GILEAD + SOCCER
The Ask: Build an unbranded campaign around Gilead’s investment in the Summer of Soccer
Gilead made a major media investment around the summer soccer season at FIFA Club World Cup USA 2025 to reach audiences that have historically been underrepresented in healthcare communications, particularly Hispanic communities. The challenge was to create work that felt culturally relevant and worthy of the moment while remaining unbranded.
What I Found: Showing up in culture isn’t the same as belonging there
Soccer already carried strong emotional meaning through family, community, identity, and celebration. If the campaign looked like traditional healthcare advertising, it risked feeling like an outsider entering the space. The opportunity was to create work that felt invited into the culture rather than layered on top of it.
The Reframe: The campaign wasn’t about soccer. It was about participation
We shifted from talking about the sport itself to talking about what soccer makes possible: gathering, connection, joy, and being present for the moments that matter. Representation became a key part of the strategy, with intentional inclusion across age, gender, sexual orientation, and evolving patient audiences, including women.
The Insight: Health enables participation
The work connected preparation and care with the ability to fully engage in life and community. Creative leaned into the energy and emotion surrounding soccer while maintaining a more human perspective centered on the people experiencing it.
The Idea: Create a culturally grounded campaign system built for the Summer of Soccer
We developed the campaign concept and extended it across media placements and supporting experiences, using stock footage, adaptable creative systems, and cross-team collaboration to move quickly while maintaining consistency.
The work balanced cultural relevance with healthcare sensitivity in a fast-turn environment.
The Reframe: The campaign wasn’t about soccer. It was about participation
We shifted from talking about the sport itself to talking about what soccer makes possible: gathering, connection, joy, and being present for the moments that matter. Representation became a key part of the strategy, with intentional inclusion across age, gender, sexual orientation, and evolving patient audiences, including women.
The Insight: Health enables participation
The work connected preparation and care with the ability to fully engage in life and community. Creative leaned into the energy and emotion surrounding soccer while maintaining a more human perspective centered on the people experiencing it.
The Idea: Create a culturally grounded campaign system built for the Summer of Soccer
We developed the campaign concept and extended it across media placements and supporting experiences, using stock footage, adaptable creative systems, and cross-team collaboration to move quickly while maintaining consistency.
The work balanced cultural relevance with healthcare sensitivity in a fast-turn environment.
My Role: Concept development + creative direction
I partnered on concept development, helped shape the campaign direction, maintained consistency across deliverables, and collaborated with multiple teams executing the broader system. My role focused on protecting the strategic idea as work scaled.
The Outcome: Delivered a large-scale cultural campaign under accelerated timelines
The campaign launched across Gilead’s Summer of Soccer media investment and established a framework for culturally connected storytelling beyond traditional healthcare approaches.
