Overview
After a record-breaking regular season in 2018 for the Minnesota Vikings, the team strategized, developed, planned and launched a unique playoff campaign that would soon become the fan hallmark of the postseason. The Vikings were trying to become the first team to play a Super Bowl in its home stadium on Feb. 4, 2018. As it stands, no team has ever played in a home Super Bowl in NFL history. The path for the team was clear: all roads during the playoffs led back home. The Vikings crafted an elite, 360-degree campaign, aptly named “Bring It Home.”
LAUNCHING BRING IT HOME
Design
The Bring It Home campaign was developed from the ground up with the Creative and Design department. Once the strategy of "home" was set and the name was selected, the design team created and rendered a logo for the campaign featuring the unique outline of the state, the iconic Norseman and the words "Bring It Home." This simple design was the hallmark of the campaign from start to finish and graced every tactical element from social media to public relations.
Philanthropy
With the interest in the Vikings at an all-time high for the season, the organization elected to develop and design an exclusive number of Bring It Home T-shirts that displayed the unique logo. All proceeds from the sales went directly to the Minnesota Vikings Foundation to support local youth. Shirts were available for purchase at the stadium before and during the Divisional round playoff game against the Saints.
In-Stadium
The next logical place to display campaign signage was at U.S. Bank Stadium itself. The creative team carefully determined where to include playoff signage for maximum exposure. Banners were customized to specific areas around the stadium including concrete walls, digital billboards, wraps and more. In the player entrance corridor, the design department also placed a large Bring It Home mural on the wall to welcome the players to the stadium. The team mascot and cheerleaders were also given Bring It Home signage to use on the field and sidelines during the playoff game.
Partnerships
In an effort to include our brand partners in a collaborative and seamless way, the partnerships team at the Vikings worked with ongoing sponsor Hy-Vee to become the official sponsor of the playoffs. With Hy-Vee’s investment, the Vikings were able to quickly design and develop 71,000 custom Bring It Home rally towels that were distributed on every seat prior to the playoff game the following Sunday and at Hy-Vee locations throughout the Twin Cities. Each towel featured the campaign logo as well as the brand’s mark. Fans were encouraged to wave their towels during the game to create an electric atmosphere. The rally towels quickly became a memento and keepsake after an exciting and miraculous win against the New Orleans Saints.
Social Media Tactics
Social media was a key driver of the campaign leading up to the Divisional round playoff game on Jan. 14. All campaign activities and communications were pushed via the team’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat accounts. With a mix of both organic and paid social media, the team was able to further extend the reach and spread the word about the unique campaign. The following social media tactics were deployed during the Bring It Home campaign period:
- Social Media Profile Photos: Immediately after the campaign assets were launched, the social media team released custom social media profile imagery for its own channels and provided fans with the same assets to customize their social media profiles. By giving fans access to the logos, the social media team was able to extend the reach of the campaign in a way that was highly visible and engaging for fans across the globe.
- Wallpapers: The design team worked with the social media department to create custom phone and desktop wallpapers for fans, stakeholders and partners to upload to their personal devices. These assets were available for immediate download on Vikings.com.
- Bring It Home Fan Video: Fans who posted their own “Bring It Home” videos on social media by using #BringItHome during the campaign were entered to win a pair of tickets to the playoff game. Two separate winners were announced the following Saturday at 2 p.m. (CT).
- General Social Media Content: Any and all content that was posted to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat during the campaign period was overlayed with a custom “Bring It Home” filter and tagged with #BringItHome. All videos developed by Vikings Entertainment Network also had an end tag featuring the logo. This helped the social team better track the results and created visual differentiation from the team’s regular season content.
- Website: Vikings.com/BringItHome housed fan submitted photos, serving as a centralized digital hub throughout the campaign.
Branded Entertainment & Content
In order to promote the fan submissions and create hype for the game, Vikings Entertainment Network developed and released the team’s own “Bring It Home” video that featured current and former players, celebrities and community leaders saying who or what they were “bringing it home” for during the playoff run. Videos were intended for social media, and variations of the video were also reserved solely for game-day entertainment during the Vikings-Saints game and included footage from celebrities and athletes like Snoop Dogg, Brett Favre and more.
Public Relations Impact
The organization took a two-pronged approach to public relations during the Bring It Home campaign.
1) Traditional media outreach: The social media and public relations teams joined forces to create custom Bring It Home media kits that were distributed to top-tier sports media influencers in local and national markets. This tactic yielded coverage on NFL Network's Good Morning Football, ESPN and more. Each custom tin box included the Bring It Home branded towels, custom purple beanies with the logo as well as T-shirts that could be worn on-air. Each box also included a handwritten, personalized note to each recipient explaining what the campaign was and how they could share it with their fans and followers.
2) Social media and team influencer outreach: The social media team created smaller packages that were sent to fans on social media who used Bring It Home or who had expressed interest in the team during the playoff run. The social department packaged and shipped more than 50 mailings to avid fans, relatives of players, former Minnesota Vikings and Minnesota influencers, bloggers, sports teams and Minnesota-based athletes. In multiple press interviews, players organically began to use the phrase “bring it home” when referencing the game.
3) Fan engagement: The Vikings PR and operations team worked with multiple state and local entities to light the Twin Cities and surrounding communities purple for a visual representation of the state's support during the playoffs. Beginning Friday, Jan. 12, the following landmarks displayed purple lighting in support of the team:
- I-35W Bridge
- IDS Center
- Lowry Avenue Bridge
- Mall of America
- Nicollet Mall
- Target Corporate
Fans and business entities alike were encouraged to follow suit by lighting or decorating their homes and buildings purple prior to the game.
Results
Total Game Attendance: 66,612
Social Media Results: Total Mentions: 277,211 total posts
- Twitter: 96.36%
- Facebook: 1.89%
- Instagram: 1.44%
- YouTube: <1%
- Forum: <1%
- Other: 0.10%
Awareness: 438.67 million people reached
Sentiment:
- Positive or Neutral: 80.98%
- Negative: 1.57%
- Unassigned: 17.45%
Global Reach:
- North America: 151,067 posts
- No Location Information Available: 99,978 posts
- Europe: 14,884 posts
- Latin America: 4,077 posts
- Asia: 3,640 posts
- Oceania and Polynesia: 1,356 posts
- Africa: 959 posts
- Caribbean: 617 posts
- Middle East: 611 posts
- Antarctic: 21 posts
Digital Results: 960k views of Minnesota Purple Lights photo gallery