With Heart: A Unified Campaign for the NFL's Youth Health & Wellness Programs

In a saturated wellness market where youth mental and physical health are still declining, the NFL had a chance to stand out. Casual fans already saw the league as a force for good, but our primary research showed they did not connect that perception to the NFL's impact on youth. The league's programs were doing meaningful work, but the story was not reaching the people who mattered most.

The strategic opportunity was to unify the NFL's youth health and wellness initiatives under one umbrella campaign that could increase awareness, shift perception, and drive engagement with existing platforms and programs.

Agency 613 conducted research over eight months using youth and parent interviews, observational studies, survey respondents, focus groups, NFL game streaming analysis, social listening, Simmons data, and concept testing.

That work led to three persona groups: Nurturers (lead decision-makers), Players (youth participants), and Connectors (community influencers). Nurturers became the primary target, with Players as the key participants most influenced by the league's youth-facing programs.

A core insight: celebrating individual growth resonated most with the NFL's youth health positioning. In a culture focused on personal achievement, the league could show its initiatives are built for individual development, not generic wellness messaging.

With Heart reframes the NFL as a partner in encouraging the next generation to live with resilience. The campaign idea: heart is not only on the field in a goal-line stand. It is also in the scraped-knee moment when a kid gets back on their bike and tries again.

The positioning strategy positioned the NFL as already being a champion of resilience, and the campaign makes that equity visible across youth programs. Messaging, visual identity, and handwritten notes extend the brand into an emotional territory casual fans had not previously associated with league initiatives.

Creative executions included Works of HeART (community mural series), Primetime Valentine, a children's book, a campaign microsite, and With Heart Week activations tied to key NFL moments.

Our media plan allocated a $10.4 million budget across a 12-month flight (September 2026 to September 2027), designed to meet casual fans across the fandom journey through social, partnerships, out-of-home, experiential, and in-game moments.

Partnership concepts included Uber Eats for Super Bowl LXI, Quaker Chewy Bars co-branding, a Marriott Bonvoy sweepstakes, and a Dude Perfect collaboration to reach the Player audience.

Campaign objectives focused on lifting positive brand perception (unifying, culturally relevant, socially responsible, inclusive), increasing awareness of youth programs, and establishing the NFL as a long-term player in youth development.

The final plans book is the full NSAC competition deliverable. The PDF in Deliverables includes the complete case from research through evaluation.

Executive summary, brand analysis and opportunity, target audience, audience segmentation, brand messaging, positioning strategy, manifesto, creative strategy playbook, creative executions and activations, media strategy, media schedule and budget, campaign evaluation, and conclusion.