The NFL

Rejuvenating the appeal of football for a new generation.

I began working with the NFL when they were facing a significant strategic problem: beneath their titanic TV deals, the sport of football was increasingly disconnected from anyone under the age of 18. The very future of the sport’s popularity was at risk.

This project began as a strategic consulting challenge that sought to discover why the sport was losing its connection to youth (spoiler alert: the answer goes a lot deeper than news headlines would make you think). I had the privilege of leading this initial strategic project, and leading the team as it grew into a long-term partnership with the League that established us as the leading strategic marking partner with The NFL at that time. Our work spanned strategic consulting, digital marketing, advertising, and beyond.

Following our initial strategic project, we began to create communications that significantly re-positioned not only the NFL but football in the lives of high schoolers. This was one of the first films we made, and is still one of my favorite pieces.

As our initial efforts with youth participation gained traction, the League looked to us for help with more challenges: which included the NFL’s wobbling place in an increasingly divisive country. Here is the Super Bowl ad that served as the cornerstone of what became a multi-media effort over multiple years.