The NFL’s biggest story in 2024 wasn’t about winning, it was about losing…sleep. Back in July of 2024, New York Giants owner John Mara made headlines when a clip from HBO’s Hard Knocks showed him telling his staff he would “have a tough time sleeping” if his star player, Saquon Barkley, left to sign with the Philadelphia Eagles — his hated rivals. By the time the episode aired, Saquon had indeed signed with the Eagles. And all season long the clip kept going viral as Saquon won. When the Giants faced the Eagles on January 5, 2025, the culmination of Mara’s season-long nightmare was our dream opportunity to remind people that Unisom—the most trusted sleep aid—helps crush the intrusive thoughts keeping people up at night. We turned a cultural conversation about sleep into a cultural conversation about Unisom. Unisom partnered with Saquon to create content aimed at Mara (and sleepless Giants fans). We created a lo-fi video, filled with Easter eggs for football fans, featuring Saquon singing a lullaby and ending on a simple call to action: “You should try Unisom. I don’t need it, but you might.” The video was released on Instagram just in time for the anticipated Eagles vs. Giants game, ensuring we got maximum attention. And fans definitely paid attention, as the campaign went viral on social media from Reddit to TikTok and X. To make a culturally and brand relevant idea even more attention-grabbing, we took a strategic earned media approach that amplified the campaign by securing coverage in all major sports outlets including ESPN, NY Times and Sports Illustrated. We even got mentioned during the NFL’s live broadcast of the game itself. John Mara couldn’t get away from it. He responded, saying he was mad…that Saquon hadn’t asked him to participate in the video—further fueling the conversation and extending our reach. The combination of fusing cultural relevance with brand relevance and the use of strategic earned media was a win for Unisom. The campaign resulted in 830K engagements, 19.3 million views, and 1.9 billion earned impressions. Glance views for Unisom on Amazon increased by 68%, driving a 4x sales lift within one hour. Unisom transitioned from trailing in brand awareness to front-page news, becoming part of the season’s narrative.