The Rick represents the living, breathing epitome of the ESPN brand. Through this campaign, we’ve extended the legacy of a beloved character within our brand’s lore, humanizing him as we follow the progress of his life’s journey, connecting him to our fans more than ever through interactive extensions, all while effusively touting the excitement of our new product, ESPN+, in a way that’s totally organic to the character.

The Rick is the ultimate sports fan, with the ultimate sports collection. Through ESPN’s “mockumentation” of his impossibly deep assembly of memorabilia and ephemera, we find a perfect connection to the thousands of live sporting events and shows available through ESPN+, which The Rick enthusiastically consumes, of course.

ESPN has been making visits to chronicle The Rick and his collection since 1999. In this latest update, we explore the most “exclusive” items in The Rick’s personal museum, which all tie back to the thousands of exclusive live games, shows, and content available within ESPN+. By emphasizing all that is available to fans through ESPN+ through the use of unique items, we aimed to create memorable, funny spots that drive viewers to sign up for ESPN+.

To underscore the deep selection available through ESPN+, we heavied up on quantity and variety of content, across every platform. We cut over 35 TV spots, each with a unique sports object that connects directly to programming available on the streaming service, or sales imperatives laid out by ESPN’s marketing team, such as the low price point of $4.99 a month, the ease of signing up, and the free month-long trial. We plastered ESPN.com and other digital spaces with short messages from The Rick. And we created a microsite to house The Rick’s personal museum of artifacts, to give fans the opportunity to truly interact with The Rick by offering barters or trades for bits of his collection. In all, we created a 360-degree view of our character, with executions customized to each platform, to hammer home the many sales imperatives and product benefits of ESPN+.

ESPN+ has over 2 million subscribers since our campaign launched, making this ESPN’s most successful launch. The Rick himself is enjoying worldwide fame and celebrity reborn, thanks to ESPN+ and his fancy personal website.