Inside BBC Creative and NOMINT’s Fire-Fuelled Winter Olympics Film

For its Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics campaign, BBC Creative has turned to physical spectacle over digital gloss, partnering with NOMINT director Yannis Konstantinidis to create a film built from real fire, hand-crafted models and sheer creative audacity.

‘Trails Will Blaze’ transforms the frozen landscapes of the Dolomites into a glowing arena of motion and intensity, using 700 individually 3D-printed athletes and live combustion techniques to visualise the unstoppable drive of Olympic competition.

Designed to function both as a title sequence and a standalone film, the work channels the BBC’s long legacy of craft-led sports storytelling while pushing stop motion into bold, uncharted territory – a testament to what can happen when ambition, trust and meticulous making collide.

BBC Creative senior creatives Paul Bailey and Russell Hendrie speak to LBB’s Olivia Atkins to discuss the inspiration and origination of the campaign, the Olympics’ creative legacy and the value in making it painstakingly handmade.

LBB> What was the original brief and intention for this campaign?

Paul and Russell> The brief was to create a film that could work as both a trail and a title sequence for the Winter Olympics on the BBC. We needed something that celebrated the record-breaking, boundary-pushing athletes of the games.

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LBB> How did BBC Creative approach capturing the spirit of the Milano Cortina Winter Games and translating ideas like determination, intensity and ‘unstoppable drive’ into a tangible visual language?

Paul and Russell> As soon as we arrived at the word ’trailblazers’, the visual world fell right into place. Every Winter Olympic campaign uses snow and ice, so we knew that trails of fire blazing down mountains would stand out a mile.

LBB> At what stage did NOMINT and Yannis Konstantinidis come on board, and what was it about their approach to stop motion and filmmaking that made them the right collaborators for this project?

Paul and Russell> We’d referenced Yannis’ work in our early presentations, but the timeline was so tight we never dreamed they would have time to work their painstaking magic on our campaign. We took a punt and sent them the script anyway, and their brave ideas and wild enthusiasm for the project blew us away.

LBB> Using 700 individually 3D-printed athletes and volatile combustion techniques is an extraordinary technical undertaking. What were the biggest creative or production challenges, and how did those constraints ultimately shape the final film?

Paul and Russell> It was probably the only stop-motion animation to be filmed in a specialist fire-safe studios with a team of pyrotechnicians! The biggest, and most exciting, challenge was trying to visualise what the film would look like. There was a lot of trial, error and leaps of faith involved, but that’s why we’ve ended up with something truly unique.

LBB> BBC Olympic campaigns have a strong visual and emotional legacy. How did you think about honouring that lineage while still pushing the craft forward and making something that felt genuinely new for 2026?

Paul and Russell> BBC Sports campaigns always raise the bar. And some of our best campaigns have told stories through the animation medium. Whether that’s a stop-motion animation physically woven into a tapestry of World Cup history, or a Winter Olympics film carved from blocks of ice, we wanted to continue that tradition and make the medium our message. All while trying to do something original and inventive.

LBB> Music plays a powerful role here, with a new arrangement of Verdi’s ‘Requiem’ recorded live at the Royal Albert Hall. How early was the soundtrack integrated into the creative, and how did it influence the campaign's rhythm, pacing and emotional weight?

Paul and Russell> We needed to lock in a track before NOMINT could begin their animatic, so the music could hit all the right action. The games are taking place in Milan and Cortina, so we needed something epic and Italian, and Verdi was the perfect fit. And using a performance from the BBC Symphony Orchestra was a no brainer!

LBB> Looking more broadly, how do you see Olympic advertising evolving – particularly as audiences become more visually literate and expect both spectacle and substance from major cultural moments like the Olympic Games?

Paul and Russell> I hate to bring this back to AI (yawn) but I hope the industry will see the value and importance of keeping real craft in advertising. If we’re trying to excite our audience about the incredible human achievements of the Olympics, let’s make the ads incredible human achievements too!