NFL tells ‘Football Country’ stories in its rousing 2024 kickoff campaign

In a country that seems hopelessly divided, football is a great unifier, the NFL declares in a stirring kickoff campaign for the 2024-25 season, featuring a wide range of personalities, geographies and stories. The theme is “This Is Football Country,” but it’s more of a mindset than a place. The campaign, by 72andSunny, makes stops in countries such as Japan, Mexico and Brazil, as the league continues its focus on global growth. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs The U.S. footage, too, extends well beyond NFL teams and stars to include high school and women’s flag players, as well as creators. Cameos in the anthem spot below include the Lahainaluna High School football team, which emerged as an inspiring symbol after the Hawaiian wildfires; Makena Cook, a rising star in women’s flag football; Haley Van Voorhis, the first woman who wasn’t a kicker to play in an NCAA football game; and YouTube creator Deestroying, who hosts a popular football video series in Japan. What holds the freewheeling spot together is a rousing chant that begins with the Lahainaluna players and extends from scene to scene. The spot also features appearances by Stefon Diggs (Houston Texans), Myles Garrett (Cleveland Browns), DeMarcus Lawrence (Dallas Cowboys) and Jason and Kylie Kelce (the former Philadelphia Eagles star and his wife). Read more of the latest football marketing news While last season’s kickoff campaign was more comedic, with Keegan-Michael Key imagining if the season were scripted, this work is designed more to amp you up. (The tone is quite reminiscent of the league’s “We Ready” spots from 2019.) Inclusivity, increasingly a touchstone of NFL ads, is also a key focus. The new spot goes further than ever in emphasizing how football brings people together—which is a timely message in today’s cultural climate, said Tim Ellis, the league’s chief marketing officer. “We always try to get the pulse of the nation as we enter a new season,” Ellis said in an interview. “We’re going into a year that could be the most divisive in our lifetimes. I think the country needs the NFL more than ever—for escape, and also to pull us all together to focus on things we agree on.” More from Ad Age: How to avoid controversy in partisan times “We have this dual strategy of the joy of the game but also how the game transcends and inspires communities,” said Marissa Solis, senior VP of global brand and consumer marketing. “[In the spot] you see such a broad range of everyone football touches. No matter who you are, where you are in the world, whether you play the game or not, something about the spot is going to touch something inside.” Along with the anthem, the campaign will include 15-second spots, breaking throughout the season, offering quirky snapshots from Football Country—for example, a hospital in Pittsburgh that swaddles babies in the Steelers’ famous Terrible Towels; a moms’ night in Brooklyn where they get to tackle their kids; and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ USA Wheelchair Football League team practicing at night. “I think Antarctica was the only place we didn’t go [to get the stories],” said Matt Turnier, creative director at 72andSunny. “We talked about how incredible all these people are and wanting to do them justice by telling their stories in a really unique, interesting, powerful way.” “We always try to think, ‘What are the storylines?’” said Jason LaFlore, creative director. “The battle for Texas is in there—that’s very much a thing right now with the Texans coming onto the scene. Or Makena and Haley, who are very much of the moment. Or Deestroying with his ‘1on1’ videos—and Japan just beat the USA in football. We’re very conscious of looking at headlines and grabbing things that are very current to put in the spot.” As a side note, Makena Cook—a high school athlete who excels at soccer and hurdling as well—was also the star of Nike’s 2019 Women’s World Cup soccer film. “Whoever ends up getting her in college is going to be very fortunate,” Ellis said. In the end, grouping all the disparate stories together under the “Football Country” theme was a useful way of bringing both a energetic sense of patriotism and an inclusiveness than extends beyond borders. “‘This Is Football Country’ is a feeling. It’s not to be taken literally,” said Ellis. “But it’s also a signal to our audience is that football is something that brings us all together. And the fact that it resonates beautifully in Germany or Japan or Brazil is also powerful. It’s the power of the game and what the game represents.” “Football Country is not a place, it’s people,” added Turnier. “It’s about the diversity and inclusive nature of the game and the different expressions of it. And we did gravitate toward it because of that unifying feeling with the current landscape.”

NFL tells ‘Football Country’ stories in its rousing 2024 kickoff campaign

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