As the official wine sponsor of the NFL, Barefoot was looking to engage with new fans by showcasing that football, like wine, should be easy to enjoy. Barefoot believes that wine is all about having fun without the fuss, dispelling the misconception that wine and football are too complicated to understand.
To highlight Barefoot as the Official Wine Sponsor of the NFL and attract new fans, Praytell conceptualized and created the “Barefoot Bandwagon Box.” New fans had an opportunity to enter a contest to win a chance to learn about both football and wine at the Super Bowl rematch (Kansas City vs. Philadelphia Eagles) on Nov. 20. Our objective was to get new NFL fans to consider Barefoot by showing them that wine and football are easy to enjoy.
And who better to welcome these recent supporters than football’s most famous mom, Donna Kelce. The idea was strong and relevant, and the execution was primed for success. But with the news of a relevant and trending celeb relationship attracting a plethora of bandwagon fans, this brand activation went from promising rookie to Hall-of-Famer, generating remarkable results.
As the official wine sponsor of the NFL, Barefoot aimed to educate new fans about how simple it is to enjoy wine and football alike. Amidst a new trending celeb relationship attracting more football fans than ever before, the bandwagon fan started trending harder than ever and provided a unique opportunity for Barefoot to ride a cultural wave. The strategy shifted from a longer-term build out of a brand-owned moment to (swift)ly inserting ourselves into a trending conversation with a unique POV. Aligning ourselves with a brand partner adjacent to the pop culture spotlight was key to staying as close as possible to the conversation. We also wanted to ensure this ambassador could support us in our mission to make wine and football easy to enjoy. Enter Donna Kelce.
There had been a growing interest in the NFL with bandwagon fans leveraging social media to share information and be involved like never before. We identified these bandwagon fans as a category of new football lovers who didn't have a space to call their own. This massive group of fans was also unable to comfortably learn about the game of football at their own pace. This anxiety about football being too complicated to simply enjoy perfectly aligns with a common misconception about wine and gave us the opportunity to bring bandwagon fans into the fold with the credibility that our NFL partnership offers. Enter the Barefoot Bandwagon Box— a space to enjoy football and wine, no matter what level of knowledge you have of either.
Our first challenge was educating fans that Barefoot Wine is the official wine of the NFL. Before the campaign, Barefoot only had a .4% share of voice compared to other NFL sponsors, so whatever we did this season had to make enough of a splash to even the playing field between Barefoot and competitors. We also needed to tap into the bandwagon fan category and ensure we were reaching them early in their NFL journey. Timing was also a challenge. Praytell needed to strike while the iron was hot to make the Barefoot Bandwagon Box a success from the first snap of the season. This gave us five weeks from the inception of the idea to full execution—including building a strategy, securing talent, pitching, and launching the experience.
Launch day kicked off with a social media post from Donna Kelce, highlighting the collaboration and detailing how people could enter the contest for a seat in the Barefoot Bandwagon Box. The social post was timed to match the launch of a People exclusive and the distribution of the press release to create consistency across all communications. Shortly following these launch tactics, Praytell conducted widespread media outreach, securing additional coverage with TODAY, Mashed, Parade, FOX Business, and Us Weekly. Continued earned outreach led to more local and national coverage, culminating in the live experience in the box at the Chiefs vs. Eagles game in Kansas City. Our winner and three of her friends got to hang out with not only Donna Kelce but also Chiefs legend Jamaal Charles, Barefoot head winemaker Jenn Wall, and influencers Uly and Ernesto.
The program smashed every KPI, from the number of stories to impressions to entries and more. Donna’s exclusive interview with People was followed by a deluge of coverage from top-tier media like Fox Sports, TODAY, Us Weekly, and many, many more, totaling 360 placements and 6 billion impressions. Bandwagon fans could enter from 11/2-11/8, and despite a 375-word minimum and this short entry period, Barefoot received thousands of entries. The conversation soon reached viral status, taking off on social and across broadcast media. Praytell capped off the campaign by hosting Elite Daily in the box alongside Mama Kelce and the winners. The winner’s hometown broadcast station even featured them in an on-air interview to hear about the experience.
What began as a mission to nurture the bandwagon fan in all of us became an inspiring in-person experience for a lucky contest winner. Our challenges ranged from a small share of voice of the brand to a tangibly truncated timeline, but we managed to keep our eyes firmly on the prize ahead. And lastly, when a star-studded relationship puts a spotlight on the Bandwagon Box, this idea seamlessly entered the cultural conversation—as all the best concepts do.
These are the Barefoot by the numbers version
