As part of a larger effort to “rebrand” the sport of the lacrosse, I developed and managed a brand campaign to start the 2023 season called “The Tough Game.”
The key inspiration for the campaign was pulled from a Sports Illustrated cover 60 years prior, referring to the sport as “The Tough Game.” We decided to recreate the cover, featuring the first black PLL MVP, Trevor Baptiste. Two weeks after the campaign launched, even Wayne Gretzky was referring to lacrosse as, “The roughest game I ever played,” on Stanley Cup broadcasts.
The Tough Game Hero Spot
The hero video component of the campaign used a modular structure, so that we could use a variety of words to “redefine” the sport in our favor. This proved especially effective for :15 and :30 second cut down variety for paid social, therefore avoiding customer fatigue.
“Roughest Sport I Ever Played,” says The Great One
Unpaid, unexpected, but a sign we were breaking through.