The Brief —
ESPN came to R/GA to help promote ESPN’s slate of the 2019 NBA Christmas games and sought to create a campaign to highlight the 5 big game matchups, the many stars, and talents that would play on the big day. The challenge was to bring a fresh approach to hero the single biggest day of NBA consumption of the season and spread the word that there is something for everyone, not just the hard-core fans.

The Outcome —
With the help of award-winning artist John Legend, ESPN launched Christmasketball. More than just Christmas and basketball, it was a full-day nostalgic variety show that brought all the fun traditions of Christmas and basketball together with something for everyone. The campaign featured festive content starring John Legend and ESPN personalities including Rachel Nichols, Maria Taylor, Jalen Rose, and Jay Williams.

My Role —
I was the lead visual designer, art directing and establishing the campaign design system. I also lead and oversaw photoshoots with ESPN talent, managed a team of animators, and created a campaign playbook that would be executed internally along ESPN’s own design team. But the most exciting part of the campaign was when I came up with the witty line “We Swish You a Merry Christmas” that eventually got turned into a :15 spot with John Legend.

Details

2019
Designer
R/GA New York

Tasks

Art Direction
Design Systems
Talent Management
Campaign Concepting

Core Team

Mike Donaghey
Chris Joakim
Chris Parker
Jackson Harper
Gabe Towles
Gavin Shapiro
Robert Paynter
Pete Karam