Everything But Football
The 7th Annual Awards
- Most Creative Partnership
ABOUT THIS ENTRY
In the first episode of Everything But Football, Patriots cornerback Marcus Jones and punter Bryce Baringer play against LPGA pro and Patriots-sponsored athlete Alexa Pano in a golf scramble. Jones and Baringer encounter multiple fun and unique challenges throughout the course including putting blindfolded, the one-club challenge, and more!
How does this represent "Excellence in Engagement"?
This episode sets a benchmark with regards compelling athlete lifestyle content and cross-sport content collaboration. The New England Patriots’ unique partnership with the LPGA’s Alexa Pano allows for equally unique content opportunities, organically highlighting the partnership in the form of competitive, gamified content that is naturally entertaining. This episode brings together existing worlds of player, branded, and golf content with a new, innovative twist that may inspire other teams, leagues, and organizations to emulate it. On the other hand, this episode injects a new approach within a subgenre of content collaborations across sports, potentially blossoming more partnerships and sponsorships like that of the Patriots and Alexa Pano across the industry. Across the sports world, when fans are more engaged across sports and leagues than ever, this episode invites emulation from both a content and partnership perspective.
Objective
The goals that led to the creation of this episode were twofold. First, this was the first episode of our launch of Everything But Football, a new series built on a tradition of creating engaging longform content highlighting the lives of Patriots players off the field. To this effect, the goal of this episode was to highlight Marcus Jones and Bryce Baringer’s passion for golf, and explore the ways that that passion intersected with their profession of football. Second, the goal was to highlight the New England Patriots’ support of Alexa Pano, the first LPGA golfer sponsored by an NFL team and a lifelong Patriots fan. In bringing Alexa together on the golf course with Marcus and Bryce, the objective was to bridge the gap between these two worlds and showcase the talents and personalities of all three of these athletes in the process. By leaning into the competitive nature of golf and the unexpected twists of mini challenges throughout, we created this piece to elevate their natural humor, vibrant nature, and competitive spirit.
Strategy & Execution
This episode leaned into the realities of modern sports fandom, delivering a fresh experience that brought in new audiences and gave existing ones a new perspective. By leaning all the way into golf as the backbone of the episode, we opened the door to bring in golf fans and LPGA and Alexa Pano fans specifically and engage with the Patriots in a new light. Especially with female audiences and audiences for women’s sports growing exponentially, we are able to connect with people who otherwise may not have engaged with Patriots content. Additionally, the implementation of mini challenges throughout the episode not only made the content more compelling, it also was tailored to younger audiences who consume digital content that utilizes that style and structure on YouTube and other platforms. Lastly, modern sports fans want to connect with their favorite athletes on a deeper level, and get to know them as people with hobbies and individual interests. For all three athletes highlighted in this episode, audiences come away feeling like they know them, with a much more robust understanding of their personalities, senses of humor, and even golfing abilities.
Organizations
- New England Patriots
Featured
- Bryce Baringer
- Marcus Jones
- Alexa Pano
Credits
Jack Gordon
Video Producer (Producer, Editor, Graphics)
New England Patriots
Junhee Chung
Senior Video Producer and Editor (Producer)
New England Patriots
Bradley Amus
Senior Video Producer (Camera Operator, Graphics)
New England Patriots
Michael Runde
Video Producer (Camera Operator)
New England Patriots
Nicolette Gosselin
Camera Operator
New England Patriots
Leo Epstein
Sound
New England Patriots
Ashok Moore
Senior Director - Digital/Social Content & Strategy (Executive Producer)
New England Patriots
Fred Kirsch
VP of Content (Executive Producer)
New England Patriots
Karina Santos
Digital Design Manager (Graphics)
New England Patriots
Marcus Jones
Talent
New England Patriots
Bryce Baringer
Talent
New England Patriots
Alexa Pano
Talent
LGPA
Celebrate in NYC
Join us for the 7th Annual Hashtag Sports Awards™ on the evening of June 24, 2025 as we celebrate finalists and reveal the winners of this year's awards live during the show.
