How Marc Sidelsky's Direct Work With Arsenal Pushed Them onto the Cultural Stage

Football fever is well and truly underway and England’s progress in the World Cup has been promising. But Arsenal FC kicked off this summer sporting season early with their historic win in the Premier League, going on to prove their worth internationally as members of the national team. And besides the wins, they've carved out a name for themselves culturally thanks in part to Marc Sidelsky’s ongoing work with the club. As a long-standing fan, he has an inbuilt understanding of its culture and what fans want from the brand, developing a synergetic creative relationship with its in-house team.

Direct client partnerships allow for more direct communication between creatives and clients, generally speeding up decision-making processes, concepting, and production. And this was very much Marc’s experience when working with Arsenal.

“What you want all creative relationships to be is a partnership where you authentically feel like part of a team,” says Knucklehead's Marc Sidelsky. “I believe you get the best result if there are fewer egos and more authentic dialogue about the end product, where everyone trusts each other to do their jobs to the best of their ability.”

Having formed a instinctive bond with Arsenal’s now former creative director Josh Steele, Marc sensed the brand’s in-built creative infrastructure, which opened the door for a seamless and efficient creative collaborative process and lay the groundwork for mutual trust.

“What was nice and different is that Josh actually came from an idea-based agency background before getting his foot into the club,” says Marc. “So he was offering something different within the genre and the category and responded positively initially to another D2C collab piece, resulting in me directing the Stüssy x Nike collab piece for Shelflife.”

Stüssy x Nike for Shelflife

That job was a highly director-led project, where Marc wrote the script himself, proactively pitched himself to the boutique South African limited-edition sneaker company Shelflife, and proposed the idea for their next big drop. Marc was trusted infinitely and given free reign to pursue his creative direction, and because the campaign was very well received online, the client approached him again for a follow up.

“It's just a quicker feedback loop,” says Marc of working this way. “And it feels like there are fewer barriers… Also with so much more work going on social media now, you can hop on trends quicker and just get things made.”

​Arsenal x Aries: ‘The Arsenal Faithful’​

Josh and Marc developed a real synchronicity, aligning tastes and sharing a similar sense of humour, which led to the development of the ‘The Arsenal Faithful’ campaign to promote the high-profile collaboration between the club and streetwear label Aries. Titled, ‘Worn by the Faithful’, it confirmed the strength of Arsenal and Marc's working dynamic and quickly catapulted the club onto the cultural stage with its craft-first approach.

“For my first project, for Arsenal's Third Kit launch, I was able to totally deliver what I wanted,” says Marc. “I don't think there was a huge amount of eyes on that first project internally, so they actually went for it without too much interference, and it turned out great."

Arsenal: ‘Third Kit Launch’

The biggest thing he found was keeping the fans in mind throughout the creative development process and keeping some Easter eggs in for them to find, retaining clues that would only speak to that specific demographic. As Marc worked on more of the club’s campaigns including an app launch and a Christmas ad, he realised that because the work was resonating so well with the community, a distinct sense of pride was emerging from the fans.

“There's that pride where the fans go, ‘How sick is our club?’,” says Marc. “You want to push them out to a further point. And in this particular case, I was and am a huge consumer and a big fan of Arsenal myself, so I could use my own inner compass to gauge what is cool.”

“It does feel quite unique in branding and advertising to sell to such a rabid bunch of consumers who are already all-in,” he reflects. “As these football clubs have become more global, you realise that if the team doesn't do well or the brand isn't perceived well, a next-generation fan might flip their allegiances. But your core base is always going to be there, and if they aren't enjoying the content, they're going to say so. You're answering to people who are passionate about the brand.”

Arsenal: ‘Corner of Arsenal’

Obviously, working directly with the brand meant there was a shared and more focused sense of expectations as well as a closeness to the talent. Marc admits the dynamics are still very much structured like a traditional agency setup where he develops the treatment and the creative, but there was a renewed sense of openness and freedom with the approach that he enjoyed, allowing him to work more intensely to get the best representation of the club and its players.

“You really have to roll with the punches and not get too rattled by the nature of it or by last minute changes, like if a footballer becomes unavailable or plans suddenly change,” says Marc. “Especially with the players, you have such a short amount of time to actually work with them. What became really beneficial was me becoming comfortable with those tight timelines, getting to know the players, and knowing how to get the best out of them quickly.”

Building a long-term relationship with the team helped solidify that creative trust, which was established through repeat collaborations and meant the creative message could be reached more effectively with each iteration. This approach and working in a more streamlined way meant that Marc was able to align his vision closely with the brand's identity to deliver work that can actually be meaningfully impactful.

Arsenal FC: ‘Make Dreams Come True’

”It's about combating the idea that creativity is just a luxury,” he says. “If it is good creative, it can actually move people properly.”

And his extensive work with Arsenal is testament to their cultural success and the close, ego-free collaboration he established with their in-house team.