Islanders × Nickelodeon Night — Cultural Crossover Campaign

Role: Creative Strategy and Design Lead
Focus: Brand partnership storytelling, audience expansion, entertainment positioning
Animation: Robert Jackson, Hunter Hardesty, Danylo Kowal

The Challenge

The Islanders needed to expand beyond traditional hockey audiences and create a game-night experience that felt culturally relevant, family-friendly, and entertainment-forward — without diluting brand credibility.

Nickelodeon brought massive youth appeal. The risk was the partnership feeling gimmicky instead of integrated.

Question:
How do we merge a legacy sports brand with a global kids entertainment brand in a way that feels intentional, energetic, and ownable?

The Insight

For younger audiences and families, a live game isn’t just sport: it’s an entertainment event.

Instead of treating Nickelodeon as a theme, we treated the collaboration as a world-building moment where hockey and Nickelodeon energy coexist.

The Idea

A campaign film that frames the game as a collision of two universes: NHL intensity meets Nickelodeon chaos, color, and fun.

Not “hockey with a theme.”
A shared experience designed for the next generation of fans.

Core Message:
Game night becomes a show.

Creative Approach

  • High-energy pacing and playful tone

  • Visual contrast: NHL intensity vs. Nickelodeon color and character

  • Graphic, motion, and sound design inspired by kids entertainment language

  • Players presented as part of the spectacle, not just athletes

  • Designed to feel like an event trailer, not a sports promo

Role

Led the work as a brand integration strategy, not just campaign production:

  • Defined how both brands could coexist without hierarchy

  • Positioned the event as an entertainment property, not a themed night

  • Set tone and creative guardrails to balance fun with competitive credibility

  • Ensured the campaign expanded audience perception of what an Islanders game can be

Impact

  • Expanded appeal to families and younger audiences

  • High engagement and shareability driven by novelty + entertainment tone

  • Strengthened perception of the team as culturally adaptive and experience-driven

  • Established a repeatable model for future themed / partnership events