The NFL’s super babies

After the last few years, the NFL has not been in the best of graces with the general public. AKA: It’s been a PR nightmare. A quick timeline of the past couple of years includes the domestic assault allegations against Ray Rice, the child abuse allegations against Adrian Peterson and the murder trial surround the Patriot’s Aaron Hernandez.

One thing that the NFL has going for them is that they have such a strong fan base that no one could ever truly bring them down. However, they are definitely in need of positive earned media and to change the conversation surrounding them.

Enter the 2016 season and a few months of evoking emotions, happiness and humanizing the organization and their Super Bowl 50 ad campaign surrounding the idea of “Family First”. This was an opportunity for the NFL to show the importance of people, and family to their organization rgeardles of how they’ve handled things in the past.

Take a look at their Super Bowl ad:

This commercial was likely the best I saw this year and garnered positive earned media for the organization. Everyone loves a great video with babies, Seal and little football jerseys. At the Super Bowl party I was at, everyone broke out with “aws” and “oohs” as this commercial played. And because of that, for a split second, I forgot about the past few years of mistakes.

Well played, NFL, well played.