The Athletic, the sports journalism department of The New York Times, launched an unprecedented campaign last week featuring 32 team-specific Connections: Sports Edition puzzles, marking the first time the popular New York Times Games format offered dedicated puzzles for every professional football team.
Our Talent & Partnerships team successfully secured Eli Manning as talent, leveraging his status as both a two-time champion quarterback and committed New York Times Games puzzler.
The team handled all elements of talent management – from casting to contracting, and all pre and postproduction approvals. As a representative of the New York market, Manning brought authentic credibility to the campaign, and his participation created engaging social media content for The Athletic and elevated the campaign beyond a simple product launch into a legitimate test of football fandom.