ESPN Super Bowl ‘Sickie’
Client: ESPN Australia
As Art Director on the ESPN Super Bowl Sickie 2025 campaign, I was tasked with visually bringing to life a uniquely Australian cultural phenomenon - the art of "chucking a sickie" to watch the Super Bowl. Building on the massive success of the 2024 campaign, this year's iteration required a sophisticated visual approach that could seamlessly blend corporate comedy with ESPN's premium sports brand identity across multiple platforms.
The fundamental challenge was creating a visual language that could authentically capture the tension between professional responsibility and sports fanaticism.
The campaign needed to feel distinctly Australian while maintaining ESPN's global brand standards, all while being optimised for broadcast, digital, social, and print applications.
The creative required careful typographic treatment to support both the corporate satire and ESPN's authority. I chose clean, corporate fonts for the "official" sickie certificate elements, contrasting with ESPN's dynamic sports typography for key brand moments. This duality reinforced the campaign's central tension between work and play.
RESULTS
Success came from authentic cultural understanding rather than obvious stereotypes, creating a campaign that felt inevitable rather than forced—the hallmark of effective design.
CREDITS
Agency
Now We Collide Creative Agency
Ryan Bodger
Chief Creative Officer
Keir Maher
Chief Strategy Officer
Shayne Carter
Executive Producer
Amanda Cooton
Line Producer
Sarah Coleman
Art Director
Jemma Hawksford
Marketing Manager, ANZ ESPN
Jackson Wright
Marketing Coordinator, ANZ ESPN
Talent and Crew
Brendan Monger
Talent
Stephen A. Smith
Talent
Phil Murphy
Talent
Edward Copestick
Director
Boris Vymenets ACS
DOP
Chris Davies
Key Grip
Matt Russell
Gaffer
Kerrie Van Lambaart
Production Design
Tracey DeVries
HMU
Sue Cormack
Stylist
Martin Cox
Sound
Post Production and Media
Josh Groom
Editor
Nik Dimopoulos
Motion Design
James Martell
Sound Design
John Agapitos
Colourist
Mr Digital
Digital
Sarah Coleman
Graphics and Design
Ellie Naylor
Media
Megan Fulker
Media
