To undercut the uncertainty and prime Eagles Nation for a new, exciting season, Philly-based branding agency 160over90 adopted a ‘Tough Love’ brand stance, likening the bonds between city and team to those of family members.
The season kicked off with a nationally televised ‘Brotherly Love’ commercial, narrated by The Wire actor John Doman, that illustrated the symbiotic relationship between the team and the fans. The video was housed on a newly created microsite, flyeaglesfly.com, and quickly went viral, generating hundreds of thousands of views in a matter of days. This would become the 2013 anthem for the Eagles, setting the tone for a season that would be anything but ordinary.
During the season, to energize audiences before rivalry games, 160over90 created short hype videos that lived on the Eagles Facebook page. The agency also capped off big victories with custom videos, created and launched online within hours of each win. Fan engagement was at an all-time high after the December 8 Snow Bowl game, when the ‘Winning in a Winter Wonder Linc’ video generated more than 2.5 million interactions overnight.
To effectively bookend the 2013 campaign, 160over90 again tapped John Doman for a second anthem piece, ‘Crashing the Party,’ which was written, recorded, and cut in the hopes that the Eagles would make the playoffs. When cornerback Brandon Boykin made the interception that defeated Dallas, in Dallas, all of Eagles nation celebrated the playoffs berth via the video.
Honest, raw, and unfiltered, the ‘Tough Love’ brand campaign cracked the region’s cultural code and struck a nerve with one of the most fickle fan bases in professional sports.