FOOTBALL IN HIGH HEELS: THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL 11/17
STAMFORD, Conn. – November 14, 2016 – NBC Sports is launching Thursday Night Football on NBC with a comprehensive marketing campaign that includes unprecedented customized content produced in conjunction with NBC Entertainment, as well as Illumination Entertainment and Universal Pictures. TNF debuts on NBC this Thursday, November 17, when Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers host Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints. Coverage begins at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
In an industry first, NBC Entertainment programs The Blacklist, Blindspot, Chicago Fire/Med/PD, Law & Order: SVU, Superstore, and The Voice, as well as the upcoming Illumination and Universal event film Sing, have all created customized content that dovetails off of NBC Sports’ “Start your weekend early” TNF campaign, while remaining authentic to their respective brand voice and audience. In one spot, the cast of Superstore neglects to help a customer because it is too busy watching TNF on the store’s TVs. In another, the cast of Blindspot solves a TNF tattoo mystery.
NBC Sports’ TNF campaign is focused on the premise that the work week can be tough, so what would be better than to start your weekend early. As a fan walks into a glass door, the campaign says “Tuesdays can be tough…Thursday will be better. Start your weekend early with Thursday Night Football.” The NBC Sports spots were produced in collaboration with advertising agency VML.
“As the only network with two primetime NFL packages, we wanted to distinguish TNF with the proposition that millennials start their weekend early,” said Jenny Storms, CMO, NBC Sports Group. “And what better way to reach millennials than with the casts of their favorite shows watching Thursday Night Football within customized spots produced by the shows themselves. This customized consumer engagement plan demonstrates NBCUniversal’s extraordinary company-wide support for TNF.”
In addition to customized content, NBC Sports is extending its campaign by engaging millennials with numerous digital and social media partnerships and activations, including with AOL, Bleacher Report, EA Sports’ Madden, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Spotify, Twitter, UrbanDaddy, Whistle Sports, Yahoo, and YouTube.
All facets of the campaign will be supported by NBCUniversal’s “Symphony” marketing program, which generates massive awareness for important company initiatives by utilizing the company’s abundant and diverse broadcast, cable, regional, digital, social, radio and theme park assets.
Saints at Panthers is the first of five Thursday Night Football games to air on NBC this season:
| DATE | GAME |
| Thurs. Nov. 17 | New Orleans Saints at Carolina Panthers |
| Thurs. Dec. 1 | Dallas Cowboys at Minnesota Vikings |
| Thurs. Dec. 8 | Oakland Raiders at Kansas City Chiefs |
| Thurs. Dec. 15 | Los Angeles Rams at Seattle Seahawks |
| Thurs. Dec. 22 | New York Giants at Philadelphia Eagles |
