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Case Study:
Clothing and Retail
1-800-Flowers, the iconic floral and gifting brand known for helping people connect and celebrate life’s moments, set out to make a meaningful impact with Gen Z audiences ahead of Mother’s Day. The brand teamed up with Postgame to launch a heartfelt NIL campaign featuring influential college athletes, spotlighting their relationships with their moms through authentic, emotionally driven content. With just a two week window to execute, the campaign delivered powerful storytelling, nationwide reach, and a new standard for what’s possible in athlete gifting campaigns.
The Challenge: Creating brand awareness through authentic storytelling from college athletes
For Mother’s Day 2025, 1-800-Flowers wanted to tap into the power of authentic storytelling from college athletes, driving awareness for their flexible delivery and gifting experience. The ask? Over 30+ athletes creating heartfelt, on brand content with their moms, while meeting tight deadlines, overcoming logistical hurdles during peak athletic travel season, and all this in the middle of finals week. Between last minute road trips, exam schedules, and limited time at home, coordinating meaningful content around a flower delivery became a true test of Postgame’s ability to adapt, communicate, and deliver.
Postgame had just two weeks to deliver the entire campaign from athlete selection to final content delivery, timed precisely with the arrival of the flowers. With many athletes either traveling or attending school far from home, capturing content with their moms added another layer of complexity.
The Solution: Develop a multi-phase plan that fosters authenticity from athletes at a scaled approach
Postgame designed and executed a scalable NIL campaign that leaned into detailed coordination, efficient content production, and smart storytelling. The campaign was broken into three phases:
Phase 1: Seed the Story
Targeted recruitment of 100+ athletes across 50+ schools and 25+ sports, ensuring a diverse mix of regions, athletic tiers, and digital styles.
Athletes were then vetted and qualified based on availability, travel schedules, and proximity to their moms.
Detailed filming briefs and custom onboarding ensured athletes knew what to expect ahead of time.
Phase 2: Flowers In Motion
Postgame coordinated directly with athletes and their families to lock in addresses, mom availability, and preferred delivery dates. Real time communication was essential, with Postgame’s team tracking deliveries and adjusting for late arrivals, flight delays, and last minute schedule changes for the athletes.
To better align with authentic content goals, Postgame deployed videographers to capture high quality footage with moms in other states, bridging the gap when athletes were unavailable due to travel or finals. In some cases, moms filmed the delivery themselves, resulting in a surprisingly wholesome twist that kept the messaging consistent and emotionally resonant through authentic reactions from Mom.
Phase 3: Content Under Pressure
Athletes had just 24 - 48 hours to film after delivery. Postgame used reminder triggers, group chats, and dedicated support to maximize timely submissions.
Over 100 pieces of content were submitted on time, each capturing a unique take on the gifting experience: from surprise unboxings and athlete narrations to side-by-side "walk-and-talks" with mom.
The Result: A breakthrough campaign that established brand awareness and brand recognition through authenticity of college athletes
The campaign saw a mix of polished content and authentic UGC that resonated deeply with audiences. While athletes led the charge, it was often the moms who stole the spotlight. Many went above and beyond in filming their flower deliveries, capturing raw & emotional reactions that felt genuine and deeply personal.
High speed execution – Campaign delivered in under 14 days.
Creative flexibility – Filming guides adapted to athletes’ real time schedules, including alternatives when athletes and moms were separated.
Elevated storytelling – Real families. Real emotion. No scripts. Just genuine gratitude.
Massive content bank – Provided 1-800-Flowers a range of accretive assets to repurpose/leverage across organic, paid, and owned channels leading into Mothers Day.
For athletes who couldn’t be home for Mother’s Day due to travel or finals, Postgame gave moms the space to send a heartfelt message back to their child on camera, turning a brand activation into a moment of connection. These unscripted thank-you messages added an unexpected layer of meaning and allowed the content to speak to both sides of the gifting experience.
It also marked the first time many families had partnered with a brand like 1-800-Flowers, making the campaign not just memorable, but milestone worthy.