While the NFL is used to scoring TV ratings wins, the league’s marketing has been less consistent. But that has changed under 72andSunny, which is behind some big ad hits for the league as it adopts more socially progressive positions. That includes “Football Is for Everyone,” a campaign released last year that included the line “football is gay” and came in the wake of Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib coming out as the first gay active player in the NFL. The effort is part of the “Helmets Off” marketing approach under NFL Chief Marketing Officer Tim Ellis and shepherded by 72andSunny that puts more emphasis on player personalities. 

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But the agency’s breakthrough work did not stop with football. Its “Give More Than a Gift” holiday campaign for Etsy highlighted the brand’s position as a destination for personalized presents, with emotional ads such as one that showed an unlikely friendship emerging between an older Asian woman and a young Black store clerk. 

The agency was also behind Indeed’s first-ever Super Bowl ad in early 2021 that sought to bring hope to millions of Americans who lost their jobs during the pandemic. And it continued its successful “Swipe Night” video series for Tinder with a whodunit version called “Killer Weekend” that immersed users of the dating app into a murder mystery story. Such work helped 72andSunnny win Entertainment Agency of the Festival at Cannes Lions last year. 

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New business momentum continued with 20 new accounts, including global creative agency of record duties for United Airlines, which helped fuel North American revenue growth of about 30%. And existing clients turned to the shop for more work, pushing its organic growth up 23%. With all that business coming in, 72andSunny leaders were also conscious of burnout, instituting programs such as mandated PTO and long weekends off.