Inventive Marketing Leverages 2020 NFL Draft As Virtual Event Attracts Record Audience Of Sports-Starved Fans
The NFL has worked like a titan to make the Draft a sports entertainment event to match up to, well, matches, and in recent years it has become the league’s biggest non-football pillar: a three-day blend of sport, razzmatazz, prediction and culture that attracts a 6m+ television audience, hundreds of thousands of supporters in person and the brands that come with all those eyeballs and bodies.
But this year’s planned glitzy Las Vegas event, complete with Bellagio Fountain stage and 500,000 fans, was axed due to COVID-19 and replaced by 32 general managers at-home picking from their study/lunge/kitchen and Commissioner Roger Goodell hosting from his basement.
Despite the colossal challenge of the change and the fairly glitz-free, low-key event, a combination of a sports-starved fanbase, inventive activations and some skilled broadcast work (juggling 600+ live feeds from prospects and team management using at-home kits provided by NFL Media) ensured even coronavirus couldn’t check the Draft’s marketing momentum.
This year’s virtual Draft attracted a record audience.
Broadcast on NFL Network, ESPN, ABC, ESPN Deportes and digital channels, the three-day event reached a total of more than 55m viewers (according to a league press release). With the average audience for the weekend of over 8.4m viewers 35% up on the 2019 draft.
Each day of the 2020 NFL event broke records and established new highs: an average audience of over 15.6m viewers watched Round 1 on Thursday (+37% versus 2019), more than 8.2m watched Rounds 2 and 3 on Friday (+40 versus 2019) and more than 4.2m watched Rounds 4-7 on Saturday (+32 percent versus. 2019).
The pandemic’s shadow was ever present as the league amplified its ‘Draft-A-Thon’ initiative online to raise money for COVID-19 relief efforts with football analysts, former players and influencers. Hosted on on NFL.com, it averaged 5.4m total daily viewers across multiple digital and social properties and those viewers watched more than 46.7m total minutes of the online fundraiser which raised more than $100m in COVID-19 relief.
The sponsors who activated and the 100+ advertisers (60% new to the property) who ran spots in the telecast will be delighted with their investment.
Indeed, according to TV ad measurement company EDO, the 2020 NFL Draft audience was 37% more likely to search for brands and products advertised than last year’s draft.
Disney sister companies and official broadcasters ABC and ESPN reported double-digit growth in ad revenue with most growth from the IT/computing, insurance, gardening, and media categories.
Advertising space during the first three rounds of the NFL Draft sold out ahead of the telecast as demand (perhaps driven by the lack of live sports) outstripped availability. At one point, ad slots for round one of the NFL Draft were selling for around $250,000 per 30-second commercial (Horizon Media).
Amongst the sponsor highlights, NFL partner and presenting sponsor Lowe’s (see case study) led the way, while fellow league partner Verizon sponsored a ‘Prospect Cam, the league’s official beer Bud Light Seltzer partnered with a ‘Virtual Huddle’ and activated through a #BooTheCommish campaign, while Pizza Hut backed the ‘Draft Moment’.
Pizza Hut’s Draft marketing programme also included in-game work with EA Madden 2020
NOW OPEN:
Kickoff your Madden Bowl challenges + missions in @PizzaHut Stadium! #Madden20 pic.twitter.com/uN4DukxdEw
— Madden NFL 20 #StayandPlay (@EAMaddenNFL) April 20, 2020
and also rolled out a new ‘Proud to Serve’ ad during all three nights of the NFL Draft.
The commercial, created with ad agency GSD&M, commends Pizza Hut employees on continuing to fill orders during the coronavirus pandemic and the Yum Brands subsidiary delivered food to more than 50 draft prospects during the event.
“This year’s NFL Draft is certainly unprecedented,” said a Pizza Hut statement. “While there will be no on-site activations like previous years, the virtual format allows us to get our food directly into the hands of prospects across the country.”
Another notable NFL sponsor advertising during the virtual draft was Bose and the brand once again gave fans inside access to draft prospects’ preparation in the lead up to the draft with more than 40 players promoting sponsored draft week experiences on social media and across outlets such as Barstool Sports, Bleacher Report, and ESPN.
From the viral moments to the best celebrations, Tua Tagovailoa and Joe Burrow break down their favorite memories from their last year in college
(@Bose) pic.twitter.com/mm8iDQ8iGS
— B/R Gridiron (@brgridiron) April 22, 2020
One of the 50 official sponsors whose products and logos were the only ones allowed on screen during the telecast (draftees were sent a long letter of do’s and don’ts) and a strong team of prospect players wore Bose noise-cancelling headphones when they received their franchise call.
“We quickly pivoted away from highlighting many special moments at one singular place in Las Vegas to doing so across dozens of locations,” said Pat LaCroix, head of media and partnerships at Bose. “We’re taking this challenge head-on, using Bose products and technology to keep all NFL teams, leadership, and prospective players connected.”
Broadcaster ESPN, which sits cosily under the Disney umbrella, teamed up with sister entertainment giant Marvel on a promotional campaign positioning prospects as super heroes through re-worked iconic comic book covers and a matching hype video.
The NFL itself worked with official partner Twitter to generate buzz around the Draft.
One partnership initiative saw the creation of create Super Bowl confetti tweets of players and fans in February, while Twitter also posted highlight clips from the draft for fans on its platform complete with player reactions, analysis, and commentary.
The social messaging company also aired a 30-minute live pre-draft show at 6.45pm opening night of the tent-pole event that examines mock drafts and prospects’ preparations at home.
“Prior to the WNBA Draft, we hadn’t had a live sporting event in almost five weeks,” said Twitter Sports Partnership Manager Christine Wixted. “A lot of eyeballs are going to be on the content, just given the virtual aspect and the kind of the situation and circumstances that we’re in.”
Twitter’s NFL partnership enables it to integrate brands into its live show or ads on top of highlight packages.
“I think we had to tow the line kind of early on when the pandemic first set in. We wanted to be respectful of their messaging at that time,” added Wixted. “Brands are a little bit more hungry to get around these types of events when they do happen since they’re not coming around so often as they normally would with your traditional sports calendar.”
Activative’s Top 4 Campaigns:
Lowe’s ‘Home Is What Unites Us‘
Bud Light ‘#BooTheCommish‘
Oikos ‘Cryceps‘
ESPN/Marvel ‘Superheroes‘
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