Objective: Create a fully integrated Fall 2017 NFL campaign that differentiated ’47 in the marketplace, that connects meaningfully with the fan consumer, and evolves across the season through multiple touch-points — culminating in a Super Bowl 52 activation.
My role / contribution: I led the creative strategy and execution, developed the campaign’s visual system built around expressive face-paint imagery, directed studio photography sessions capturing authentic fan emotion, directed still and animated content (including ’47 ELEMENTS animations), and oversaw end-to-end rollout across digital, print, retail, and the NFL Shop at Super Bowl 52 including designing a custom retail TV-wall with custom animation.
Key highlight / impact: The campaign resonated strongly with fan audiences and elevated the brand’s visibility; by the close of Super Bowl 52, all premium ’47 product sold out and the NFL Shop had welcomed tens of thousands of visitors — making this one of ’47’s most impactful NFL season campaigns.
'47 considers itself to be the brand of the fan. With this ethos in mind, we set off to highlight the vast array of individuals who comprise the NFL's fanbase - a group comprised of many ages, ethnicities, orientations, and sizes. We then imagined a new style of facepaint that goes beyond what we see at the average game. This gave us a platform to showcase each fan's self expression and emotion in an exciting and colorful way.
We spent weeks researching makeup styles and artists, searching for the right mix of expressive strokes that evoke the emotion we wanted to capture. We also cross-referenced tribal makeup to ensure we did not pull from Native American heritage. It was important that we found a new visual language with these looks, without being offensive to any group. This campaign was about inclusiveness and the vast background of people who are part of the NFL fan base.
By combining models, we had the ability to create content on-demand for high priority matchups.
Our goal in studio was to capture a range of emotion from each model that was authentic to their personality. In the end, we captured every team with a unique model and showcased the breadth of the NFL's fanbase.
As the season rolled along into Super Bowl 52, we created new images with pieces from the new '47 ELEMENTS collection. These were featured as still images at retail, and as animated GIFs on '47's social channels for a more dynamic piece of content.
The campaign finale was presented at the NFL Shop at Super Bowl 52. We created a unique space that featured unique Super Bowl product, the full NFL campaign, and the '47 ELEMENTS product with a custom TV wall and animation by Hugo Leick.
By the close of the NFL Shop, all premium product had been sold, and the shop had see tens of thousands of visitors, exposing the brand on a new level.
Ultimately, the campaign expressed the creativity of '47 and it's consumer, and confidently enforced the brand's platform - Let Your You Out.
