The NFL began a tradition of releasing schedule release videos in 2018. The idea was to create fun, engaging, and often humorous videos to build anticipation and excitement among fans for the upcoming season. Teams began putting their own creative spin on these videos over the years, ranging from pop culture parodies and social media trends to high-production skits featuring players, mascots, and celebrities.
The goal for the Patriots 2024 Schedule Release was to create a viral video that engaged the NFL audience as a whole that displayed the Patriots 2024-25 season schedule.
Our team made the distinction early on that we wanted to target a national audience, as opposed to just our regional or local audience. With that in mind, we knew we had to conceive a story that featured (1) household names and (2) recognizable references.
We landed on a concept that featured recognizable stars Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski in a parody of Good Will Hunting. We decided that a movie trailer script would work best in order weave schedule related jokes into the movie’s most recognizable scenes.
With this concept, we eliminated the potential of having too similar of an idea to any other teams, which was happened in years past with other NFL clubs. Parodying a classic Boston film that was critically acclaimed both honored our New England roots while not alienating audiences outside of our fan base.
“Good Jules Hunting” received high praise throughout the sports media landscape. Most rankings had our video at #1 or #2 on their lists with Dianna Russini of The Athletic, saying that “[The Patriots] have taken đź‘‘” via Twitter/X.
The video performed favorably in engagement as well, with the video ranking in the top 5 in views on multiple platforms across all of the 32 NFL teams the day following the event. It was ranked #3 on Twitter/X, #4 on Instagram, and #5 on YouTube.
