In 2022, Amazon signed a 10-year deal with the NFL giving Prime Video the right to stream Thursday Night Football on their platform. When the news broke out, many football fans looked forward to the innovations Amazon would bring to the broadcast. But a significant number of the most conservative football fans were worried that the big corporation – who never had anything to do with American Football – could make unwelcoming changes to the game they love. The negative sentiment online was growing, and Amazon needed to engage with its new audience meaningfully, giving them confidence that nothing major would change.

Instead of moving away from the problem or trying to make it smaller, we decided to make it bigger. Way bigger. For a few days, we purposefully turned football fans’ biggest nightmare into reality: we redesigned the game’s most sacred icon – the football itself. To make the change even scarier and more headline-grabbing, the new ball design was inspired by the Amazon “smile” logo.

We officially announced the “new” Prime football with a 360 campaign, including online films, print ads in America’s most prominent newspapers, and a lot of other social assets.

The redesign of the ball was the most challenging part of the process. We needed a ball inspired by the shape of the Amazon logo, but it still needed to be a working ball for the quarterbacks. The aerodynamics, size, and weight were all elements that had to be considered.

After exploring multiple designs, shapes, and manufacturing options, we teamed up with Wilson and one of the best prop-makers in the United States. After a few months of tests and prototyping, the new ball was finally ready to go into the hands of America’s best quarterbacks.

The new ball was made with the same materials as the NFL’s official ball, “The Duke.” Same leather, bladder, and sewing. Just a different format: the Amazon “smile.”

Over 100 media outlets picked up the story. The social video announcing the new ball broke the record as the most viewed and commented video on Prime Video’s social history by 3X. The content about the new football was shared by creators, celebrities and influencers, such as Richard Sherman, Jerry Rice, Barry Sanders, Deion Sanders, Dude Perfect, Lacey Taylor Rooks, Andrew Whitworth. The Prime Ball also helped the company to get a record number of new subscribers to Prime. But most importantly, it helped football fans finally realize that Amazon wasn’t here to change anything but just to bring more entertainment to the game they love.