A Case Study in Viral Moments: AJ Brown
Fox 29 Philadelphia (2025)
Viral moments come and go. Some occur strictly in digital spaces, while some transcend into reality and become larger moments.
Brands love to claim they move at the speed of culture. In reality, most are too bogged down with corporate constraints to do this effectively. By the time a campaign idea has gone through approvals, the moment has already passed. Now, when you engage, your brand feels slow or out of touch.
The good ones understand how to actually move in line with the cultural zeitgeist. In sports - we saw a couple of these in the past year:
7/11 turning a Ja’Marr Chase soundbite into a multi-channel campaign.
Fanatics taking organic virality and making it their own with the ‘Jersey Guy’.
Fast forward to 2025:
On Sunday, Jan 12th, AJ Brown was caught reading a book on the bench during an NFL playoff game. By the next morning, Inner Excellence (the book of question) became a #1 best seller on Amazon.
Amazon (2025)
This moment had everything you look for:
Shock factor on TV.
Virality online.
Real-life tangible action (book purchases).
Media frenzy.
This is not just a viral internet moment - it quickly became much larger than that. Consumer interest. Media interest. Next up… brand interest?
Because of what this moment became - it’s clear it’s one that can be capitalized on. A partnership with AJ could resonate nationally and locally alike, especially as brands are continuously eyeing ways to engage with sports.
The contrast between an intensity-filled NFL playoffs game and the tranquility of reading, provides a unique landscape for certain brands to build a campaign narrative.
Here are 4 brands that should get involved and some ideas for how.
Audible
The Amazon-owned audiobook company. The NFL and Amazon already share overlap, as hosts of TNF. Let’s keep it in the family.
A multi-channel campaign would make a world of sense here. Let’s partner with AJ to create a multi-channel content series, showcasing how AJ incorporates reading into his daily life with the ease of Audiobooks. Highlight AJ listening to audiobooks during training (sound unrealistic? So does reading a book midgame).
Launch an “AJ’s Audible Lineup”, a curated playlist of his favorite reads.
This could even go up the funnel, with Amazon running a promotion for all customers (i.e. purchase any Eagles merch via Amazon and get a free audiobook of your choice).
Amazon also owns Kindle, so this could be a plug-and-play idea for that side of the house.
Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble (2024)
As Barnes & Noble begins a bounceback era, let AJ Brown and this moment be the sparkplug for the legacy brand. Amidst expansion with new store openings, a campaign built around AJ could make a lot of sense here.
I’d love to see a multi-channel campaign fictionalizing AJ as a Barnes & Noble shopper, with content that shows up on social, email, and even TV (if the budget exists).
All Philadelphia-area locations, and some neighboring New Jersey stores, could be home to a special in-store AJ Brown section. Filled with AJ’s favorite reads and a cut-out of AJ, the retail marketers could create a unique in-store touchpoint.
This could even extend into a partnership with the Eagles at large (i.e. customers receive an in-store discount by showing their Eagles ticket).
If results and feedback are strongly positive, this could eventually be activated in the stadium too. Sponsor the stadium with an “Eagles Reading Corner” featuring Barnes & Noble kiosks in-stadium, curated with NFL, Eagles, and Philadelphia books - led by AJ’s reading list. Although traditional sports partnerships are pricey endeavors, it could be an opportunity for Barnes & Noble to win a unique audience sector.
Goodreads
The world’s largest website for reader reviews and book recommendations, let’s get AJ involved with a partnership.
Goodreads could have a lot of fun building a campaign around this. Create an official AJ Brown profile - equipped with reading lists and a book review on the infamous ‘Inner Excellence’. This could be utilized cross-channel and would likely do extremely well organically on social.
They could even extend the partnership into a ‘Read with AJ’ virtual book club, hosted by Goodreads and AJ himself for a select number of users, on a first come first serve basis, creating some FOMO.
Goodreads has a strong and loyal community - engaging in a partnership like this would not only be fun - but an interactive double-down on community.
Philadelphia Eagles
USA Today, 2024
The Eagles have an opportunity to take advantage of this themselves. I’d love to see this flipped into a full-on reading initiative in partnership with the Philadelphia School District.
“Catch & Read” could be a cross-district challenge, having students log reading time and compete to earn Eagles merch by hitting certain benchmarks.
Schools that hit a certain reading goal would get a visit from AJ Brown himself - with the winning class getting tickets to a home game and an opportunity to join the team in the pre-game tunnel.
It’s a move that could spark goodwill for the Eagles brand by promoting healthy reading habits for the local youth. I’m sure beyond AJ, there’d be numerous players interested in being involved, for their own community and philanthropic reasons.
If nothing else, the Eagles social team should incorporate reading-adjacent content into their strategy.
Ask players about their favorite reads, reading habits, genres, authors, etc. It’s a unique opportunity to further peel back the curtain and humanize their fanbases’ favorite athletes.
This could be utilized right at home, by the Eagles, in a variety of brand-building ways. It’s timely, fun, well-intended, and engaging for adults, families, and kids alike.
While it would be tricky to get these off the ground ASAP, due to the Eagles being amidst a playoff run, this is a memorable moment that can surely be utilized in the offseason.
The sooner the better - but we’ve never seen something like this happen in an NFL game, so it’s hard to forget.
Truthfully, I won’t be surprised if we see AJ appear in an episode of Abbott Elementary next season as the school’s new Librarian.
By capitalizing on a viral moment like this - one that transcends the internet - any of these brands can lean into how it makes the most sense for them.
It shows consumers the brand is alive, awake, and in tune with what’s happening in the cultural zeitgeist.
