72andSunny & NFL: Why aren’t all football campaigns as engaging as this?

The NFL leaves the idea of game play and roaring crowd sequences way behind. 72andSunny has created a brilliantly entertaining, very funny story about writing the campaign. It’s called You Can’t Make This Stuff Up. The campaign leans into meme and pop culture around the league being scripted while showing the NFL as the pinnacle of entertainment, the stage for unbelievable stories that are better than fiction.

It features actor and comedian, Keegan-Michael Key and some of the league’s biggest names, including patrick mahomes (Kansas City Chiefs), Travis Kelce (Kansas City Chiefs), Jason Kelce (Philadelphia Eagles), Justin Fields (Chicago Bears), Kirk Cousins (Minnesota Vikings), Dk Metcalf (Seattle Seahawks), Dexter Lawrence (New York Giants), Ja’marr Chase (Cincinnati Bengals), Jalen Ramsey (Miami Dolphins) and even Donna Kelce, mother of the Kelce brothers.

Set to a backdrop of the NFL 104^th season table read, You Can’t Make This Stuff Up stars long-time Detroit Lions fan, Key, as the director. The comedian opens with the better-than-fiction stories from last year – the Kelce brothers in the Super Bowl LVII, Mr. Irrelevant saving the Bay and a halftime baby announcement – that were all ratings gold.

But Key’s table read quickly gets out of hand, as the cast of star players reel off their own ideas and plot twists for the ’23 season. Watch:

“Our goal was to make this campaign tongue-in-cheek, humorous and clever in the way we tapped into popular memes and cultural conversations about the league and its incredible real-life storylines that are better than anything you could make up,” stated Tim Ellis, chief marketing officer at the NFL. “We really wanted to have fun with this and not take ourselves too seriously. We hope fans get a kick out of the campaign and are sitting on the edge of their seats to see what spectacles unfold this season.”

“This campaign is a satirical response to the internet conspiracy that the NFL is scripted, but at the same time speaks to the sheer athleticism of its players and the entertainment value of the game itself. It’s so unbelievable, it has to be made up,” added Zach Hilder, executive creative director at 72andSunny.

In anticipation of the stories that will happen this year, You Can’t Make This Stuff Up is the league’s first campaign for the start of the season that will continue throughout the season. Its 16 pieces of content will be timed to key moments throughout the year, such as Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Christmas and international games.

The campaign aired in the Thursday Night Football game on Amazon Prime Video, as the Philadelphia Eagles took on the Indianapolis Colts at home on Thursday, August 24. The campaign will run on TV, digital and social.