The NFL schedule release has become a holiday for social and content teams across the league. It’s when marketing teams flex their creative muscles, generating wild and wacky ideas to outdo their peers, win the internet, and generate excitement about the upcoming season.
As an outsider, I’ve been fascinated with this day since it started becoming its own holiday. The creative process, the production value, the resources, the competitive nature, and the sheer creativity— all of it captivates anyone interested in social media and sports.
It’s hard not to admire and be in awe of what these teams produce, and I genuinely enjoy the day. The creative energy poured into what could be a mundane, informational push is impressive. I appreciate the energy and effort it takes to make this happen. And I want to be clear: My intention is not to detract from that.
But as the schedule release has grown larger than life within the NFL, it’s left me with questions:
— Have teams rallied around schedule release because of the creative arms race?
— With so many resources poured into it, how are teams driving it back to revenue? Partners can play a role, but what other touchpoints matter?
—Do teams consider this a brand moment, or is it about engagement above all else?
My challenge from the outside looking in is that much of what is done around the schedule release is about making a social media splash alone. There seems to be an immense amount of stress and pressure on teams to produce all in hopes of “being the best” that day. If teams are going to go “all in” on schedule releases, why not use it strategically to engage fans, drive revenue, and reinforce the team’s brand identity?
I also want to be clear that I don’t think teams need to go all in on schedule release, but they do need to define its importance for their organization.
Is this a moment important to our larger business or just a fun, social moment? Based on the answer to that question, resources — including creative resources — should align with the objectives, period.
If it’s a fun social moment, teams will still support it, but it doesn’t need to be a blowout production. Have fun, keep it simple, and don’t put immense pressure on the team. The Titans’ schedule release video from last year is an excellent example of owning the moment without overextending resources. Let the team have fun, but ensure resources match the moment.
If the organization believes this moment is bigger than social and wants to pour significant resources and some pressure into it, then why not treat the schedule release more like mini marketing platforms and campaigns rather than one hero video?
And this is my question: If a team is going to go “all in” on schedule release and pour all their creative energy into it, how do they truly maximize the moment?
How do we extend this clever idea beyond one hero video on social media? If resources and energy are poured into this, it should be a platform that pulls different levers for the organization under one cohesive moment/theme.
So, let’s get into the weeds. Let’s say an organization has deemed this moment necessary. Great! What are the different levers we need to consider to ensure we’re making the most of this moment? Here are the various touchpoints I would look at solving:
Alignment with Brand Identity: How does the schedule release theme/content fit seamlessly within the broader brand identity and messaging?
Player Personalities: Can we incorporate players and their unique personalities into the content to build a deeper connection with fans?
Merchandise Touchpoints: Does the big idea have any touchpoints to merchandise?
Ticket Messaging: What can we do to cascade the overall big idea into messaging for individual tickets (if applicable) or for season ticket holders? While the content should be molded for performance marketing channels or for season ticket members, it should still be in the same vein/theme as the big idea brought to life through social content.
Audience Retargeting: If individual tickets are applicable to the organization, how can we leverage the engaged audiences from the schedule release to retarget them for tickets or data capture for interest in season/group tickets?
Sponsorship Opportunities: Are there sponsors that align well with the big idea to become official partners of the schedule release?
Maximizing Hero Content: How do we milk the most out of this production? Create teasers, cutdowns, and ancillary pieces and repurpose to maximize hero content and idea.
Multi-Platform Presence: Ensure the big idea appears across all digital platforms, like email and the website, beyond social media.
Balancing Brand and Fun: Can we balance brand messaging with fun elements to hit on all cylinders for fans?
Data Collection: Is there an opportunity for the schedule release to capture fan data for future marketing and engagement efforts?
Okay, now let’s take it a step further. What does this look like in action? I’m going to take the Eagles concept for this year’s schedule release and build it out more.
This year, the Eagles video focused on psyche evaluations for their most diehard fans to see if they are ready for the season. I loved the concept because it’s rooted in an insight about their fans’ deep passion and felt highly ownale to the Eagles. Here’s the video:
This concept has so much potential to be more than a hero video. How could the Eagles take it a step further to build a complete platform focused on brand, social, data capture, and revenue? Here are a few ideas across a variety of touchpoints:
Interactive Psyche Evaluations: To create a data capture moment, the Eagles could launch a microsite where fans can undergo virtual “psyche evaluations” to assess their readiness for the upcoming season. The quiz could feature humorous questions about their fandom to see if they are cleared for the season. Fans who finish the evaluation could receive a personalized digital certificate of readiness saying they’ve “been cleared by the Eagles” for the season to share on social. This idea produces a moment of fan engagement for fans, but more importantly, a data capture moment for the Eagles.
Deep Dive into Fan Psyches: The Eagles’ video featured some fantastic characters, and it left me wanting more! They could expand the hero video by creating detailed profiles for each character, showcasing their unique traits and fanatical love for the Eagles with tips for other Eagles fans on how to be ready for the season.
Opponent Psyche Profiles: The Eagles could release weekly “psyche evaluations” on their upcoming opponents to extend the theme into the season. The video series could humorously dissect the opponent’s weaknesses and strengths from an Eagles fan or player perspective, similar to the schedule release video but more of a deep dive, creating a fun and engaging way to build anticipation for each game.
Themed Merchandise: On the schedule release day, the Eagles could drop limited-edition merchandise that plays into the theme. For example, shirts could play into “Certified Eagle Maniac” and “Cleared By The Eagles” for their fans to show their readiness.
Season-Ticket Holder Engagement: To include a touchpoint for select season-ticket holders, the Eagles could create an exclusive “Get Cleared” pack. This pack would feature a custom video box player that automatically plays the schedule release video with a personalized message from a player asking if they’ve been cleared for the season. Other items included could include a themed checklist on how to get Eagles ready, a frameable fan certificate declaring the recipient officially “cleared,” unique merch, etc.
The above are just a few, quick examples of how teams can think about extending the moment arond schedule release and maximzing their big idea — again, if they really feel like the moment warrants a big prodcution.
And realizing I’ve already rambled a ton in this blog post, I’ll leave you all with this. The purpose of this post is not to knock the creativity or devalue what schedule release brings to the table if teams do in fact deem it important. My point in all of this is to simply push to ask the hard questions — does it really matter in the big picture or does it not? And if it doesn’t matter to our org in the long run, then can we invest resources elsewhere. And if it does matter, how to we make the most of it?
