The ask.
Inspire small-town high schools to apply to T-Mobile’s Friday Night 5G Lights contest and encourage social media users to vote for one of the top 16 schools to win a multi-million dollar grand prize—all to amplify T-Mobile’s initiative of bring 5G coverage to small towns and rural areas.
Materials provided: contest details.
How I helped:
Conceptualized the platform idea, Words of Wisdom, to ground the campaign in an inspiring theme.
Created 10-15 social assets across Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and YouTube on T-Mobile’s social accounts and talent accounts.
Attended the production shoot to aid talent and production teams while ensuring the content captured aligned with the creative vision.
Worked alongside the production team to provide creative input on video edits and find solutions to client feedback.
Crafted supers and post copy to ensure consistent brand voice across all creative.
Process.
Step 1: The brief.
When T-Mobile approached us, they had a bold goal: raise awareness of their rural coverage by awarding a multi-million dollar prize to a small-town high school. Talent, platforms, and even the contest name were undecided—giving me creative freedom to make this campaign as impactful as possible.
Step 2: The concept.
With the campaign’s potential clear, I set out to build a strong foundation. What I knew for sure? The contest was grounded in community and encouragement. The perfect spokesperson? Small-town success and NFL legend Robert Gronkowski. And we all know a little bit of professional advice can go a long way. Thus, Words of Wisdom was born.
Step 3: The creative
Stories connect and transform, and Words of Wisdom gave Gronk and Alabama QB Jalen Milroe the perfect platform to do so. I created a range of social posts—from candid chats to trend-driven content—across platforms like Instagram, YouTube Shorts, TikTok, and more to amplify their stories and raise awareness of the contest.
Step 4: The production.
In just 90 minutes, alongside production, crew, and directors, we captured everything we needed with Gronk and Jalen—even with the blazing North Carolina heat working against us. It was a feat in itself. But the best reward? Hearing Gronk say, “This is the most fun shoot I’ve ever worked on.”
Step 5: The hiccup.
After days in post-production, we were set to launch—until an overnight rebrand changed everything. Our Top 16 trend-driven, Gen-Z-like videos now needed to align to the new brand system—a stark contrast from the original approach. Treating it like a puzzle, I reworked the footage (even candid b-roll shots) alongside motion designers and rewrote the tone to align with the new brand direction, all within just a few short hours.
Step 6: The launch.
Where we stated and where we landed was night and day (that’s usually how it goes, right?). All that aside, the work was nothing short of a success.
1,700 schools applied
30.8 views on TikTok Top 16 hero video
(post rebrand)
17M views on Instagram Launch hero video
(pre rebrand)
pre-rebrand Launch asset
pre-rebrand Launch asset
post-rebrand Top 16 asset