AXE - Airplane

• Agency: LOLA MullenLowe
• Client: AXE
• Category: Video Design — Short Film
• Location: Madrid, Spain
• Project Brief: Create a World Cup campaign that highlights the passion, creativity, and dedication of football fans around the world.

Most World Cup campaigns find their fans in the stadium. AXE's "Airplane" finds them in the parking lot of a Mexico City housing block, building a trophy costume out of newspaper and gold paint. That single location decision tells you everything about what kind of short film LOLA Madrid made.

The handheld camera never tries to make the construction look impressive. It just watches, which is the right call when the thing being built is already funny and genuinely touching at the same time.

The costume itself is the design. Crumpled gold foil over a papier-mache frame, wobbly handles, a man's head just visible above the rim. It looks exactly like something a neighborhood would build together on a weekend, which is the point.

The airplane scene lands because the film has already done the work. By the time he is wedged into his seat with the trophy around him, you are rooting for this guy in a way that no amount of stadium cinematography could manufacture.