The Cricket Celebration Bowl is a college bowl game like no other.
Walk into Mercedes-Benz Stadium that weekend and you’ll realize this is more than a college football game, it's an HBCU family homecoming. Alumni reconnecting, parents introducing kids to traditions, and generations of the Black community coming together in Atlanta with energy that makes everyone feel like they belong.
The game matters. But so do the tailgates. The reunions. The fashion. And of course, the marching bands.
For Historically Black Colleges and Universities, bands are not just halftime entertainment. They are an equal part of the show. For some fans, they are THE show.
But while thousands of people get to feel that energy in the stadium, millions more are watching from home, wishing they were there. As the title sponsor of the game, Cricket wanted to bring them inside the celebration, and we have the 5G network to make it happen. Not with another highlight reel, but with the one perspective no fan has ever had: the drum major's view.
A view from the center of the field. Surrounded by 200 musicians, commanding 28,000 voices.
Our Challenge: Build a physical object powered with Cricket technology that could capture that spirit of the Celebration Bowl, prove our Cricket's 5G technology and share it with fans everywhere, in real time. And do it all with a $50,000 budget!
We started with a question: What if the drum major's mace (the baton they hold) could see what the drum major sees?
The Build
The mace is sacred in HBCU band culture. It is the ceremonial baton the drum major uses to command the band, a symbol of authority and tradition, and a focal point for artistic expression. We were not going to slap a GoPro on a stick.
We designed and fabricated a custom mace from scratch. In the crown, we embedded a 360-degree camera capable of capturing immersive footage from the drum major's point of view. We mounted it on a vibrant, color-changing LED staff that would stand out on camera and on the jumbotron. And we powered everything with Cricket's 5G network, enabling real-time streaming directly from the mace without lag or interruption.
But technical specs mean nothing if the object does not feel authentic. We brought in Isaac Williams, a former HBCU drum major, to consult on the design. He made sure the weight, the balance, and the look matched what a real drum major would carry. The mace had to belong on that field.
The Convergence
The 5G Mace was designed to exist in two places at once: physically in the stadium, digitally on screens everywhere.
Live Streaming: At the Band of the Year competition, Isaac went live on Instagram directly from the mace. Fans who could not be in Atlanta watched the performance in real time, from inside the action, with zero buffering. Cricket's 5G network made that possible by reinforcing the strength of its network, even in crowded arenas.
360-Degree Content Capture: Throughout the weekend, the mace captured footage that no other camera could get. The tunnel entrance. The halftime formations. The trophy ceremony. We took that footage and edited social content with cultural cues the HBCU community brings to make the event uniquely theirs. Content that put our digital audiences inside experiences they could never access from the stands.
Broadcast Integration: The mace was featured on ESPN during the coin toss, halftime coverage, and trophy ceremony. 2.3 million broadcast viewers saw the Cricket 5G Mace. Then they saw the content it captured live and as recaps in their social feeds.
On-Site Activation: Fans on the concourse interacted with the mace and shared their own POV and experiences. Both championship marching bands performed with it during the Jamboree, its 5G-powered camera capturing every moment from the drum major's perspective. The physical presence fueled the digital content, and the Cricket 5G digital content extended the physical experience.
One 5G enabled Mace connected four million people across in-person, broadcast, social, and earned media.
Content Performance:
The "Unboxing" video generated thousands of shares, proving audiences wanted to share the physical reveal digitally. Boosted content featuring mace footage beat engagement benchmarks by 41%.
The 5G Mace proved that physical and digital are not separate channels. They are two sides of the same experience. A single object, designed with both worlds in mind, bridged a stadium in Atlanta to phones across the country. It gave remote fans a reason to engage, in-person fans a reason to share, and the brand a distinctive asset that earned attention everywhere.
Physical Reach:
27,000 in-person attendees experienced the mace at the stadium + 10,000 more in the days leading up to the event.
Digital Reach:
1.1 million social views (+109% YoY)
32,700 engagements (+80% YoY)
+35% shares (YoY)
+270% new followers (YoY)
Earned Media:
750,000+ earned impressions
ABC News Live coverage featuring Isaac discussing the mace
Industry recognition from Historically Black Since
