The Value of NFL Talent in Advertising
Advertising, Branding & Sponsorships
The Value of NFL Talent in Advertising
A Case Study of Footballers in TV Commercials
NFL broadcasts are thrilling and full of surprises, but one element is reliably predictable: every commercial break features players endorsing products. Those spots command a premium. So what separates a talent partnership that earns that premium from one that only spends it?
NFL Talent in Advertising
Ever since “Mean” Joe Greene traded his Steelers jersey for a Coke, brands have recognized the persuasive power of NFL talent. Flip on a game and you won’t see a single ad break without at least one football star promoting a sandwich, a store, or a sportscar. Star power is not in question. What is worth knowing is which partnerships land, and what carries them when they do. Latitude ran a study to find out — watching how audiences responded, second by second, to four ads built around NFL talent.
NFL Talent in Advertising — Mean Joe Greene
Ever since “Mean” Joe Greene traded his Steelers jersey for a Coke, brands have recognized the persuasive power of NFL talent. Flip on a game and you won’t see a single ad break without at least one football star promoting a sandwich, a store, or a sportscar. Star power is not in question. What is worth knowing is which partnerships land, and what carries them when they do. Latitude ran a study to find out — watching how audiences responded, second by second, to four ads built around NFL talent.
NFL Talent in Advertising
Ever since “Mean” Joe Greene traded his Steelers jersey for a Coke, brands have recognized the persuasive power of NFL talent. Flip on a game and you won’t see a single ad break without at least one football star promoting a sandwich, a store, or a sportscar. Star power is not in question. What is worth knowing is which partnerships land, and what carries them when they do. Latitude ran a study to find out — watching how audiences responded, second by second, to four ads built around NFL talent.
Method
A sample of 300 people watched four ad spots featuring NFL players and responded in Lumiere as they watched — reacting, commenting, and tagging moments in real time rather than answering questions afterward. Their responses were compared against a control group of NFL fans and non-fans who did not see the commercials, to establish brand lift.
Method
A sample of 300 people watched four ad spots featuring NFL players and responded in Lumiere as they watched — reacting, commenting, and tagging moments in real time rather than answering questions afterward. Their responses were compared against a control group of NFL fans and non-fans who did not see the commercials, to establish brand lift.
Profiling an "All-Star" Advertisement
Before diving into assessing brand lift, we needed to determine what a “winning player-product partnership” looked like. Our first analysis compared four advertisements featuring NFL talent to determine which was most effective in terms of overall appeal. The targeted ads were: State Farm & Patrick Mahomes – “Bundle Mantra” Hulu & Jalen Hurts – “Word Travels Fast” Verizon NFL Sunday Ticket & Josh Allen “Work Crew” PepsiCo & NFL HOF cast – “Unretirement”
Profiling an "All-Star" Advertisement
Before diving into assessing brand lift, we needed to determine what a “winning player-product partnership” looked like. Our first analysis compared four advertisements featuring NFL talent to determine which was most effective in terms of overall appeal. The targeted ads were: State Farm & Patrick Mahomes – “Bundle Mantra” Hulu & Jalen Hurts – “Word Travels Fast” Verizon NFL Sunday Ticket & Josh Allen “Work Crew” PepsiCo & NFL HOF cast – “Unretirement”
And the winner is...
All four ads performed well, but PepsiCo’s “Unretirement” was the clear winner. The 60-second spot promotes a range of PepsiCo snacks and beverages and features all-time greats Emmitt Smith, Randy Moss, Dan Marino, Jerry Rice, Tom Brady and Julian Edelman, alongside quarterback Josh Allen. The cast delivered on nostalgia and engagement, and most of the jokes landed. The sharpest spike in positive comments came at one specific beat: Dan Marino putting on reading glasses to make out the small font on his wristband playbook. That is the level of detail worth having — not that an ad performed, but which second of it carried the room.
And the winner is...
All four ads performed well, but PepsiCo’s “Unretirement” was the clear winner. The 60-second spot promotes a range of PepsiCo snacks and beverages and features all-time greats Emmitt Smith, Randy Moss, Dan Marino, Jerry Rice, Tom Brady and Julian Edelman, alongside quarterback Josh Allen. The cast delivered on nostalgia and engagement, and most of the jokes landed. The sharpest spike in positive comments came at one specific beat: Dan Marino putting on reading glasses to make out the small font on his wristband playbook. That is the level of detail worth having — not that an ad performed, but which second of it carried the room.
