The Players’ Tribune x KAY Jewelers: NFL Campaign

ABOUT THIS ENTRY

Throughout 2024, KAY Jewelers leveraged The Players’ Tribune’s editorial prowess and athlete relationships to connect with NFL fans around three major tentpole moments - the Super Bowl, the NFL Draft and the Hall of Fame ceremony. With The Players’ Tribune’s powerful storytelling ability and trust with the athlete community, the partnership produced three hugely successful content pieces that authentically combined KAY Jewelers’ messaging and products with athlete stories during these key moments.

How does this represent "Excellence in Engagement"?

Brands are often looking to leverage celebrities or athletes to create bigger splashes among their target audiences - especially in the sports industry, and especially during major tentpole events. However, there's been a recent shift in audience sentiment where having a well-known ambassador is simply not enough. Audiences are looking for authenticity in everything they interact with, & with this shift, many companies are realizing that without an authentic connection to their product or message, big-name sponsors or ambassadors are seen more as expensive ploys than well intentioned campaigns, leading to less consumer buy-in & less successful campaigns.

While TPT has always been rooted in authentic storytelling, this shift in audience expectation has further proven the need for genuine connection in branded content.

This campaign was able to exceed company goals & engage with audiences because it led with authentic, emotional storytelling vs. clichéd sponsorship taglines. By focusing on the personal athlete stories during key moments in their careers, & how those stories organically connected to KAY’s brand messaging, TPT was able to create content that was not only entertaining & engaging, but that elicited emotional responses that will be sure to aid in continuing to grow KAY’s brand for years to come.

Objective

In 2024, KAY Jewelers (KAY) was looking to generate greater affinity, purchasing intent and recommendation intent around their products. They knew that in order to do this effectively they needed a way to organically and authentically connect their messaging with the interests of their target audience. As the leader in athlete-led storytelling, The Players’ Tribune (TPT) was the perfect partner to accomplish this feat.

The resulting partnership leveraged TPT’s powerful storytelling ability and trust with the athlete community, to produce an NFL campaign that authentically positioned KAY products at the center of the NFL’s biggest tentpoles - the Super Bowl, NFL Draft and Hall of Fame Ceremony. Each content piece - “Voicemails” and “Love & Football” featuring Fred Warner, “Top Picks” featuring Terrion Arnold and “The Road to the Ring” featuring Devin Hester - was tailored to fit each specific tentpole and organically wove KAY’s key message points into the athlete’s story by finding synergies that already existed between the two.

Strategy & Execution

The Players’ Tribune & KAY Jewelers knew that in order to effectively engage with NFL fans today, they needed to focus on delivering the right message, at the right time, on the right platform.

Each piece was tailored to fit each specific tentpole as well as each athlete’s unique story & how it connected organically with KAY’s brand messaging of “celebrating love & life’s meaningful moments”.

“Voicemails” & “Love & Football” focused on Warner’s journey to the Super Bowl & his appreciation for his wife her unwavering support; “Top Picks” jumped on the “Get Ready With Me” social trend to introduce audiences to Draftee, Terrion Arnold, as he dawned some KAY pieces in anticipation of becoming a pro; & “The Road to the Ring” amplified KAY’s already-existing sponsorship with the Pro Football Hall of Fame through a celebration of Devin Hester’s career culminating in him receiving a coveted Hall of Fame ring.

Each segment of the campaign was distributed across TPT’s social channels & was timed around the tentpole of focus. By meeting fans where they already live - Instagram, TikTok, Twitter(X.com), etc. - TPT ensured that the content would not only be seen by their target audience, but shared as well - optimizing visibility, virality & engagement.

Organizations

• Minute Media
• The Players’ Tribune
• KAY Jewelers
• Spark Foundry

Links

•   Website
•  Voicemails
•  Love & Football
•  Top Picks
•  The Road to the Ring

Featured

• Fred Warner
• Terrion Arnold
• Devin Hester

Credits

Taylor Baucom
Head of Visual Content
The Players' Tribune / Minute Media

Matthew Celentano
Producer
The Players' Tribune / Minute Media

Kate Comelli
Senior Director, Production Operations
Minute Media

Betsy Connors
Senior Marketing Director, Integrated Marketing
Minute Media

Kara Criscione
Associate Director, Production Operations
Minute Media

Max Garofalo
SVP, Sales
Minute Media

Nate Gordon
SVP, Head of Content TPT
The Players' Tribune

Krzysztof Kucza
Manager, Global Brand Revenue & Operations
Minute Media

Allison Lach
Senior Director, Integrated Marketing (Pre-Sale)
Minute Media

Jamie Lansdowne
Senior Video Editor
Minute Media

Ian Levy
Creative Director
FanSided / Minute Media

Ramon Lopez
Senior Multimedia Designer
The Players' Tribune

Matt Mastrantuono
Executive Producer
The Players' Tribune

Jason McClain
Senior Video Producer
The Players' Tribune

Shaye McGoey
Senior Manager, Global Brand Revenue & Operations
Minute Media

Katherine O'Malley Randall
SVP, Creative Strategy and Production Operations
Minute Media

Chad Payne
SVP, Legal & Business Affairs
Minute Media

Shannon Peirce
Legal Counsel
Minute Media

Alex Rose
Consultant
The Players' Tribune / Minute Media

Sam Sterling
VP, Marketing Strategy and Operations
Minute Media

Colby Sycoff
Athlete Relations and Partnerships Director
The Players' Tribune / Minute Media

Michael Tridente
Director, Integrated Marketing
Minute Media

RJ Walker
Athlete Relations & Partnerships Coordinator
The Players' Tribune

Brandy Gadd
Marketing Director
Signet Jewelers / KAY Jewelers

Natalie Nesius
Activations & Partnerships Manager, KAY Jewelers
Signet Jewelers / KAY Jewelers

Kathleen Suggett
Strategic Marketing Analyst, KAY Jewelers
Signet Jewelers / KAY Jewelers

Ann Marie Kennedy
Content Supervisor
Spark Foundry

Mia Voehringer Voehringer
Associate Director, Content
Spark Foundry