Source: Fanatics
The officially licensed sports merchandise retailer, Fanatics, launched its new advertising campaign and tagline — Love Never Loses — on last night’s broadcast of the ESPN ESPY Awards. Three videos in all were broadcast. Each was shot by customers and told a different story of how particular fans (short for fanatics) experience and show support for the sports and teams they love. The spots may not have raised storytelling to its highest level, but there seemed to be something for all types of sports fan in the spots.
"Helmets," a video showing a young boy with his proud dad (off camera except for his hand), included the child identifying each NFL team presented to him by name. The spot elicited a collective “aw” from the three Anderson family resident females, spanning three generations, who saw the spot.
Helmets – Fanatics/YouTube
"Panthers Rap" and "Eagles Fan" were clearly intended for different consumer bases (none of those reside here) and may also connect with shoppers who love the two teams in question. The Eagles spot, for what it’s worth, elicited an “ew” instead of an “aw” when viewed here, although it should be noted that Boomer, Millennial and Gen Z females were probably not the intended target audience for that commercial.
Panthers Rap – Fanatics/YouTube
Eagles Fan – Fanatics/YouTube
A Wall Street Journal article says that Fanatics has launched its new campaign with the goal of being more closely connected to the relationships fans have with their favorite teams.
“Consumers have historically viewed us very tactically,” Chris Orton, chief marketing officer at Fanatics, told the Journal. “What we’ve been lacking is inspiration and celebration of how great it is to be a fan. We’ve always been in the background from a consumer’s expectation and experience.”