MLS

Chicago Fire FC Awarded ‘Best Use of Fan-Generated Content’ at Fourth Annual Hashtag Sports Award Show

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July 14, 2022 – Major League Soccer (MLS)Chicago Fire FC News Release

CHICAGO – Chicago Fire FC today announced that the Club has been awarded Best Use of Fan-Generated Content for the Fire’s campaign, A Crest for All Chicago, at the Fourth Annual Hashtag Sports Award Show in Las Vegas this week. The Club was also nominated for Best Use of Motion Graphics or Animation for the launch of the new Fire crest.


“This award’s true value is that it belongs to the entire Chicago Fire community,” said Chicago Fire FC Senior Director of Content Tyler Emerick. “It is a direct result of every supporter who lent their voice and helped in creating a space for unity and collaboration. We’re honored to be recognized alongside some remarkable talent from across the sports industry.”

The Fire were the only MLS team to be nominated and win an award at this year’s ceremony and were recognized alongside nominees in both categories from NASCAR, Twitter, Jung von Matt SPORTS GmbH, the Players’ Tribune, and the NFL.

Background on the Project:

The months-long, fan-focused project saw more than 20,000 Chicagoans add their voice to the creation of the new Club identity. Once completed, the Fire creative team was then responsible for a rollout fitting of the new crest, one that fans had poured 225,000 words of written words and 500 hours of dedicated roundtable time into.

To announce the campaign, the Club created a short-animated video with a “work-in-progress” storyboard look to compellingly put out the call to action for all fans to participate.

Once the crest was ready to be unveiled, the Club then created another short animated video, beginning with the same “work-in-progress” look before transitioning into new visuals including recordings from the actual fan roundtables and individual elements the fans requested to be included in the crest — all culminating in the elements coming together to form the Club’s new crest.

The strategy of the project itself, from the initial reveal to the launch of the crest, focused on enticing both fans and non-fans to “slow their scroll” with eye-catching animation, visual effects, and imagery so they would be motivated to participate and see themselves represented in the Club’s new crest. The Club’s storytelling was designed so that participants could see a direct line from the start of the project until the end, with an unveiling that served as a confirmation of their collective input and collaboration.

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