Ted Lasso is an Emmy award-winning comedy series on the TV+ streaming service. The show features a beloved fictional soccer coach named Ted, known for winning over even his biggest skeptics through his unconventional positivity and humor.

Knowing the U.S. Men's National Team (USMNT) was considered big underdogs in the 2022 World Cup; we saw this as the perfect opportunity to showcase Ted's over-the-top positivity and raise awareness for Ted Lasso. The big challenge was gaining attention during the world cup without being an official sponsor of the tournament.

The campaign involved creating 27 personalized, handwritten letters for every player on the USMNT. Each message was filled with the classic Ted Lasso wit and charm fans know and love. These letters were blown up to jumbo size and placed on full display in each player’s hometown—on billboards, high schools, and even on the side of a 200-year-old barn.

To avoid getting lost in World Cup noise, we identified that the best PR moment for this campaign would be at the final roster announcement. So, as the country talked about who made the team, our billboards leveraged the momentum around each player for maximum news, editorial, and social pickup.

To capitalize on the media moment of the final roster announcement, we needed to be prepared for any possible player selection. Therefore, as the US coaches considered players for the team, we prepared creative and located unique media placements for over 50 potential players.

The campaign had over 2.2 billion PR impressions and $20M in earned media. The story was covered in over 700 articles; Ted’s messages were the most written about tournament activation and the most engaging campaign globally. But, ultimately, the real win was Ted Lasso helping the USMNT make it past the group stages proving anything is possible if you just believe.