The context was bringing together Quarterback Joe Burrow and his favorite artist, Kid Cudi, around NFL Kick-Off to collaboratively tell a story around music and product.

The brief was to develop creative concepts for social content that highlight the unique, unifying spirit that music and sports share, and express how this manifests through Kid Cudi and Joe Burrow. We aimed to create concepts that authentically communicate the role of the products in our story about the power of music and sports.

Our objectives were to drive brand favorability and cultural relevance through athlete-driven social content, drive purchase consideration through integration of priority products into content, and to highlight the authentic friendship between talent.

The film is a celebration of music, creativity, performance, passion and friendship. At that intersection we find two kindred spirits: Kid Cudi and Joe Burrow. Though each took different directions to different destinations, they were both powered to greatness and brought back together by sound. The spot brings a true story to life, painting a picture of Joe Burrow and Kid Cudi growing up in Cincinnati. following the pair along their separate routes through three time periods, youth, adolescence and adulthood, showcased via energizing shots cut-in throughout.

Sound is Power is woven seamlessly into the creative vision. Our story aligned the message with a timeless, relevant connection, bringing it to viewers at the beginning of the NFL season. The spot also functioned as Kid Cudi's debut method for the bonus track on his Entergalactic album, bringing the brand into a wider circle of relevant association.

The strategy centered around the idea that the intersection of sport and sound are where camaraderie and competition meet. Engaging in sports helps us build community and strengthen who we are, because competition incites a level of growth that cannot happen in isolation. Engaging with sound keeps us inspired and connected; sound brings us closer to ourselves, which makes it possible for us to be closer to each other. Where the two meet, we learn that we must believe in another’s potential to grow in the way we want to see growth in ourselves. We approached audience and community building by thoroughly analyzing our talent and how/why they resonate with people. We know our audience prioritizes authenticity, so by digging into the real stories of Kid Cudi and Joe Burrow, we were able to spark a narrative somewhere in the middle that inspires genuine resonance.

The pace of the film is meant to emphasize the style of the track, with quick cuts that match nuances in the song’s production. Narratively, the film explores two parallel stories happening in different parts in the same city, which is the sentiment conveyed in the song. The film also leverages a mounting energy, so that it can operate as a hype-film for Bengals fans leading into the 2022-23 season.

Reach:

171K Views - Complex Interview

Total Video Performance - 44M views

20 M views - Burrow by Kid Cudi | Youtube

4.7 M Listens - Burrow by Kid Cudi | Spotify

Engagement:

IG Reach: 183K, Views: 190K

Twitter Impressions: 121K, Views: 17K

YT Impressions: 908K, Views: 99.6K

The Burrow x Cudi content was the centerpiece of our largest product launch in 2022. The content delivered strong overall engagement, outperforming benchmarks by 90%. The campaign built upon existing awareness and drove strong gains in familiarity, consideration, and intent.

Talent-first assets drove a 720% higher video view rate than traditional commercial assets.

The content outperformed benchmarks for video view rate by +90% on YouTube.

We observed a +4.3% lift in awareness with skippable instream video, and +4.8% lift in consideration

The content had positive impact on universal connection attributes - personal and emotional connection, and inclusivity.