NFL Schedule Release Day: an innovative and disruptive day of content
Is it a tradition yet? If you don’t think so, and if you think it takes years for an act to become traditional and even cultural, it may be on its way to becoming one of the most important days in the digital, communications and marketing calendar for NFL franchises.
What was once a simple day when the league officially announces the complete schedule for the upcoming season – including the preseason, regular season and sometimes even the playoffs – has become a day of creativity and innovation as franchises produce more and more incredible material.
The strategies are varied, starting with very well-designed themed videos that reveal your franchise’s schedule in a fun and engaging way. The videos, in turn, include various references to pop culture, celebrities, and even animation.
HAMILTON IN BRONCO’S CAMPAIGN:
.@LewisHamilton ATE and left no crumbs. 🍽️ pic.twitter.com/VKMfBAtYIt
— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) May 16, 2024
The Denver Broncos activated none other than the most iconic F1 driver, Lewis Hamilton, in an innovative way, using the cuisine of each opponent to present their calendar, and at the time of writing, had already reached almost 1 million people.
And incredibly, even engaging Lewis Hamilton, the Broncos’ post isn’t even the top-performing one when we analyze all the posts on X.com on May 15th.
The Los Angeles Chargers were the top performing franchise of the day, reaching no less than 21.6 million accounts on X.com.
With allusions to The Sims, a classic and popular game developed by Electronic Arts, duly mentioned at the beginning of the content, the video includes a discreet allusion to Taylor Swift, Brown’s bad luck story in Week 9 and Raiders fans clowning in a prison cell.
should we REALLY make our schedule release video in the sims?
yes yes yesyes
yesyes yes yes yes
yes yes yes yes yes
yes yesyes yes yes
yes yesye yes yes
yes yes yesyes pic.twitter.com/MXzfAPyhe8— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) May 16, 2024
The current Superbowl LVIII champions, the Kansas City Chiefs, took a less media-friendly and much more assertive stance: a crusher of opponents. This was the key message they conveyed by showing a machine crushing elements related to its opponents.
The video, with a simple execution – which not means losing originality in production, of course – compared to the previous two, reached 1.3 million views and was the 6th with the most engagement from X users: 13.6 thousand.
In honor of crushing it last season, we’re revealing our 2024 schedule by… well, you know. pic.twitter.com/hVpI4GQNlN
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) May 16, 2024
The Green Bay Packers, the franchise that will travel to Brazil to play a game at the Neo Química Arena in São Paulo on September 6, took a different approach by incorporating pop culture and football references to generate excitement and engagement.
The content, which featured rappers Lil Wayner and Jordan Love, reached 2.3 million accounts on X.com, making the Packers the fourth best-performing franchise.
Who signed off on this?@bookseatscom pic.twitter.com/LE9xwwlykw
— Green Bay Packers (@packers) May 16, 2024
THE DIGITAL IMPACT IN NUMBERS
The creative race is more evident than ever, and this has proven to have a captivating effect on the digital community.
Below is a graph showing the reach of all franchises combined on X.com last week, demonstrating the increase in performance. As a result, more people are impacted and more brands are satisfied with the indirect connections created.
A true virtuous cycle for the sports marketing cycle.
This growth is also noticeable in Growth (new followers).
Contact us today to learn how we can help you connect with your audience and achieve remarkable growth in this dynamic market.
