Reposts flood in. Likes climb sooner than directors can rely.
Every spring, the Chargers know run up this rating.
On the subject of what senior director of manufacturing Tyler Pino calls the “content Super Bowl,” the Chargers are multi-time season NFL schedule launch champions. They broke the web with fashionable anime movies in 2022 and 2023. A Sims 2 theme in 2024 saved on-line sleuths laughing for weeks at inside jokes.
The schedule reveal video posted Wednesday within the pixelated model of Minecraft surpassed a million views on X, previously referred to as Twitter, in 45 minutes, and 4 million in three hours, confirming the Chargers’ social media dynasty. The subsequent closest NFL staff schedule video was seen roughly 1.5 million instances throughout that very same span.
ought to we REALLY make our schedule launch video in minecraft?
sure sure yesyesyesyes sure sure yesyes sure sure sure yesyes yesyes sure yesyes yesye sure yesyes sure yesyes pic.twitter.com/gxk31Dql5L
— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) Might 15, 2025
The Chargers set the bar amongst a throwback motion determine business, a Mario Kart parody and an advert for a prescription drug. They’d some temporary competitors when the Indianapolis Colts additionally dropped a Minecraft-themed video solely to delete it roughly an hour later. The Jets even poked enjoyable on the sudden twin movies.
Every year’s artistic movies have all of a sudden turn out to be extra notable than the schedules they promote. However the Chargers’ content material staff tries to remain targeted on the method of successful followers over one like, lower-case letter and snicker at a time.
“I don’t think our goal is to be the best on the internet,” stated Megan Julian, Chargers senior director of digital and social media, “but our goal is to build generational fandom on the internet.”
Identified for his or her creativity and informal humor, the Chargers have been named the NFL’s greatest Twitter account by Advanced in 2019, 2022 and 2023.
When Julian joined the Chargers in 2018, she was the one individual behind the social media accounts. The franchise had simply returned to L.A., the place a complete era had grown up with out the NFL. Followers have been already invested in several groups. As an alternative of attempting to alter a longtime fan’s thoughts, the content material staff aimed to domesticate new ones by reaching completely different, youthful audiences that may fill SoFi Stadium for generations.
Allie Raymond, left, and Megan Julian of the Chargers’ social media staff, stroll on the follow subject throughout rookie minicamp on the staff’s headquarters in El Segundo.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Instances)
Julian made the Chargers’ social media accounts really feel like coming into a bunch chat. The staff, which incorporates director of natural social media Allie Raymond; Jaemin Cho, the senior vertical video coordinator; Lorren Walker, programming supervisor for natural social media; and coordinator Hannah Johnson, put up in lower-case textual content briefly, sharp bursts. They by no means overexplain the joke.
Right here, amongst associates, it’s already identified.
“You’re talking with the fans,” Julian stated. “Not at them.”
Sometimes commenters complain concerning the decrease case letters or can’t sustain with the latest slang. The schedule launch movies usually embrace pointed jokes towards opposing gamers or groups. Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson, who controversially sat out for one play final yr as a result of he was drained, ran out of gasoline in a go-kart race on this yr’s video.
However the distinctive tone has constructed a definite model for a company that’s preventing for any solution to stand out in a crowded L.A. market.
“We’re creative, and we think a little bit off kilter,” stated David Bretto, the director of artistic video. “But we do that because we’re allowed to do that, and the organization sees the success.”
A member of the Chargers’ content material staff movies gamers collaborating in rookie minicamp on the staff’s headquarters in El Segundo on Might 9.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Instances)
“There are only 20 days a year that we actually play the sport. Then the other 345, we’re just entertaining people.”
— Jason Levine, Chargers senior vice chairman of name, artistic and content material
The content material staff’s popularity precedes them. When videographers checked baggage on the NFL mix, safety guards requested what they have been cooking for the schedule launch. Incoming rookies requested who’s behind the keys of the social media accounts that go viral with the most recent TikTok developments.
Impressed by the power of younger, charismatic stars on the 2018 staff together with Keenan Allen, Mike Williams and Derwin James Jr., Julian began to craft a social media persona that matched the on-field personnel. For the franchise’s present period, exhibiting the gamers’ personalities stays on the forefront.
Some gamers welcome the sight of the social media staff holding a tiny microphone tethered to their telephones. Linebacker Daiyan Henley is as ubiquitous on the Chargers’ TikTok account because the staff’s brand. A extra reserved character resembling Justin Herbert nonetheless shines by means of in movies that showcase the star quarterback’s humble appeal.
Spotlight movies of Herbert avoiding their cameras nonetheless flip into web gold as a result of whereas this can be a soccer staff, soccer is simply a fraction of the franchise’s digital model.
“There are only 20 days a year that we actually play the sport,” stated Jason Levine, Chargers senior vice chairman of name, artistic and content material. “Then the other 345, we’re just entertaining people.”
Allie Raymond data gamers and coaches collaborating in Chargers rookie minicamp on Might 9.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Instances)
The largest web stage is the schedule launch. The Seattle Seahawks sparked a revolution in 2016 with a cupcake-themed video through which particular elements representing every metropolis of their opponents have been stirred right into a batter. Some groups rent manufacturing firms and out of doors contractors to organize for the massive reveal. This season, NBA legend Allen Iverson and actress Brenda Tune made cameos for the Buffalo Payments and the Rams, respectively.
However Julian proudly notes that all the Chargers’ movies have been produced in-house.
The Chargers’ first main schedule launch video got here in 2019 once they represented every opponent with inventory footage. A canine wearing a lion’s mane. An individual in a bear swimsuit on a picnic. Each video games towards the AFC West rivals Kansas Metropolis Chiefs have been represented by awkward cooks. The 73-second assortment of clips was so bizarre it someway labored.
The day earlier than it dropped, Julian and Bretto almost scrapped the venture all collectively.
“To me, schedule release kind of feels like you’re on a cliff,” Bretto stated. “You put all this work to get to the top of this mountain, and at the very end, there’s nothing to do but just jump. You don’t know how the audience is going to react.”
Simply rely the tens of 1000’s of likes. The reception is evident.
