Washington Wizards: 25th Anniversary Social Media Campaign
The 6th Annual Awards
- Best Use of Multi-Platform
ABOUT THIS ENTRY
The Washington Wizards celebration of their 25th anniversary of becoming the Wizards. A yearlong celebration during the 2022-23 NBA season featuring a fully integrated multi-platform social media campaign.
How does this represent “Excellence in Engagement”?
This campaign aimed to tell the story of the team’s name change from the Bullets to Wizards and celebrated 25 years of team history. From Classic Edition uniforms, a throwback to our uniforms from 1997-2010, to our branding and social content, we engaged our audience in ways that brought significant interaction with and excitement around our brand. We used social media to story tell elements from throughout the year including player reunions, community campaigns such as merchandise donations from Bullets apparel going to anti-gun violence organizations and look backs at our team’s history. We used our social channels to amplify the in-person elements of this campaign, such as Bullets apparel being donated to anti-gun violence organizations The campaign spoke to our fans via a variety of narrative social posts that nodded to nostalgia while focusing on people and moments that are a fundamental part of our team’s history.
Objective
Our goal with this campaign was to tap into the nostalgia for the early years of the Wizards brand. We wanted to tell the story of the name change from Washington Bullets to Washington Wizards in a way that hadn’t been done before, while also shining a light on teams and players that haven’t been in the spotlight in many years. From our team’s Classic Edition uniforms, a throwback to our uniforms from 1997-2010, to our branding and social content, we engaged our audience in ways that brought significant interaction with and excitement around our brand.
Strategy & Execution
The teams and players we celebrated throughout this campaign didn’t play during the time of social media. Through this campaign, we had the chance to share content not only with the fans who were around during the late 1990s and early 2000s, but also with a new Gen-Z audience who may not be as well-versed in the history of our team. We focused on people and moments, from our ‘Big 3’ to classic games. We also utilized former players to tell stories from their perspective that may not have been heard before.
We took content that existed during the 90s and 2000s and reshaped it to fit today’s social platforms. From recreating a photo of three of our marquee players with them in present day, to using highlights with voice over from the players involved. We spread that content throughout our social platforms, allowing our alumni to share and engage from their handles as well – thus bringing our content to audiences who may not know them from their time with the Wizards.
Organizations
- Washington Wizards
- Monumental Sports & Entertainment
Links
Credits
Bernard Palin
Senior Director, Digital Media
Washington Wizards
Chuck Kacsur
Senior Art Director
Monumental Sports & Entertainment
Andrew Temperly
Director, Social Strategy
Washington Wizards
Tania Henao
Director, Digital Content
Washington Wizards
Valerie Poma
Manager, Social Media
Washington Wizards
Paul Turner
Supervising Producer
Monumental Sports & Entertainment
Yannick Skerritt
Producer
Monumental Sports & Entertainment
Celebrate in NYC
Join us for the 6th Annual Hashtag Sports Awards™ on the evening of June 6, 2024 as we celebrate finalists and reveal the winners of this year's awards live during the show.
