Right now, some of America's most intense college football fans are living atop a billboard in downtown San Jose, California.
As part of its 'Who's In' campaign, ESPN invited four fans to spend up to 12 days on the billboard promoting this season's College Football Playoffs.
The fans ascended the 45ft tall billboard on 27 December, two days ahead of both semifinal matchups. The fans of the losing teams have since departed, while the fans of the winning teams will remain until the championship game on 7 January.
“ESPN wouldn’t be where we are without our fans. This billboard celebrates the unique fandom and passion in college football by putting it on display for the nation to see and engage directly with the fans,” said Emeka Ofodile, ESPN's vice president of marketing. “The College Football Playoff is more than just the game on the field – it’s a unique cultural event, and these fans represent that.”
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The campaign was developed by creative agency Red in conjunction with IMG Live for experiential production.
The experience is being live-streamed on ESPN3 and integrated into regular ESPN programming for the entirety of the project.
Almost 700 fans submitted video testimonials to be considered to represent their teams.
Llyas Ross represents the University of Alabama, Nancy Volland represents Clemson University, Jeanette Kim represents the University of Notre Dame, and Ruben Hunter represents the University of Oklahoma.
Alabama and Clemson will play for the championship on 7 January at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.