The National Football League (NFL) knew it needed a partner it could trust to ensure the celebration of its 100th season would be rooted in a sound strategy and would strike the right tone with various audiences. Like many organizations, the NFL was not short on potential ideas, but it lacked a clear vision, strategy and narrative to tie together a plethora of on- and off-field initiatives. The league turned to History Factory—the world leader in corporate anniversaries—to help craft a strategy for its centennial.

History Factory met with more than a dozen senior leaders across the organization, as well as individual team representatives and the Pro Football Hall of Fame, to build a unified vision and identify opportunities to engage audiences in a meaningful way. Our Clear Line of Sight™ methodology helped the NFL clearly articulate the centennial vision, including objectives, audiences and measures of success. This clear vision gave the NFL and its partners a strategic direction for building and executing various aspects of the centennial. Equally important was establishing a point of view on telling the NFL’s story. With input from the NFL, History Factory developed a strategy for storytelling that gave focus and consistency to how the NFL tells the story of its past, present and future.

Armed with these tools for a historic centennial celebration, the NFL has been able to develop program and activation ideas that will enable it to engage key audiences, tell a consistent story, and achieve its objectives.

For more information on the NFL 100 celebrations, check out this presentation by the NFL, given by Pete Abitante, Vice President-Special Projects, at the Anniversary Marketing Summit.