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When announcing this year's Rams schedule, the marketing team wanted to build on the past two years' performance while also tying in the theme of “music'' that will be included in all messages for 2024.
Enter Aaron Rollo, an animator who has worked on the Rams' schedule announcements and other marketing and social promotions in recent years. Using tools like Unreal Engine, Los Angeles classics like Nipsey Hussle, and a lowrider aesthetic with elements of Grand Theft Auto, Lolo will explore the Rams' desired final destination of the season: He directed a schedule announcement video highlighting a trip to New Orleans, site of Super Bowl 59.
“On the football side, the entire NFL season is a race to the Super Bowl, and each game is a unique challenge for each team. “We felt ending the game was a great way to introduce the game,” said Rams Vice President and Brand Strategy Lexi Vonderlees. On the creative side, the consumer is very savvy and it is difficult for him to maintain the viewer's concentration for more than three minutes. We needed a mechanic that was fast-paced and allowed us to use different references to differentiate each scene. Luckily, having a car as this mechanic makes it easy to celebrate a variety of pop culture, from music to movies, series, and video games. ”
The NFL's game schedule announcement has long been a big day for teams. This is because it is the busiest day of the year for ticket sales. But in recent years it has become a big day for clubs' content and social media teams, competing with each other on messaging, fan reaction and style.
“It's great that each team is now able to have such a big tournament. This is like a Super Bowl commercial for the teams, because it's the only time the teams' creativity is actually ranked against each other. ,” Fonderies said. “We consider our release date schedule a success if we sell tickets and see significant engagement and conversation around our content.”
Please enter “Los Rams Customs”
Each team on the Rams' schedule has a vignette, with many referencing pop culture beats. In preparation for the road trip to the Cardinals, Rams coach Sean McVay cruises the Southwest desert in a blue lowrider, resembling an RV hidden among rocks and brush, a mobile chemistry lab from Breaking Bad. I passed by. During the Raiders' visit, McVay's car runs through a roulette wheel, with a bouncing soccer ball replacing the ball. It may be Lolo's favorite, but a visit to Miami is a call to action for Grand Theft Auto Online, with Los Rams customs where lowriders storm the garage and a GTA-esque menu that brings up Dolphins stats. .
The same 1964 Impala lowrider that Hussle used on the cover of their 2018 album Victory Lap felt like the epitome of the style Lolo and the Rams were pursuing.
“I'm not from L.A., but from all the music and media I've consumed over the years, I've come to understand that lowriders are synonymous with the stamp of L.A. culture,” Lolo said, adding that the Brits: Ta. The Lowrider breathes Rams and represents everything the Rams brand stands for. It's classy, stylish, strong, has a bit of flair, and taps into what Rams is trying to say as a brand. ”
Lowriders fall in love with GTA Online, one of Rollo's favorites. Its aesthetic when it comes to cars and player car customization matches the look Lolo was going for.
“The GTA scene was actually the first one we created and was actually the first idea that came to mind when I imagined what this video would be,” Rollo said. “I always had a vision of parking a car in a car factory and having it upgraded in some way, and it ended up fitting perfectly with the story. Grand Theft Auto has direct ties to both cities, with the fictional Miami appearing in various editions of the game. [Vice City] Los Angeles [Los Santos].
“Most people who've played the game will be familiar with Los Santos Customs, the iconic auto body shop from GTA that inspired Los Rams Customs. We even planned the camera movement to coincide with the gameplay. The scene has an unmistakable sense of nostalgia and adds to the overall impact of the video.”
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combine the pieces
Rollo created the vignettes before he even knew what order they would be arranged in. The Rams knew their opponents but didn't know the dates of each game until a few hours before the schedule was released on Wednesday. That gave Rollo about 24 hours to piece the clips together, which happened to be his favorite part of the project: It was like fitting the pieces of a puzzle together.
“When we finally manage to put all the scenes together and sync them with the music, that's when everything really comes to life and people start to feel the feelings we had for this project from the beginning.” Rolo said. “Throughout the whole process, we have a passion and a vision for it, but we can only show people part of that vision through previews and cuts. Syncing really brings your videos to life.”
But this also ties into a larger marketing message for the Rams that goes beyond the release of the schedule: how music plays into the promotion of the season as a whole.
“When we start thinking about themes for the season, we look at what the players, coaches and media are saying about the team. We look at what the players, coaches and media are saying about the team. I can see from the way things are going that there's a lot of synergy between the music and the team so far. [Rams NT] “Coby Turner is actually known as 'The Conductor,'” Vonderreis said.
