PARTNERSHIP CONTENT // ATHLETE STORIES // BROADCAST
LA Kings // Original Series
YEARS: 2018 - 2022
Project overview
The LA Kings are responsible for creating unique sponsored series throughout the season. The goal of each series is to show an inside look at different elements of the game from play-by-play analysis to heartfelt player interest pieces to bring their passion and history to fans.
The challenge
Hockey players notoriously do not like the spotlight on them. Getting them to open up and adapt to the various formats of each bespoke series took earning their buy-in and making the shoots comfortable, adaptive, and high-production value to surpass the expectations of our fans and the brands who sponsored them.
My role
Creative & Production Director - overseeing both teams developing branding packages and production plans for each episode of each series. My role required working closely with Hockey Ops and Communication teams to be abreast to storylines, player moves, and overarching LA Kings brand goals. I worked in lockstep with Partnerships to ensure we aligned on clear KPIs and expectations for new and existing series deals requiring deliverables and content performance reporting.
The solution
We spent every off-season reviewing our own tapes, seeing what worked, what stories we may have missed and what we anticipated coming up and developed season-spanning content strategies for each series. We got buy-in from leadership and players by providing a consistent vision on each series and how we could make them better, bigger, and more exciting season over season.
unique visual identities for each series
We developed brand packages for each series that included everything from where we would spend travel budget to bring the content to life or tapping into motion and illustration to offer something unique to the series.
Black & White Series
Inside the Play Series
In the Pipeline Series
My Day with A King Series
The pride of the LA Kings original series would be this series. We used each episode as an opportunity to deep dive into topics that resonated with fans and worked closely with our Communications Director to highlight key players and shifts in the team to align with our overall team messaging. The series also regularly sent our Production team on location to get the full story and talk to player families and former coaches.
Black & White Series - presented by Spectrum
The concept came easily by partnering with former LA King, Jim Fox, who already plays a key role as a Fox Sports broadcast analyst to sit with our players and dissect some of the best moments they have on ice and get player POVs on how they were able to pull off the shots and dekes that turned the game around.
Inside the Play - presented by Pepperdine University
When we get new players, we need to help our fans get to know them. This series took our production crew to the homes of our most promising prospects and hear how their careers started, see where they used to practice in their childhood back-yards, and interview those closest to them on how they made it to the Big Show.
In the Pipeline - presented by SoCal Gas
Every season, we partner with Children’s Hospital of LA to create a content series with them. Children are natural story-tellers and we wanted to give those who were patients at the hospital an opportunity to have a day with a Kings, even if they weren’t able to leave their room. Inspired by Drunk History, we develop the concept of asking three patients, “what would you do with your favorite King for a day?” We then worked with a local illustration house in LA to bring their stories to life in an animated series where anything they dreamed could be possible for a day.
My Day with a King - presented by Children’s Hospital LA
Teddy Talks
The fresh new series concept was developed by working with former LA King, Teddy Purcell, who was keen to help us get our more quiet players to open up. We would develop a new activity each episode for Teddy to take a current King on from cooking dinner to taking the kids to sled the sand dunes of Manhattan Beach.
series results
The “Black & White” series has consistently clocked over 1M views across episodes per season since launch.
Partnership deals for each series brought in additional revenue SoS and supported long-standing partnership relationships with key brands.
Bucket list item: Make content that involves puppies and hockey players.
Players began to ask to be a part of Originals after developing consistent, welcoming productions and sets they learned to trust and supported.