Football season is underway and the ads are playing for laughs, from “Fansville” to Bill Belichick’s couch. An ambitious clothing brand is going after the hearts—and heads—of baseball fans, while hockey clubs are rebranding with new looks and names.

Below, take a look at Ad Age’s Top 5 sports marketing ideas for the month.

5. State Farm’s ‘Bundle Bust’

For saving money on home and auto insurance, former NFL quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick is honored to be inducted into the State Farm Hall of Bundles—only to discover his “Thursday Night Football” colleague Charissa Thompson is behind its hideous reward. “Bundle Bust” is among the new State Farm ads co-branded with Amazon’s “TNF” franchise, debuting during game broadcasts this month. In another ad, Thompson is spared from a series of misadventures by Jake from State Farm.

4. MLB brands batting helmets

Major League Baseball and German workwear brand Strauss announced an agreement that will place Strauss’ name and ostrich logo on the batting helmets of MLB teams during the postseason, as well as in any MLB games played in Europe, through 2027. The deal also calls for Strauss to brand the batting helmets in all 8,000 Minor League Baseball games beginning next season. Brand execs call the agreement an awareness-builder for Strauss, which entered the U.S. in 2023 and has already forged partnerships with U.S. sports properties such as Los Angeles F.C. in Major League Soccer and the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs. MLB has sold ads on helmets for select international games dating back to 2000, but this represents the league’s first postseason helmet sale—which not all fans are supporting.

3. PWHL’s hockey team nicknames

There was a simplicity to the branding of the Professional Women’s Hockey League’s 2024 debut campaign—six teams and six colors, but only one uniform design and one naming convention. Year two will be different, with new names and logos from the agency Flower Shop introduced this month, giving teams an identity beyond their city along with new branding and merchandising possibilities. PWHL went without team nicknames and logos last year as it raced to get games on the ice. A similar situation will play out in Salt Lake City this year, where the relocated Arizona Coyotes of the NHL will play as the “Utah Hockey Club” while awaiting a permanent name (Utah Blizzard, Utah Hockey Club, Utah Mammoth, Utah Outlaws, Utah Venom and Utah Yeti are under consideration). The temporary Utah jerseys, announced this month, resemble last year’s PWHL kits.

2. Bill Belichick’s DoorDash gig

Six-time Super Bowl-winning coach Bill Belichick has signed with DoorDash, where he plays a cranky “Fan Coach” addressing NFL watchers’ gameday quandaries. Whether giving grilling advice or suggestions for menu planning, Belichick’s signature idiosyncrasies are all there, from the sweatshirt with cut-off sleeves to his intolerance of dumb questions, all going to show how DoorDash can deliver the answers for fan needs on gameday.

1. Dr Pepper’s return to ‘Fansville’

“Fansville,” the episodic drama set in a college football- and Dr Pepper-mad town, has returned for a seventh season, with material pulled fresh from the ever-changing college game. The first episodes in the multi-part series make reference to the return of the EA Sports college football video game, the Michigan sign-stealing scandal and Deion Sanders’ “Hype Train”, while Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers joins the cast as a police deputy who needs no backup. “Every time there’s a rule change or a conference realignment, it allows us to put that through the filter of how this would affect ‘Fansville’ and the characters,” said Ryan Lehr, co-chief creative officer at Deutsch LA, which created the concept for Dr Pepper. “That’s allowed us to keep things fresh.”