How do you top a 2023 season filled with viral aerial stunt moments? Set a world record!
Last season, the Atlanta Falcons became known for their aerial stunts with Freddie Falcon and hip-hop artist Ludacris combining for four stunts totaling 50 million video views through a combination of ziplines and rappelling performances from the Mercedes-Benz Stadium roof. In order to raise the roof on these nerve-racking stunts, the Falcons aimed for Guinness World Records.
Prior to the team's Week 1 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Guinness World Records team came to Atlanta for official measurement of Freddie Falcon's attempt at the highest indoor rope swing drop. The Falcons captured the moment via behind-the scenes video as the mascot walked through the stadium catwalk, leaping from a beam underneath the video board. In addition, the stunt was filmed with 360 camera that Freddie held throughout the stunt, which immediately went viral.
The record became official at 143 feet, 5.25 inches.
STRATEGY:
EXECUTION:
The Falcons game entertainment team reached out to Guinness World Records during the offseason after identifying the possibility of besting the previous record for "highest indoor rope swing drop." After setting up the stunt time and location, an official measurement team was enlisted to record the exact height of the drop, and an official from Guinness World Records flew to Atlanta to commemorate the occasion.
The Atlanta Falcons digital team used an Insta360 X4 camera mounted on a selfie stick to capture the unique up-close angle, which could be stabilized throughout the jump. After the jump, the video was edited, colored, and sent to the social team in 9x16 format for posting.
Collab requests were sent on Instagram to Freddie Falcon, the NFL, and Guinness World Records.
The production team also captured a behind-the-scenes video of the jump as the mascot walked through the catwalk, got secured to the rope swing, and lept into history. That video was posted a few days after the jump, allowing fans to relive the viral moment from another perspective.
Two weeks after Freddie's record jump, Kaylee Hartung of the TODAY Show came to Mercedes-Benz Stadium to attempt a similar zipline stunt. The video aired on the TODAY Show in an exclusive segment and was even mentioned during the Falcons' Thursday Night Football game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as Kaylee is also a sideline reporter for "TNF."
Freddie's stunt had truly garnered national attention, even from outside the sports industry.
The single post garnered 47.6 million video views on Instagram alone, nearly matching the total of all four stunts from the 2023 season across all social platforms. With 2.5 million engagements on Instagram, it became the most engaging post across any platform in the history of the Atlanta Falcons social accounts. It's also the most viewed and most engaging post by the NFL or any club on Instagram during the 2024 season.
While Instagram was the platform that went particularly viral, the video also garnered 346,400 interactions on Facebook, the highest for any NFL team during the 2024 calendar year, surpassing all Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl victory content. The video received 21 million video views on Facebook. On X/Twitter, the video had 4 million video views, the most for the Falcons X/Twitter account during the 2024 calendar year.
Including re-shares by other social accounts, the single video totaled 89.7 million impressions, 4.6 million engagements, and 84.3 million video views for a post valuation of $1.3 million. The valuation is particularly important as the stunts for the 2024 season were sponsored by Crocs as Freddie dawned the custom footwear.
RESULTS:
