Athletic audience research identified that several of the brand’s growth demographics watch more TV than consume written sports journalism. We used this insight as as jumping off point to contrast the flashy cinematic coverage of live broadcast sports with the deep coverage that informs every Athletic subscriber when they watch every moment of the season.
We identified a real story from the preceeding year (the Cincinnati Bengals historic 2021 season led by Joe Burrow) which would still have veilance while our spot was in market and worked closely with the Atheletic’s editorial teams to adapt headlines, infographics, tweets, subscriber comments, and even podcast call-ins for a spot told largely through on-screen graphics and sound design.
To that effect, we enlisted the help of Forth+Back to develop a graphic language that was a natural extension of the brand’s distinctive style and Glue Factory Music to build a soundscape which supported this storytelling but also built drama and tension.
And to lead our live action shoot that combined energy, emotion, and drama with cinematic high-speed cinematogrophy for a base that supported these overlaid elements and gestured at the second-screen experience that defines contemporary sports viewership we enlisted the talents for director Kevin Phillips.
The campaign, which we also adapated for OOH in key markets, was incredibly successful for the brand. The Atheletic asked Ways & Means to adapt the concept for basketball and the kick-off of the NBA season the following quarter.