Julian Edelamn (3X Super Bowl Champion and Super Bowl MVP),
Samuel Biggers (Social Media Specialist)and Assaf Swissa (Founder of Coast Productions)
The era when the world’s most famous athletes were just employees of the team that held their contract is long gone. With superstars holding more power than ever and diversifying into various business fields of interest, the question arises: what does it take for a star athlete to build and control a successful brand? Three-time Super Bowl champion Julian Edelman and his team of content creators share their insights into brand-building and the ongoing revolutionary influence of superstar athletes.
As an active player in the NFL, Edelman noticed that he needed an additional team, off the field, to lead his social media content and branding so he could focus on what he needed to do: play football. He met Assaf and Samuel in 2013 and they started building his brand as a team in-house with Coast Productions.
Their first project was creating a smoothie spoof video which immediately turned into an endorsement deal with Smoothie King.
Their main goal? To serve their followers with authentic content.
From 2015 until 2019, Edelman had the highest engagement rate on IG and FB than any other player in the NFL.
The trio invested in animators, editors and videographers. They pitched ideas to brands and produced video pieces. They had to be creative with filming content away from The New England Patriots training facility and official NFL games.
Edelman says having a tight knit circle of people who really know him and his voice is why they are so successful together.
Their new adventure is production: going behind the scenes, storytelling and exploring their new boundaries of what to create after Edelman’s retirement.
Edelman says “This is an avenue for a player to make themselves richer, rather than make a brand richer. It’s giving you an opportunity to have your own voice. Whether we like it or not, this is where we’re going. No matter where you are, everyone is on their phone. If you can use it for the benefit of what you love and what you believe in, it can be a good thing. We see people use our template and go with it, but it’s a free market.”
“We never forgot what was #1: football. That is what made people follow me, watch me, buy products that I endorse. You see people today maybe using it to a disadvantage, but most guys use it for their advantage.”
The team just signed a two-year deal with Paramount, a scripted comedy. A couple feature movies are also in the works, as well as a podcast debuting in August.
