Labor Day has passed, which means football season is in full swing.
Ahead of the kickoff game between the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs on September 5, brands are helping hype fans up for the season and flexing their partnerships with current and former NFL players and coaches.
Humor is the unofficial language of football advertising this year, with nearly every campaign below playing up players’ athletic intensity and fans’ deep connection with the sport.
Fandom is also woven throughout, as current and former head coaches and players allude to their own on- and off-the-field quirks and personalities.
Below, see how 10 brands are kicking off the 2024-2025 NFL season.
NFL on ESPN
Jason Kelce is a bit too amped about his new role as an analyst for ESPN’s “Monday Night Football.” In a spot for the network, he’s seen taking over the control room and ranting about the return of football season, before pre-game show hosts Scott Van Pelt and Marcus Spears walk in and remind him that he doesn’t run the show.
Dr Pepper
Dr Pepper welcomes football fans back to Fansville in the seventh installment of the brand campaign, which is set to resemble seasons of television shows. The 60-second spot, Into the Great Unknown, serves as a trailer for the latest “season” of Fansville commercials, and establishes that all is not well in the town.
One follow-up sees fans in a gold Hype Train, which is set to speed “full hype” — that is, until one fan gets a notification on her phone that one of their players is injured and will be out for the season, which leads to the train slamming its brakes and the conductor ordering everyone to get off.
Another stars University of Texas player Quinn Ewers as a sheriff’s deputy who can’t quite grasp calling for backup, first offering the sheriff a Dr Pepper from his holster then reminding him that he made it to the playoffs “without any backup.”
Vrbo
Nick Saban may have retired from coaching the University of Alabama Crimson Tide, but he still isn’t getting any days off in Vrbo’s NCAA college football spot. Echoing his no-nonsense coaching style, he’s a domineering vacation home host who ruins the family’s stay by refusing to leave them alone, deeming amenities off limits when he wants to use them and peppering them with increasingly restrictive rules. According to the ad, this is exactly the type of treatment Vrbo renters won’t have to deal with.
State Farm
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and “Ted Lasso” actor Cristo Fernández join State Farm spokesman Jake in Bundle Is Life, wherein Fernández is so hyped about bundling home and auto insurance that it inspires him to combine football and soccer (aka fútbol) into a single sport. Mahomes explains this to Jake, though neither seems to be able to wrap their heads around the hybrid football-soccer ball Fernández invented.
Applebee’s
Two spots from Applebee’s announce the return of the restaurant’s 50-cent boneless wings to the menu for football season. In them, the servers have been replaced with football players and coaches who bring a new level of intensity to the ordering process. Serving Up stars San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy and Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley taking orders from restaurant guests as though they’re calling plays, shouting the orders at each other and swiftly running the orders to their tables.
And Play Calling stars Detroit Lions head coach Dant Campbell as a server covering his mouth with a check-holder and forcing the guests to cover their own mouths with their menus when ordering — so other tables don’t steal their orders.
DirecTV
DirecTV gave San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle a jarring new hairstyle in Nothing on Your Roof. Kittle’s infamous long blond hair has been shaved up top — or in the campaign’s words, he has “nothing on his roof” — to drive home the message that DirecTV doesn’t just rely on satellite technology and therefore can keep customers’ roofs equally barren. He explains the metaphor and DirecTV’s offerings between humorous glamor shots reminiscent of hair commercials.
Nissan
According to the car brand’s football season work, Reggie Bush has been cryogenically frozen in Nissan’s Heisman House since 2010, when he forfeited his 2005 Heisman trophy following allegations he received improper financial benefits while playing for USC.
Since the Heisman Trophy Trust reinstated his award earlier this year, Nissan’s ad sees him become curious about what has changed in the 14 years he’s been absent as he defrosts. While he’s interested in Nissan’s tech developments, he’s understandably baffled to see the Crimson Tide’s elephant mascot filming a TikTok, a man watching the football game on a VR set and the University of Georgia’s bulldog mascot trying to play fetch with robotic dogs.
Aflac
Saban makes another appearance in Aflac’s campaign alongside Coach Prime, aka Deion Sanders, and the Aflac duck. In Gone Fishing, Saban and Sanders chat about Aflac’s coverage while their duck companion is busy reeling in a huge catch that puts Sanders’ pruny fish to shame. In the spot, Name, Injury, Likeness redefines the NIL deal and signs Sanders and Saban. Sanders finds himself excited about starring in billboards alongside the Aflac duck, while Saban argues for a more muted approach — which is quickly squashed once a blimp with his face on it comes into view.
Celsius
Energy drink brand Celsius has inked NIL deals with six college football players, all of whom will star in the brand’s football season campaign efforts across TV and paid social media. The debut spot introduces viewers to the players: the University of Oregon Ducks’ Dillon Gabriel, the University of Michigan Wolverines’ Donovan Edwards, the Alabama Crimson Tide’s Jalen Milroe, the Ohio State Buckeyes’ Emeka Egbuka, the Florida State Seminoles’ DJ Uiagalelei and the Colorado Buffaloes’ Travis Hunter.
Kendra Scott
Kendra Scott speaks to the oft-neglected women football fans; the brand recently released a Get Game Day Ready jewelry line of football-themed accessories just in time for kickoff. A social media campaign to promote the line stars Claire Kittle, Gayle King, Donna Kelce and the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, all showing they’re “game day ready” by sporting pieces from the line.
This story first appeared on Campaign US.
