Sky Bet x EFL Play-Offs: A Weekend Like No Other
3 February, 2026
|Branded|Branded|Branded Content
Listen
Continuing our close association with the League Of 72 channel, we headed to Barrow over the New Years weekend to capture the story of one very unique football club.
As with all of our features for the League of 72, it was based on a niche storyline. Avid followers of the EFL will no doubt be aware of the tale of Barrow, who were promoted into the Football League for the first time in 48 years in 2020.
The Cumbria club face challenges unlike the vast majority of their competitors, with their remote location meaning their training ground is based in Salford, almost 100 miles away from the industrial seaside town.
Our feature would unwrap the reasoning for this, and give viewers more insight into the club, as we followed the squad through their regular routine of travelling up from their Salford base the day before home matches, before staying in a hotel overnight.
Create
Interviews were a key tool in narrating what it means to play for Barrow, and how the players find representing a club that requires so much travel.
To tell the tale, we spoke with manager Pete Wild, players Connor Brown, Niall Canavan and Sam Foley, supporters Freya Dawes and Chris Altree, as well as local reporter Adam Johnson.
We varied the location for these conversations, from places inside the stadium such as the stands and dressing room, to the hotel the players stay at, to the pubs the supporters attend pre-match.
One major section of our production involved the commute to Barrow after training on a Friday. To give viewers the most authentic insight into the trip as possible, we attached two GoPros inside one of the travelling cars carrying five players.
We briefed captain and front seat passenger Niall Canavan beforehand, on talking points such as the car share itself, the worst driver, and encouraged him to host a quiz.
To gather more authentic footage, we gained pitch access for the teams warmup on game day against Rochdale, and utilised our industry-leading drone pilots, who captured some stunning aerial shots of the stadium and local area.
Deliver
The final 9-minute cut was delivered successfully on the League of 72 channels, as well as three 9X6 shorts, and one 1X1 for Facebook to promote the piece.
In regards to engagement, the advertising trailer was viewed 6% more than the previous video uploaded to the Sky Bet channel, yet received 239% more retweets, and 175% more replies, showing a huge spike in engagement for the client.
WHAT WE SAY
“This was one of those projects that absolutely showcases the well-rounded team we have at JMP, all the way from the creative, to the production and post production.
“As is often the case with these projects, as a crew we like to ingrain ourselves as much as we can with the subject. In this instance, spending part of the festive break with the team at Barrow offered a great insight.
“We always want to ensure we are doing a team and club like this justice by telling their story in the most authentic way possible, and I feel we have. The project was a big first edit for our new editor Mike, and working with the wider team we’ve been able to tell the fascinating and unique tale of Barrow in our final production.”
– Joe Meredith, Managing Director at JMPUK
Services Used
