Case Study: rebel – Made There, Perfected Here
Because global boots need local grit.
Because global boots need local grit.
Football boots are engineered in Europe. Marketed with fanfare from Madrid to Milan. But in Australia, they land on a different kind of pitch—where the game isn’t always football, and the surface isn’t always grass. The challenge? Make global product feel local. Not just technically, but emotionally.
Made There, Perfected Here was our answer—a high-octane, visually expansive campaign that took elite boots and grounded them in the Aussie sporting landscape. The creative flipped the usual script: we didn’t sell the prestige of where the boots came from. We celebrated what they could do here.
The film opens on a nighttime five-a-side match in inner-city Melbourne—cinematically lit, rain cascading under floodlights, a drone circling overhead. A coin toss. A beat drops. And then we’re off.
Cut to Yuendumu in the red centre, near Alice Springs—long kicks, dusty sprints, barefoot brilliance. Aboriginal boys in full flight, playing their version of the game their way.
Next, a new morning in suburban Australia—girls in rugby kits shoulder their way through a tackle, boots gripping the dew-covered turf.
Then the crescendo: Parramatta Stadium. We cut in tight on studs hitting grass, legs pumping, shots fired. The stadium erupts—digitally enhanced with hoardings and crowd to amplify scale. Tries, goals, long bombs. This is where boots earn their keep.
Each scene showcased a different code, climate, and community—rallying national pride through local authenticity. It was a celebration of how Australians use boots not just to play—but to dominate.
Visually, the campaign blended field production, drone work, motion graphics, and subtle VFX to give international polish without losing Australian texture. The pacing, edit, and sound design delivered rhythm and impact to match the performance of the boots themselves.
From a behavioural perspective, this was a relevance reframing strategy—taking a globally familiar product and showing how it maps onto distinct local needs. We also used place-based identity cues and pride priming—reminding audiences that performance here is just as tough, demanding, and elite as anywhere else.
Results:
31% increase in football boot sales across rebel during launch window
2.8M campaign views across digital, in-store, and paid social
+38% lift in engagement from customers in regional and rural postcodes
17% uptick in boot trial bookings and fitting consultations
Became the highest-performing boot campaign of the season in rebel’s national calendar
Why it worked:
Because it flipped the narrative. Made There, Perfected Here didn’t ask Australians to adapt to global sport. It showed global sport adapting to Australia. Same boots. Different game.