2024 NFL Scouting Report: Week 1 Sponcon
Alex Kopilow
Creator of Sponcon Sports | Account Director @ The Arena Group | Digital Partnerships | Sports Marketing | Content Strategy | Social Media Management
?? Welcome back to Sponcon Sports, a weekly newsletter dedicated to sponsored content strategy in the sports industry!
With the new NHL season just weeks away, teams are unveiling what their home ice will look like this year.
While this is a nice, earned win for brands with in-ice placements, I’d love to see more paint or refrigeration companies get involved in sponsoring this content.
It echoes what Dizplai’s Ed Abis mentioned recently : “The mundane to us is the thing that fans never get to see or experience.”
Not only would it be a perfect fit for those brands, but these posts also drive impressive reach and engagement. Check out some cross-channel results:
Video isn’t required either. The Washington Capitals earned over half a million impressions on X with two static posts (post 1 , post 2 ) for their ice reveal.
Now imagine pairing this moment with "Paint The Ice " content, arena changeovers , Zamboni sponsorships , and Zamboni-related content —you’ve got a full partnership package.
In Today’s Edition:
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??? DEEP DIVE
The Best Sponsored Content From Week 1 Of The 2024 NFL Season
When a new season kicks off, it's time to lock in.
This is the perfect moment to find inspiration for a digital partnership.
With a fresh year comes new brand partners and creative solutions to connect brands with the action—on and off the field—through sponsored content.
What should you be looking for?
Also, think about this:
No detail is too small in content discovery. Being proactive now and bookmarking your favorite ideas will save you tons of time when you need to turn around a proposal at a moment's notice.
Good news: I followed all 32 teams (and the league) this week so you didn’t have to. Here’s what stood out after week one of the 2024 season.
New and Notable
The Buffalo Bills x Zippo Manufacturing Company biannual hype video (regular season and playoffs) is still one of my favorite product integrations in sports. Oh, and the “burns inside all of us” line? A nice touch.
This season, the team added bonus content to the activation, including a tease and a blooper reel .
I'm really excited to see how this new initiative plays out! The Pittsburgh Steelers are teaming up with Verizon on a clever program called Debt Relief, where $100,000 in debt is forgiven for every Steelers win. I’m curious to see if they’ll extend it for the Salute to Service games in November.
Shoutout to the New York Jets for securing Paramount+ as a sponsor for Green and White Day —a day-long celebration with giveaways on X , radio, and SMS, plus a Starter merch collab and a special lighting of the Empire State Building .
As I predicted back in May , the Seattle Seahawks ' win glasses from their schedule release are back—this time in Bud Light’s #EasyToCelebrate content.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: good morning and good night posts after wins are an easy win for coffee and mattress brands. The Detroit Lions and Ferris Coffee & Nut Co. nailed it on Sunday .
Need a B2B idea? The Atlanta Falcons took fans behind the scenes to show how their head physician diagnoses injuries via X-rays within 10 minutes—without leaving the stadium.
You’ve got to love how the Falcons monetized the roof-cam footage they popularized last season! Bird’s Eye View photo galleries are now sponsored by 索尼 , complete with a "shot on Sony" tagline.
Wingstop Restaurants Inc. is sponsoring the National Football League (NFL) ’s In The Bag content series, featuring highlights of game-clinching moments. It’s a great name for a QSR or luxury bag brand. I'd replace the @steelers handle in the copy with the series name since it doesn't show up until the end of the clip.
And finally, that moment when the Lions took an unhinged approach showcasing a new Meijer -branded podium—and it crushed!
Standout Strategy and Creative
Sixty-six percent (21 of 32) of Inactives reports have a sponsor, with 71% of those in the healthcare category (15 of 21). This is an underrated asset that gets a lot of attention since it’s typically the last big news impacting betting lines. Notably, the Baltimore Ravens are the only team to have a sportsbook sponsor ( BetMGM ) for these posts.
Shoutout to the Ravens (dayforce ) and Dallas Cowboys (Bridgestone ) for their killer scoring drive animations.
According to Sport Design Australia co-founder ?? Ryan Ellul , 69% of NFL teams had sponsored game day graphics. He breaks down the creative landscape of these assets here .
I don’t have the exact numbers, but NFL teams might publish the most sponsored editorial content in sports.
Take a cue from the Kansas City Chiefs , who give brand partners like Transwest (10 Quick Facts ) and 麦当劳 (How to Watch and Listen ) 100% share-of-voice on their pages with banner ads.
I’d go a step further and create a custom page skin (shown above) for even more impact.
The Lions did a great job animating their logo to transition into brand partner logos for pregame ( Little Caesars Pizza ) and postgame speeches ( 福特 ) content.
By 8:20 pm—just four hours after their game—the Bills already had a teaser for Mic’d Up presented by GEICO . Here’s how the full version turned out.
领英推荐
The Chiefs' 10 Questions presented by CommunityAmerica Credit Union has been a favorite of mine for years. It’s perfect for Instagram Stories, using the question sticker to engage fans and deliver quality, helmet-off content on off days. Side note: the Cleveland Browns had a version called Mix it Up presented by Vitamix , and that name still lives in my head rent-free.
Captain-related content showed up via the Cincinnati Bengals and Paycor . After seeing the Miami Dolphins and Hard Rock Stadium crush it with their captain announcement last week, this could be the making for a captain or leader-focused partnership in the HR and hiring categories.
Both the Dolphins (Bud Light ) and Bills (Miller Lite ) featured beer brands in their Roll Call posts. I’m a fan of Buffalo’s Instagram Stories activation, especially how they use the question sticker to highlight fan responses and drive engagement.
On the subject of Instagram Stories, the NFL’s game day takeovers are a solid strategy for league-level sponsored content ( Courtyard by Marriott ). With an open and end card, an interstitial ad, and paid partnership tagging on all frames, it’s a model I often recommend.
