‘Helmets off strategy’: CMO Tim Ellis on his mission to ‘humanise’ the NFL
From embracing the creator economy to making the Draft a cultural moment, the NFL is six years into a strategy aimed at showing the “human, compassionate and youthful face” of America’s national game.
Ellis inherited a sport grappling with its future amid high-profile criticism from quarterback and civil rights activist Colin Kaepernick, coupled with controversy surrounding the link between football and fatal brain disease CTE. Others claimed the league was fundamentally failing to keep pace with the times.
“There were all kinds of news stories about how the NFL was dying and it’s a dinosaur. It had had its best days,” Ellis recalls, speaking to Marketing Week at Cannes Lions.
Undaunted by the scale of the challenge, he kicked into growth mode with a goal to “humanise” and “modernise” the league to futureproof the sport for years to come.
