BRANDING | LOGO DESIGN | CAMPAIGNSound The Drum
Playoff Campaign & Identity
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The Carolina Panthers launched Sound the Drum after clinching the title of 2026 NFC South Champions and securing the franchise’s first home playoff game since 2015. Built around the iconic Keep Pounding drum, the campaign turned the playoff run into a citywide rally across the Carolinas through community activations, stadium moments, social content, and broadcast.
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As part of the Panthers in-house creative team, I helped develop the visual identity and campaign system used across retail, partnerships, marketing, digital, and in-stadium environments throughout playoffs.
My NFC South Champions design helped shape the overall postseason look and feel, introducing metallic silver framing inspired by the Keep Pounding drum, motion blur treatments tied to drum reverb and crowd energy, and a custom playoff logo mark that integrated the Cathead teeth into the “O” in PLAYOFFS to create an ownable postseason identifier for the campaign.
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The identity system extended across billboards, merchandise, social media, stadium signage, and partnership integrations with Atrium Health, becoming a consistent visual thread throughout Charlotte during Wild Card Weekend.
The work was also featured in the Wild Card trailer narrated by Stephen Curry, helping unify the playoff experience across digital, physical, and broadcast platforms.
Playoffs Logo Slick
BEHIND THE DESIGN
A full system of primary, secondary, and one color marks were developed for the playoff push, appearing across retail, social, videoboards, fan materials, and marketing touchpoints as the unifying campaign identity. The “O” in Playoffs was customized using the teeth from the Panthers Cathead logo, creating an ownable mark unique to the organization.
NFC South Champions Graphic
BEHIND THE DESIGN
Created to celebrate the Panthers clinching the NFC South Division Title and launch the 2026 playoff push. The visual system introduced a grittier postseason look through layered stadium textures, battle-style player hierarchy, and selective color treatments. Audio waveforms pulled from recordings of the crowd’s fourth-quarter “Keep Pounding” chant were integrated into the composition, while blurred typography inspired by the drum’s reverb effect added motion and energy to the static design.
The system was extended across social, digital, and in-stadium placements, along with screens and billboards throughout Charlotte during the Panthers Wild Card Weekend rollout.
