Initial Concepting

Since college football is a huge perennial driver of Sling subscribership, it’s essential to bring it to market with some serious fanfare. We presented a series of concepts that laddered up to the core RTBs of flexibility and control, both of which are facets that fans of any stripe can appreciate.

My role included running the brainstorming sessions, art directing initial concepting and refinement, and assisting with deck construction, write-ups, and presentation.

R2 Concept Development

Concept 4 was chosen for further development for its focus on putting gameday into the hands of the fan. Additional characters were generated with Midjourney that would help further embody the hype of the season.

R3 Concept Development

At this stage, the client decided that the superfan was the best visual to drive home the idea of putting the viewer in control of the CFB experience. To that end, the creative team had to say goodbye to the “Sling Thing” mascot that we had high hopes for in exchange for further fleshing out the superfans, Chad and Barb.

In-Market Deliverables

Following AI-legal approval and some in-house retouching to eliminate the usual array of extra extremities and mushy background mobs, Chad and Barb were ready to bring the CFB hype to ads far and wide. This step typically consists of creating a Look & Feel file that utilizes components for easy versioning across 50+ platform specs via production templates that I created/maintain to optimize production efficiency.

RESULT

As with almost all Sling initiatives, the 2024 College Football campaign was developed on a rapid timeline consisting of 4 weeks from initial KO to market by a team of 3 designers + 3 production artists. Once again, the integration of AI was a game-changer in being able to bring creative vision to life for clients. As champions of this nascent tool, we feel privileged to shape how it’s used in a constraint-driven marketing environment while still ensuring that it achieves the desired results.