Integrated Campaign: Kings Become Legends
Like every great solution, this started with a problem: an extra, unexpected shipment of our secondary kit came in for its second year. It was pitched as an impossible task: sell more kits than any other MLS team has sold in a season before in six months.
Coming off a championship season and starting a rebuild under a new coach and players, there was a slight hangover in the fanbase. How do you build on a championship? What comes next once you take the crown? The Kings Become Legends campaign focused on the hunger to stay on top –– that anyone can win a title but only true dynasties become lore. It tapped into the rich, cultural history of Atlanta and Georgia at large, establishing the newcomer soccer team among the city’s icons forever. We paid tribute to what came before us. But we positioned ourselves –– our brand, our players, our fans and our team –– alongside the greats not just of Atlanta sports (Deion Sanders, Hank Aaron, Dominique Wilkins and so many more) but in Atlanta culture. Because in Atlanta, culture influences everything. And it’s not just about winning, it’s about doing it in style.
Kings Become Legends was born in a three-person, three-hour closet-sized whiteboarding session and turned into a 7-month digital campaign that turned the King Peach into one of the top-selling kits in the league, almost unheard of for a secondary kit in its second year of existence competing against a new home kit. It was a 360 degree campaign –– teaser, build, influencer and anthem moments on digital, with experiential moments providing tentpole events to the campaign.
This campaign was named the 2019 MLS Marketing Campaign of the Year and was given a Telly Awards Gold Medal in the Sports Video category. I oversaw all digital creative for the campaign, including digital strategy and rollout, copywriting, creative asset development, influencer coordination, and post-production from that initial brainstorm through execution.
The White-Out Match
We kicked off our campaign with a tentpole in-stadium moment, creating a rare occasion for fans to wear the secondary kit at home and asked the fans to “turn the stadium white.” We had a special ticket pack for discounted jerseys, used influencer marketing and turned all our social promotions white to drive excitement for the match. We used footage from our kit launch with 2 Chainz for the final exclamation point the night before. And it worked: it was the highest-selling matchday for kits in Atlanta United history.
Honoring what Came Before (Supporting Content)
Throughout the second half of our season, we used special milestones and anniversaries to celebrate the legends from Atlanta sports and culture, tying them all back to the crown and the King Peach kit. For example: on the anniversary of Outkast’s famous moment at the Source Awards, “The South’s Got Something to Say,” which had become a mantra for our fans, we celebrated that. From Dominique Wilkins’ Hall of Fame induction, Vince Dooley’s field commemoration, the March on Washington for Congressman John Lewis, Hank Aaron, Herschel Walker, Ric Flair’s first title belt –– these were nods that Atlanta influences everything. And as we laid the groundwork for the city’s legends, it built the foundation for our moment once it came.
The King Peach All-Star Sendoff
How to get fans who already have a kit to get a second one? That was the goal for this project, as we looked to replicate a matchday’s worth of kit sales on a weekend off for the team. We used the hook of the MLS All-Star game. All 5 of our MLS All-Star selections signed 400 King Peach kits and we sold them at no markup. Using the language of generosity –– “A King looks out for his people” –– and the imagery of the crown to link it back to the campaign, it was presented as a one-of-a-kind opportunity. And it worked, with a line forming down the street and a full sell-out within hours.
Storytelling
We already have iconic moments in our club’s short history, but we wanted to highlight the work off the field that led up to those moments. Because becoming a legend starts with countless solitary hours on the field. It’s not the moment the goal is scored that makes a legend, it’s all the work that led up to it –– and even more importantly, the effect it has off the field uniting the city and inspiring the next generation.
Our first captain had made it to the championship game four times, only to fall short each time. We celebrated the hunger to keep fighting for his dreams, timing it around his retirement announcement for maximum impact.
The Kings Become Legends Exhibit
To drive excitement and fan engagement ahead of our playoff run, we held an interactive exhibit at local boutique streetwear store A Ma Maniere, including an art gallery, exclusive retail drops, a virtual reality experience and a party to celebrate the launch of FIFA 20. It was a major tentpole event that led to a spike in kit sales, while integrating several of our key initiatives and reaching a new demographic to further engrain ourselves in Atlanta culture.
Lead-in Promotion
We spread promotion out over a two-week period, announcing new pieces along the away to organically keep it top of people’s minds. We announced the exhibit, then that we were auctioning off photography for our Childhood Cancer Month initiative. Then we announced a limited-edition shoe partnership with Social Status and Adidas. Then our first ever kit patch customization, saving one as its own announcement as part of our Hispanic Heritage Month initiative. Finally, capitalizing on fan excitement for the FIFA 20 drop, we had one final gaming-centric push with a limited-time scarf.
Strategically, it kept our brand, the King Peach look, and the event itself popping back up in people’s feeds in a way that was organic.
Day-of Promotion
Nothing drives fan behavior quite like FOMO. So covering the event as it happened in a cool way was a big part of getting people out for the following days of opening. I shot, produced and edited videos and photograph on all our social channels. The results: we had steady foot traffic, consistent kit sales, and a line around the block for our limited-edition sneaker drop that sold out before the line even ended.
The Playoff Build
With our exhibit in the rear-view mirror, we kept the conversation alive with our new Kings Become Legends retail collection. We wove our most iconic moments into our social media, building up our pacing up until the climactic postseason hype video moment.
Kings Become Legends
All of this built up to our climax, building hype and excitement for our postseason return. Bringing back the imagery of Atlanta legends that we have established throughout the year, and going full circle with 2 Chainz telling the story, we take our place among the Atlanta legends. There are many champions, but we stay hungry. And we re-write history.
For this video, I served as executive producer and creative director. I wrote the script and copy, concepted and storyboarded, coordinated with influencers, produced video and audio content and oversaw post-production of the final edit.
The Kings Become Legends Mural
Art, and particularly street art, is a vital component of Atlanta culture, so our tentpole moment had to include a nod to that vital pillar of the culture of the city. This nearly 10-story mural created a building-sized piece of content just blocks from Mercedes-Benz Stadium, a critical part of our matchday fan engagement strategy for the beginning of our postseason push.
Situated on the walk up to the stadium, the campaign was top of mind for thousands of fans as they entered the stadium ready for a possible MLS Cup repeat.
The Postseason Run
With Kings Become Legends now having transitioned slightly from a pure retail play to our anthem message for the entire postseason, we brought the campaign to yet another level both in and outside the stadium.
Fan engagement strategies like crowns in the stands or a full throne in the stadium provided Instagrammable content in mass, creating shareable moments for tens of thousands of fans.
We also united all of our postseason content under the mark in some way. Whether it was a subtle crown or gold border or the logo itself, the campaign remained top of mind for the entire postseason run, and added a pop of branding that was organic but still conveying our message to our audience.
Click here for more work from our lead designer on the campaign, the incredibly talented Kaila Pettis.
Retiring the King Peach
You can’t control the results in sports marketing. But while the team didn’t turn their championship into a dynasty, that doesn’t mean we get to stop at the final whistle –– we head straight into the holiday season.
So it was important to have a final chapter of the story that was independent of results. While the repeat didn’t quite happen, plenty of good things did happen in that shirt. And this final push was for those who maybe just want a piece of history to hang on the wall.
With that final chapter taking us through the holiday season and inching us closer to a new secondary kit, that concluded the Kings Become Legend campaign.