Throughout the college football season, many of Disney Advertising’s major large-scale college football sponsors including Cheez-It, DoorDash, Dr Pepper, Nissan, Pizza Hut, RAM Truck, Taco Bell and Vrbo have collaborated with Disney’s award-winning in-house creative agency, Disney CreativeWorks, to deliver engaging content to fans that naturally aligns with ESPN’s college football coverage while also driving brand goals.
“From creative development and multi-platform production to proprietary insights and strategy, Disney CreativeWorks can do it all,” said Christina Carey Dunleavy, VP, Disney CreativeWorks and Multicultural & Inclusive Solutions. “College football provides a unique opportunity for our team to push boundaries and support advertisers in leveraging sponsorships to reach their brand goals.”
Disney has found that CPG brands do extremely well when advertised in the college football environment – especially when collaborating with Disney CreativeWorks on custom content. This season Cheez-It and Disney's prized in-house creative agency have worked together on a custom campaign unveiling the “Cheeziest Chain,” which will highlight the most passionate college football fans across the country. The “Cheeziest Chain” will be presented to the best fans during ESPN’s digital live show, Countdown to College GameDay. The creative will also be featured in two-box commercials across ABC and ESPN game windows.
A fan favorite, the Dr Pepper Tuition Giveaway program, has made a return this season but with a twist. This year the brand will develop social content, featuring Omar Raja, with Disney CreativeWorks to reach a new audience and drive student participation across platforms. Additionally, Dr Pepper and Disney CreativeWorks will develop custom pre-produced pieces featuring Rece Davis, College Gameday’s preeminent hosts and a mainstay on ESPN for more than 25 years, that ran during the infamous Red River Showdown between Texas and Oklahoma on Oct. 8 and drive fans to the Dr Pepper Tuition Giveaway program.
Nissan will continue to promote its relationship with the Heisman Trophy through engaging branded content such as exclusive behind the scenes vlogs with Omar Raja, Nissan Heisman House apartment tours, and Show Us Your Heisman with talent and Heisman Winners. The content will be featured across a variety of social platforms including TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Nissan will also be one of the first sponsors to utilize Disney CreativeWorks to develop custom creative for strategic placements across ESPN’s streaming programming.
RAM Trucks will continue to align with tailgating throughout the college football season, with the sponsorship of The Kickoff digital live show, which resulted in 1.2x increase in ad awareness, a 76 percent increase in reputation and an 81 percent increase in recommendation for the brand last season. This season, the show will drive home RAM’s tailgating messaging with custom graphics and a Best Tailgating Tips pre-produced custom segment – all being distributed across the ESPN App, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
Taco Bell’s Live Más Student Section has made a comeback this season. The brand will work with Disney CreativeWorks to generate buzz through custom creative leveraging ESPN’s top talent such as, Tiffany Greene, Robert Griffin III, Omar Raja, Gary Striewski, and Christine Williamson. These segments will drive awareness of the Live Mas Student Section and encourage fans to vote for the best student section of the year.
DoorDash and Pizza Hut will continue to leverage their College GameDay official sponsorships through the development of custom creative featuring College GameDay analysts throughout the season to reach individual brand goals. Last season Pizza Hut partnered with Disney CreativeWorks to develop custom vignettes and features airing across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ABC. In collaboration with EDO and YouGov, Disney found that viewers were 13 percent more likely to search Pizza Hut following an airing compared to a standard ad airing on competitive broadcast and cable networks.
In its first year as a College Football Playoff Sponsor, Vrbo will utilize Disney CreativeWorks to develop custom content that will be integrated into live games and across ESPN’s digital and social platforms.
Media Contact:
Kristen Smith | Kristen.T.Smith@Disney.com