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AFL Interchange Partner – MCG

Introduction

The Interchange Partner spec covers the three components the interchange partner is entitled to.

Interchange LED
Live data IPTV
Bench printed signage

The Interchange LED and IPTV components are required to include some language calling out that this is the Interchange partner. For example:

“Interchange brought to you by”
“Interchange bench thanks to”
“Interchange presented by”

Review and follow our best practices guide to ensure your content displays correctly at the stadium. Example videos and images are available for reference..

Need assitance? MKTG Creative is here to help..

Submission & Deadlines

All content is submitted via our content management portal MKTG Drop.
Instructions for uploading and re-using content via MKTG Drop can be found here..

Club deadlines

Club content, club commercial partners, club form.

First Home Match	Deadline
Round 1	23rd February 2024
Round 2	1st March 2024

Match day	Deadline
Thursday	Monday 12pm
Friday	Tuesday 12pm
Saturday	Tuesday 12pm
Sunday	Wednesday 12pm
Monday	Wednesday 12pm
Tuesday	Thursday 12pm
Wednesday	Friday 12pm

Commercial deadlines

AFL commercial partners.

Start of season	Deadline
Round 1	23rd February 2024
Round 2	1st March 2024

Match day	Deadline
Any	Monday 12pm

Contact MKTG immediately if you are unable to meet these deadlines.

Content guidelines

Legibility

Maximise scale

Content should fill up as much of the LED height as possible.

There are no safe areas on the LED, all pixels will be seen.

Big and bold is best

Text and graphics should be large and bold to maximise legibility from a distance.

Shorter messages perform better than longer creatives with a lot of copy.

High contrast

Maximise contrast between the background and foreground elements.

Dark or colourful backgrounds

Dark or bold colour backgrounds perform best on broadcast.

White and lighter colours should be avoided as the white can overpower the content.

Animation tips

Animated content can be a great way to draw the eye and display multiple messages over the duration of the content.

However animations must not be too distracting, scroll too fast, feature too many messages or flashing graphics.

Consider having your branding/main message on screen for the majority of the duration.

You can use photos, product images and video on the LED, however using these elements exclusively isn’t very effective in this space.

Layout

Ensure even spacing

Making sure your elements are evenly spaced ensures that you don’t leave large empty spaces on the LED.

Take into consideration your content will be back to back with another file.

Use the whole space

Make sure to populate the entire LED and not leave large gaps.

You may miss out on exposure if too much space is left blank.

Do not put two lines of text on top of each other on the LED.

No content on edges

Do not use your elements to cover up the seams between files. Content will end up cut in half.

This does not apply for scrolling / moving content.

Have consistent sizes

You should keep all logos and assets the same size throughout your LED and across all files.

Field and parapet can have different sizes to each other.

Order of content

Consider your designs not only on their own but in relation to each other.

If you have a tile that starts and ends with a logo such as below:

When it is tiled, you will end up with two logos next to each other before the text repeats.

There is nothing wrong with this, but it is something to keep in mind.

Including lower logos

Some designs include a set of small logos along the bottom of the field LED.

This option can be useful if there is a close up near the LED.

File creation

How to ensure accurate duration

Due to the way the LED are played out, it is important that all files are the same duration.

Where a spec requires a certain duration, the files must all be exactly that duration, and not a frame more or less.

For example if you are required to make content that is 15 seconds long, you can check the duration in After Effects in the composition settings. The duration should read ‘0.00.15.00’

How to render large files

Sometimes when creating files in Adobe Media Encoder or Handbreak, the large dimensions of the LED files can be restricted by the default settings. Make sure to double check the output dimensions.

You may need to change the following Media Encoder settings to the following:

Profile: Main

Level: Unrestricted

Interchange LED Spec

You are able to supply static or animated content for this space.

Animated content is 10 seconds long and is played before the interchange stats along the parapet LED.

Dimensions

Location	Dimensions
Parapet	2880 x 64

File format

Content	Venue	FPS	File type	Codec	Duration
Video	MCG Marvel Stadium	50	.mp4	H.264	10 seconds
Static	MCG Marvel Stadium	-	.jpg or .png	RGB - 72dpi	-

MKTG Drop asset

MKTG Drop Asset
AFL Interchange LED

Live data IPTV suite

Live data sites

Interchange IPTV is very similar to a normal IPTV suite, however some areas will need to be plain for the data to go over the top.

The data areas on the FULL, J-WRAP and L-WRAP graphics will be used to display live Interchange Bench data.

Leave the bottom half of the FULL graphic plain.
Leave the bottom 100 pixels of the J-WRAP and L-WRAP graphic plain.

We recommend using a solid, dark, non-black colour for these data areas.

Examples

Alpha and Luma keying

In order for the match feed to appear under these graphics, they need to have alpha (if they are static images) or be luma key ready (if they are videos).

To luma key anything that is perfect black will be keyed out, and the screens’ regular content displayed in the blank spaces. This means you can not use perfect black in your video designs or must dilute any blacks so they do not key out.

An After Effects template for checking the Luma key available here.

Do not fade to black at the start or end of your animation.