Atlanta United is a soccer club true to its city. More than a club, it’s a reflection of Atlanta’s culture. So when they were the only MLS club awarded a third kit, it had to be more than just another colorway.
Featuring 13 messages of unity in 11 global languages, the Unity Kit was born.
To launch it, we partnered with the Center for Civil and Human Rights to create an immersive audio visual exhibit that brought the unifying power of our club, our city, and our sport to life with 6 interacting screens, 324 unique frame changes, and spatial audio that adapted as you explored the exhibit. And to prove that this Unity Kit was truly for ALL of us, net proceeds from Unity Kits sold at the launch event and were re-invested directly into the community through the Atlanta United Foundation and the club’s many community relation initiatives.
Turning a moment of individual glory for the club into a moment to celebrate the unity of our sport, our club, and our city.
We wanted to show this third kit wasn’t just a moment of pride for the club, but a celebration of the city that we call home and the power of the beautiful game to unite us all. And as a thank you to the fans and the city, we wanted to give back the net proceeds of kits sold at our launch event though the Atlanta United Foundation. In short, this wasn’t a moment for us, it was for all of us.
So to launch the kit, we partnered with the Center for Civil and Human Rights to create an immersive exhibit that brought the unifying power of our city, our club, and our sport to life. Blending the history of the beautiful game, our club, and our city into a moment that felt bigger than sport.
We couldn’t just talk about unity as an ideal. We had to show it in action.
Amid a backdrop of cultural divisions, racial reckonings, and separation driven by the pandemic, the idea of unity had never felt so idealistic or out of reach. And even though unity had been a core pillar of Atlanta United since its inception, we recognized the risk of coming off tone-deaf if we celebrated unity without any acknowledgment that it's hard-fought — especially given Atlanta’s deep roots in the civil rights movement and racial justice.
On top of crafting a meaningful message behind the Unity Kit, we needed a launch experience that was immersive, emotional, and hopeful, while still coming to life with the signature Atlanta United swagger (oh, and meeting CDC Covid protocols as well).
As we started planning the launch, we knew that the only location that met our ambition and our intention was the bastion of unity in our city — the Center for Civil and Human Rights in Downtown Atlanta.
The culminating point of the event was a custom audio-visual experience with 6 interacting screens, 324 unique frame changes, and spatial audio that adapted as you explored the exhibit so participants could experience the stories of unity in a completely immersive setting. The experience told the story of soccer’s unifying power – from pausing World War 1 with the Christmas Truce to sidestepping threats of terrorism and political posturing in the Iran-US World Cup matchup – and it told the story of our city’s unifying power that spreads across the world – from our leaders to our culture (we know, it’s a lot. Check the video in the reference links).
In addition, we developed a unique retail experience situated within the Center’s foyer so that fans could purchase and customize their Unity Kits at the completion of the event. And to prove that this Unity Kit was truly for ALL of us, net proceeds from Unity Kits sold at the launch event were re-invested directly into the community through the Atlanta United Foundation and the club’s many community relation initiatives.
The event featured a sellout crowd, and attendance from the city’s mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms, who addressed the crowd with a message of what the club has meant to the city since its founding. To prove that this Unity Kit was truly for ALL of us, net proceeds from Unity Kits sold at the launch event were re-invested directly into the community through the Atlanta United Foundation and the club’s many community relation initiatives. And as a testament to the authenticity of the experience, the Center for Civil and Human Rights extended the installation as a featured exhibit alongside their permanent collection.