A summary dashboard in Lumiere from our study:
Key Findings
So, what specifically about “Unretirement” made it resonate more with viewers compared to the three?
All four featured NFL stars and good laughs. Four patterns separated it — and they are worth knowing on either side of a talent deal:
Key Findings
So what specifically made “Unretirement” resonate more than the other three?
Four patterns separated it — and they are worth knowing on either side of a talent deal:
Key Findings
So, what specifically about “Unretirement” made it resonate more with viewers compared to the three?
All four featured NFL stars and good laughs. Four patterns separated it — and they are worth knowing on either side of a talent deal:
Timelessness:
From the 1980s to the present, no matter which era of football is your era, this ad likely featured a star with which you have an association.
Teamlessness:
A single star carries a regional fanbase. A cast drawn from successful and beloved teams across the country carries a national one. “Unretirement” spread its appeal; the others concentrated it.
Relatability:
In the PepsiCo spot, the Hall-Of-Famers start and end in the same place: the living room couch, watching the game. This is exactly where most consumers will be when they’re exposed to the ad, which implicitly suggests that these superstars are just like us! Or as one viewer put it, “this scene looks cozy with the couch full of friends, good snacks, and drinks.” For a CPG brand like PepsiCo, this is precisely the vibe that they would hope their marketing conveys.
Self-Awareness:
The State Farm, Verizon, and Hulu advertisements are comedies, but they don’t “wink” at the audience in the way that the PepsiCo ad does. The NFL stars in this ad seem like they are having fun, aware of the absurdity, and not afraid to make jokes at their own expense, most notably in the well-executed Tom Brady line at the end - “Unretirement? Who’d be dumb enough to do that?”
Timelessness:
From the 1980s to the present, no matter which era of football is your era, this ad likely featured a star with which you have an association.
Teamlessness:
A single star carries a regional fanbase. A cast drawn from successful and beloved teams across the country carries a national one. “Unretirement” spread its appeal; the others concentrated it.
Relatability:
In the PepsiCo spot, the Hall-Of-Famers start and end in the same place: the living room couch, watching the game. This is exactly where most consumers will be when they’re exposed to the ad, which implicitly suggests that these superstars are just like us! Or as one viewer put it, “this scene looks cozy with the couch full of friends, good snacks, and drinks.” For a CPG brand like PepsiCo, this is precisely the vibe that they would hope their marketing conveys.
Self-Awareness:
The State Farm, Verizon, and Hulu advertisements are comedies, but they don’t “wink” at the audience in the way that the PepsiCo ad does. The NFL stars in this ad seem like they are having fun, aware of the absurdity, and not afraid to make jokes at their own expense, most notably in the well-executed Tom Brady line at the end - “Unretirement? Who’d be dumb enough to do that?”
Timelessness:
From the 1980s to the present, no matter which era of football is your era, this ad likely featured a star with which you have an association.
Teamlessness:
A single star carries a regional fanbase. A cast drawn from successful and beloved teams across the country carries a national one. “Unretirement” spread its appeal; the others concentrated it.
Relatability:
In the PepsiCo spot, the Hall-Of-Famers start and end in the same place: the living room couch, watching the game. This is exactly where most consumers will be when they’re exposed to the ad, which implicitly suggests that these superstars are just like us! Or as one viewer put it, “this scene looks cozy with the couch full of friends, good snacks, and drinks.” For a CPG brand like PepsiCo, this is precisely the vibe that they would hope their marketing conveys.
Self-Awareness:
The State Farm, Verizon, and Hulu advertisements are comedies, but they don’t “wink” at the audience in the way that the PepsiCo ad does. The NFL stars in this ad seem like they are having fun, aware of the absurdity, and not afraid to make jokes at their own expense, most notably in the well-executed Tom Brady line at the end - “Unretirement? Who’d be dumb enough to do that?”
Timelessness:
From the 1980s to the present, no matter which era of football is your era, this ad likely featured a star with which you have an association.
Teamlessness:
A single star carries a regional fanbase. A cast drawn from successful and beloved teams across the country carries a national one. “Unretirement” spread its appeal; the others concentrated it.
