In Philadelphia, the Eagles are more than a football team. They are part of the city’s DNA. A playoff run unites neighborhoods across the five-county region (Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties) like nothing else and ignites passion among Eagles fans nationwide.
Our objective was to channel that emotion into participation through a clear call to action.
The Bird Calls campaign harnessed the energy of the Philadelphia Eagles’ 2025 Super Bowl run to galvanize civic pride and connect football fans to the Visit Philly brand during a brief, high-impact window (January 27 to February 14, 2025).
We invited fans to “Make Your Bird Call” by leaving voicemail messages of encouragement for the team. Physical rotary phones were installed at iconic locations across the city, while a virtual phone number allowed participation from anywhere in the country.
By handing fans the microphone (or a phone, at least) we shifted from speaking to our audience to amplifying them.
The campaign aimed to:
With just a $75,000 budget, Bird Calls transformed fan passion into participatory storytelling during a pivotal moment in the team’s (and city’s) history.
The morning after the Eagles clinched the NFC Championship, Visit Philadelphia partnered with After the Tone to install vintage rotary phones at five high-traffic locations across the city:
Each phone sat on a pedestal with a simple invitation: “Yo, Eagles fans! Make your Bird Call. Leave a message for the Eagles on their road to victory.”
Phones remained at these locations for two days, capturing spontaneous, unfiltered reactions from fans celebrating the win. A roving sixth phone traveled to Rittenhouse Square, LOVE Park and McGillin’s Olde Ale House to gather additional content.
To expand participation beyond city limits, we also launched a dedicated virtual phone line. We distributed 15,000 branded coasters featuring the phone number to sports bars across Greater Philadelphia and promoted the campaign through visitphilly.com, paid social ads and earned media coverage on local and national broadcasts.
Calls came in from across the country, including from as far away as California, New Mexico and Hawaii.
The creative approach was intentionally simple and low-tech. Physically picking up a rotary phone created an intimate, emotional call to action.
The messages we received ranged from heartfelt and nostalgic to humorous and profane. But they were all unmistakably “Philly.”
Celebrity participation amplified reach, with messages from Patti LaBelle, Philadelphia Freeway, Ms. Abbott (the real-life namesake behind Abbott Elementary), sports stars Alejandro Bedoya and Chris Jenkins, and even Philly’s Mayor, Cherelle Parker.
Staff members from across all of Visit Philly’s departments reviewed thousands of submissions over two weeks, selecting standout audio clips that became the foundation for a dozen original hype videos shared across Visit Philly’s social platforms.
Rather than delivering a traditional marketing message, Bird Calls ceded the spotlight to the city itself — turning grassroots fan emotion into compelling digital storytelling that aligned with Visit Philly’s brand: celebrating the people who make Philadelphia special.
In just three weeks, Bird Calls generated 2,850 voicemail messages from Eagles fans locally and nationwide.
Audio from those calls fueled 12 original social videos and 40 total social posts across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Threads and YouTube, resulting in:
A hype video released the day before the Super Bowl became the most-viewed original Instagram Reel in Visit Philly history, earning a 17.88% engagement rate.
Between January 27 and February 14 — culminating with the Eagles’ Super Bowl championship parade — the Bird Calls landing page on visitphilly.com generated:
And, notably, the Eagles won Super Bowl LIX — a moment of civic pride that capped a campaign powered entirely by the voices of Philadelphia fans.
