Jerry Rice and Chad Johnson Put Their Famed Catching Skills to Use in NFL+ Campaign

Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Jerry Rice and former All-Pro wide receiver Chad Johnson play up their famed catching skills in a new ad campaign released to promote NFL+, the National Football League’s streaming video subscription service.  The campaign highlights the expansion of NFL+ this season to now include a live stream of NFL Network and NFL RedZone across devices, in addition to providing access to live local and primetime regular season and postseason games on mobile devices, live local and national audio for every game, on-demand programming and more. 

The campaign is by the NFL’s creative agency 72andSunny, and features two creative executions directed by Emmy Award-nominated Alice Mathias, who is best known for her work on comedies including 'Portlandia' and 'I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson'.

In 'Jerry’s Catch', Rice barely breaks a sweat as increasingly large devices are tossed his way. Meanwhile, “Chad’s Catch” features Johnson catching various smartphones as they fly past him—without missing a second of his yoga session, paint and sip class, or the bocce game he’s playing with a few senior citizens.

But their best catch? Signing up for NFL+, which now includes a live stream of NFL Network.  NFL Network provides viewers with 24/7 football news and coverage, straight from the field, team headquarters, league offices and everywhere the NFL is making news. In addition, subscribers to NFL+ Premium have access to a live stream of NFL RedZone, which delivers every touchdown from every game on Sunday afternoons during the regular season.

“While the love of the game unites NFL fans, they have many different ways of keeping up with the action,” said Josh Rabenovets, NFL VP of fan engagement marketing. “With this expansion of NFL+, we’re showing our commitment to giving fans what they want, which is brought to life in a very funny way in this new campaign.”

Jason LaFlore, creative director at 72andSunny, said, “Being able to catch all this NFL content on the go is a pretty big deal, so it was only right that we work with two of the biggest names in pass catching history. We had a lot of fun working with Jerry and Chad to bring this idea to life, and we hope audiences enjoy it.”

The campaign broke with Jerry Rice’s spot on September 7th on national broadcast media, as well as NFL digital and social channels.