Relatability:
In the PepsiCo spot, the Hall-Of-Famers start and end in the same place: the living room couch, watching the game. This is exactly where most consumers will be when they’re exposed to the ad, which implicitly suggests that these superstars are just like us! Or as one viewer put it, “this scene looks cozy with the couch full of friends, good snacks, and drinks.” For a CPG brand like PepsiCo, this is precisely the vibe that they would hope their marketing conveys.
Self-Awareness:
The State Farm, Verizon, and Hulu advertisements are comedies, but they don’t “wink” at the audience in the way that the PepsiCo ad does. The NFL stars in this ad seem like they are having fun, aware of the absurdity, and not afraid to make jokes at their own expense, most notably in the well-executed Tom Brady line at the end - “Unretirement? Who’d be dumb enough to do that?”
Does clever marketing move the needle of brand perceptions?
Clearly, PepsiCo made a funny, buzzworthy piece of advertising. The question is whether that translates. Does a witty ad move brand perception? And does the money spent on Hall-of-Fame talent reach the products being promoted? To get at the actual value of “Unretirement” for PepsiCo, we compared the exposed and control groups on a set of favorability and brand attribute questions.
Does clever marketing move the needle of brand perceptions?
Clearly, PepsiCo made a funny, buzzworthy piece of advertising. The question is whether that translates. Does a witty ad move brand perception? And does the money spent on Hall-of-Fame talent reach the products being promoted? To get at the actual value of “Unretirement” for PepsiCo, we compared the exposed and control groups on a set of favorability and brand attribute questions.
The Results
The effect of seeing the commercial on perceptions of PepsiCo products was overwhelmingly positive.
Significant brand lift was observed on each of the five attributes tested, most notably perceptions that the brand is “Friendly” and “Trustworthy.” The group who viewed the ad was also 9% more likely to have a favorable view of PepsiCo overall and 14% more likely to recommend the brand’s products to a family member or friend. On nearly every metric examined, this advertisement outperformed the control group, as well as the other three advertisements tested.
The Results
The effect of seeing the commercial on perceptions of PepsiCo products was overwhelmingly positive.
Significant brand lift was observed on each of the five attributes tested, most notably perceptions that the brand is “Friendly” and “Trustworthy.” The group who viewed the ad was also 9% more likely to have a favorable view of PepsiCo overall and 14% more likely to recommend the brand’s products to a family member or friend. On nearly every metric examined, this advertisement outperformed the control group, as well as the other three advertisements tested.
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What viewers said without being asked
The appeal went past the comedy and the nostalgia. The products came up too — unprompted, in viewers’ own words, while the ad was still playing. Lumiere’s language analysis found the most common word in positive comments was “chips.” Beyond that: 23% of viewers mentioned Frito-Lay in unprompted discussion and 20% named their favorite flavors as they watched. As one viewer put it, “the snacks look appealing and catch your attention." Another on the couch scene: “this scene looks cozy with the couch full of friends, good snacks, and drinks.” Nobody asked these viewers about snacks. They raised it themselves, mid-ad — a different and more durable signal than a prompted score.
What viewers said without being asked
The appeal went past the comedy and the nostalgia. The products came up too — unprompted, in viewers’ own words, while the ad was still playing. Lumiere’s language analysis found the most common word in positive comments was “chips.” Beyond that: 23% of viewers mentioned Frito-Lay in unprompted discussion and 20% named their favorite flavors as they watched. As one viewer put it, “the snacks look appealing and catch your attention." Another on the couch scene: “this scene looks cozy with the couch full of friends, good snacks, and drinks.” Nobody asked these viewers about snacks. They raised it themselves, mid-ad — a different and more durable signal than a prompted score.
Closing
“Unretirement” is everything a good ad should be. It engages broadly, builds positive product associations, and lifts the overall impression of the brand. Some of that is writing and production. The contribution of the athletes in the spot cannot be overstated. NFL star power is expensive, and when it is cast well the lift and the buzz are worth every penny. Knowing which part of the cast and which moment in the ad did the work is what turns that from an instinct into an argument.
Closing
“Unretirement” is everything a good ad should be. It engages broadly, builds positive product associations, and lifts the overall impression of the brand. Some of that is writing and production. The contribution of the athletes in the spot cannot be overstated. NFL star power is expensive, and when it is cast well the lift and the buzz are worth every penny. Knowing which part of the cast and which moment in the ad did the work is what turns that from an instinct into an argument.
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