Pro Level Academy
A multi-year content and technology partnership that helped fuel the growth of Stoke-on-Trent's most exciting football academies.
Pro Level Academy was built on the belief that elite football development should be accessible, progressive and genuinely transformative for the young players who come through the door. The academy has grown rapidly from its early days into a thriving organisation with multiple age groups, an expanding market reach and a charity arm, Pro Level Vision, dedicated to using football as a force for social good. From the very beginning, founders Tom Conlon and Nathan Smith understood that the quality of what happens on the pitch needs to be matched by the quality of how it's communicated off it. Social media, visual identity, website, content - all of it shapes how players, parents and partners perceive the academy and whether they trust it enough to get involved. Esben Studio has been part of that journey since the outset. Over two years of engagement we have delivered a full suite of creative and digital services -contributing to the success and hyper growth Pro Level has experienced and evolving our output in line with the business at every stage.
Client
Pro Level Academy
Year
2024-2026
Services
Web Design, Content Strategy, Photography, Video, Social, Branding
More than just a content provider
The brief was clear from day one - social media content strategy, visual identity and website. But what made this relationship different to a standard agency engagement was the commitment on both sides to keep evolving. Not just delivering to a fixed brief and invoicing. Actually sitting in the strategy sessions, understanding where the business was going and making sure the creative output was always pointing in the right direction. As Pro Level opened new age groups, brought in new teams and expanded its market reach, the audience changed. The messaging needed to change with it. The visual identity needed to grow up without losing the energy that made it distinctive. The website needed to reflect a business that was genuinely different to what it had been twelve months earlier.
Telling the untold stories
Alongside the academy itself, we have worked closely with Pro Level Vision - the charity arm of the organisation - where the nature of the content work carries a different kind of responsibility entirely. Charity storytelling is one of the most demanding creative disciplines there is. The stories are real, and surprisingly high stakes. The funding that the content helps attract translates directly into the lives of young people who benefit from the programme. Getting it wrong doesn't just reflect badly on the brand, it can cost the charity the support it needs to grow. We approached the Pro Level Vision content with that in mind at every shoot and every edit. Photography and video that captured the authentic human stories at the heart of the charity's work.
