Starting its promotional push for the 13th season of ‘Sunday Night Football’, NFL broadcast partner NBC revved up its football promotions with a new campaign that launched during its broadcast of one of the summer’s biggest car races.
Fans who turned on to watch the NASCAR Coke Zero Sugar 400 on Saturday, 7 July were the first to view NBC’s ‘All Eyes On’ campaign.
This promotional initiative, developed in-house and designed to drive buzz and excitement around the 2018 NFL season, was spearheaded by a 30 second Tv teaser.
The spot stars NFL players like Drew Brees, Ben Roethlisberger and Devin McCourty who are featured exhorting their teammates to put on a show for TV’s biggest primetime audience.<adage_no_lookbook_links>
The creative is a series of cuts that flick between pre-game huddles and tunnel exits and the ad’s objective is to demonstrate how NFL players feed off the hype of appearing in the marquee Sunday night broadcast window.
Patriots defender McCourty is particularly loud as he fires up his New England teammates belting out the title of the flagship NBC program and the free safety reminds them that Sunday nights are ‘when people come alive’ because ‘everybody’s watching!’
The spot is also airing across the media giant’s social channels too.
All eyes on Sunday Night!
We're back this fall with the 13th season of Sunday Night Football. Who's pumped?! pic.twitter.com/EiVxHCUmZi
— SNF on NBC (@SNFonNBC) July 8, 2018
The promo aired three times during NBC’s coverage of Saturday’s Coke Zero event and after tis the ‘All Eyes On’ campaign will continue to evolve as kick-off approaches and throughout the NFL season itself.
The follow-up executions are expected in August and subsequent spots will be aligned with various storylines surrounding upcoming ‘Sunday Night Football’ match-ups.
“Performance often seems like a product of the fact that it’s the biggest game,” says Joseph Lee, senior VP of brand and content services for NBC Sports Group.
“All NFL players want to be great in front of their peers.”
Comment:
This is an interesting pre-season hype approach from a broadcaster: one that doesn’t just aim to generate excitement, but also acts as a reminder that the players themselves are also acutely aware of the significance of playing under NBC’s Sunday night lights.
There is no doubt that, in the past NBC’s ‘Sunday Night Football’ has long been a forum and a stage for some of the most unforgettable sporting moment and occasions..
But is this still quite as true as it once was?
NBC’s coverage of the 2018 regular season kicks off Thursday, 6 September when the Atlanta Falcons tackle the champion Philadelphia Eagles.
Links:
NBC
https://www.nbcsports.com/sunday-night-football
https://www.facebook.com/SNFonNBC
https://www.instagram.com/NBCsports/
NFL
