One claymation Viking with 16 different stories to tell. Viktor, the main character of Viking Quest, shed his "Minnesota Nice" facade in 2018 and started to playfully poke fun at pop culture, fan traditions and team rivalries. Year after year, the Minnesota Vikings gear up for 16 regular-season matchups. Each week, the team prepares to face a variety of unique opponents across the National Football League, all of which have individual storylines, player personalities and "inside jokes" of their very own.
As social media platforms change, the content that the Minnesota Vikings create is constantly in-flux. Instead of fighting the inevitable, the social media department embraced the unknown and re-invented the Viking Quest for another season. Over the past three years, Viking Quest has built a lot of equity with fans, who continue to seek out the videos.
Once a hallmark of Vine in 2015, the weekly Viking Quest "mini-episodes" have become the most popular videos on the team Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts. Viking Quest is a prime example of adaptation and innovation on social media, especially within the sports industry. In order to generate excitement and give fans more of the content they desired, the social media team partnered back up with creative powerhouse Ian Padgham (illustration, animator, cinematographer and videographer) to poke fun at each opponent on a weekly recurring basis.
Based on the schedule, team situation and each week's upcoming matchup, the social media group and creative department worked closely with Padgham to come up with the best, most compelling concepts for the week. The goal was to include a lot of depth and detail in every element of the creative process so that fans would want to go back and watch it two or three times to make sure they saw every joke or "Easter egg." Once the creative direction was determined, Ian would then to go work using a variety of different creative media. This year, one little claymation Viking was the star of every story. Because news in the NFL can change so rapidly, Ian often had to develop complex videos in as few as two days and even down to hours. It was important for Ian and the social media team to communicate frequently to make sure video ideas were relevant, cast the Vikings in a positive light and would be what the fans enjoy.
3,484,383 total views and 323,796 total engagements across all three major social media platforms. Total engagements increased 12% as compared to the year prior.
Total Instagram Views: 962,172 (Top episode during week 13 vs. New England Patriots)
Total Instagram Engagements: 214,735 (Top episode during week 5 vs. Philadelphia Eagles)
Total Twitter Views: 654,996 3,718,542 (Top episode during week 2 vs. Green Bay Packers)
Total Twitter Engagements: 20,786 (Top episode during week 13 vs. New England Patriots)
Total Facebook Views: 1,867,215 (Top episode during week 2 vs. Green Bay Packers)
Total Facebook Engagements: 88,275 (Top episode during week 2 vs. Green Bay Packers)