Oakley , a league partner, was very active in week one with its player partnerships. The Cowboys featured Oakley in Treyvon Diggs’ hype video , celebrating his return from a 2023 ACL injury. Oakley also appeared in player arrivals for Justin Jefferson ( Minnesota Vikings ), Derwin James ( Los Angeles Chargers ), and Patrick Mahomes (Chiefs).
The Dolphins’ Tunnel Cam presented by 喜力 is a small but impactful game-day asset, especially for Instagram Stories. The duo also had my favorite uniform reveal creative across the league.
Speaking of standout design, the Chiefs nailed it with their GEHA Game Update GIFs .
I’m curious about the logistics behind the 49ers' Invasions presented by Zenni Optical —road game fan rallies that could be great for travel and experience brands.
I also love the style the Arizona Cardinals Football Club
use for The Playback . It’s perfect for a music or headphone brand and works really well as a creative framework for carousels on X, Instagram, or even TikTok.
Brand Customization
I’m not sure there was a better pairing this week than Lucchese Bootmaker on the Cowboys’ Field Goal GIFs (shown above).
In Seattle, Electric Player of the Game powered by KIA is now Difference Maker of the Game powered by Novavax —a great example of tailoring inventory to a partner. I also love how they engage fans by incorporating polls on X and Instagram Stories. This partnership also includes a photo of the game concept, aptly named, Top Shot of the Game .
Back to my point about good morning and good night posts, the Bills use early mornings to creatively highlight the FanDuel over/under betting line.
Player arrivals don’t need fashion-focused sponsors to make a great pairing. The New York Football Giants ’ Fresh Fits with Azuna , an air purifier brand, and the Bengals’ Fresh Fit Arrivals with Kroger , a grocery store chain, are solid examples.
It was perfect having Shift4 sponsor the Dolphins' pregame warmup coverage, showcasing players’ shiftiness during drills .
微软 Surface tablets have been popping up everywhere in team and league content, showing off all the different use cases.
The Falcons used them to show how their game day posters are made, while the Giants featured them in player competitions like teammate trivia and mini-football races . NFL RedZone host Scott Hanson reflected on footage from the show’s first episode, and the Tennessee Titans rolled out a series with a name worth stealing: Surface Level .
Inspired by the New Orleans Saints x Little Caesars post, I’m saving Key Ingredients as a sponsored content series name for food brands, perfect for game recaps, previews, and box score stats. Winning Ingredients is another option i’ve pitched, inspired by the National Hockey League (NHL) and Chipotle Mexican Grill from the 2023 playoffs.
The Philadelphia Eagles ’ Now Entering The Toyota Rav4th Quarter remains one of the most creative sponsor integrations on score update graphics.
The Las Vegas Raiders are collecting fan submissions for Fan Art Friday presented by PPG工业公司 .
The Chiefs dropped some great off-day content with an even better name—Who’s Hot presented by Spicin Foods .
Next Steps
Week one is full of inspiration, but keep in mind—half the teams lost. The best ideas often surface after a win. Watch those teams closely to see how they activate partnerships when they’re in the win column.
If you found this scouting report helpful, leave a comment and I’ll bring it back for the start of the NHL and NBA seasons in October.
?? SPONCONSPIRATION
Steal These Ideas
RFK Racing driver Brad Keselowski tested his precision by stopping as close as possible to a tower of King's Hawaiian Soft Pretzel Bites. Now that's quality product integration—content fans love to see (16M+ views on Instagram).
Speaking of product integration , Heineken teamed up with city guide creator @isaaclikes_ for a chat with US Open Finalist Taylor Fritz.
New Era Cap partnered with the National Basketball Association (NBA) and Jason Tatum to create a custom Boston Celtics hat for the 2024 Champion, available exclusively on the New Era website .
When it comes to sponsored content with creators , Manchester City Football Club nails it. They collaborated with US-based @areyoukiddingtv on a branded moment for 美的集团 during ahead of their match against AC Milan at Yankee Stadium.
And you’ve got to hear the story behind UCF Athletics Association Inc. Football helmets from last weekend’s game, featuring decals designed by pediatric patients from Orlando Health 's Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children.
?? ICYMI
What To Watch For
Green Room : In part two of my Q&A with Greenfly ’s Neil Horowitz , we explore how sports organizations can use player-driven sponcon to enhance reach and engagement. We discuss the importance of creating tailored content for athletes and how to integrate sponsorships without compromising the fan experience.
Art Of Branding : Slate hosted Alec Palmer, MBA , Senior Manager of Social Content at the Los Angeles Kings , for a webinar on blending brand identity with native social content. Jump to the 38:42 mark to learn how they successfully boosted collaboration between content and partnership teams.
Touchdown Taste : Applebee's Neighborhood Grill + Bar CMO Joel Yashinsky explains how the brand is leveraging its NFL partnership to engage fans through TV ads, a custom series ("Pre-Seasonings"), trigger promotions, and loyalty sweepstakes [via Marketing Dive].
r/sponcon : Should rightsholders include Reddit, Inc. in their media mix? Digiday ’s Kayleigh Barber examines the tools and resources Reddit offers to help you amplify your presence on the platform.
NFL YouTube Playbook : Paola Marinone Founder and CEO of BuzzMyVideos , reveals the unexpected key to the NFL's YouTube success and how it could soar even higher in the 2024-2025 season.
?? BEFORE YOU GO
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Founder & CEO at BuzzMyVideos (ex Google/YouTube)
2 个月Great article Alex Kopilow !
Sr. Manager, Social Content @ LA Kings | Sport Mgmt. Professor @ Baldwin-Wallace University
2 个月All about collaboration with your partners ??