors Golf and adidas. Job done!’
