SB2K26
spring break, ten years and a few kids (and majors) later.
A case study on the brief as a project's north star, and the feel-good campaign it points to.
the video that started it:
In 2016, four pro golfers and real-life best friends, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler and Smylie Kaufman, posted a carefree spring break round that became a genuine pop-culture moment. People still quote it. In 2023 they reunited and posted an update: "there once was four, now there's 11 plus 2 dogs. the squad is growing." That one line is the whole campaign. The friendship didn't end. It just had to make room for kids, careers and real life. I saw a story about what happens to men's friendships when growing up gets in the way.
the argument:
Men's mental health is in a quiet crisis. Men account for roughly three in four suicides in the United States, and far fewer men than women ever get care for what they're carrying. A lot of that traces back to connection. As men move deeper into fatherhood and career, the friendships and honest conversations that used to be automatic get quietly deprioritized. AT&T is a connection company. So the strategic fit isn't a stretch, it's the point. Position AT&T as the thing that keeps men connected through the exact life stages that pull them apart. Connection shouldn't be a casualty of growing up.
the brief is the north star.
Before a single frame gets shot, the brief is the guiding light. It is the one document that keeps strategists, creatives and clients pointed the same direction when the work inevitably wants to wander. A strong brief is detailed and informative, but built to stay agile when the unexpected shows up, and it always shows up. For SB2K26, the brief did the hard thinking early so the creative could stay loose. The ask: use the real evolution of this friend group to talk about men's mental health in a way that feels earned, not preachy. The message: technology should bridge life's transitions, not become one more barrier to real connection. The mandatories kept it honest, partner with organizations that specialize in men's mental health, tactfully handle the fact that depression in men often shows up as irritability, anger or risk-taking, and always leave people with somewhere to turn. The considerations kept it human, balance the humor against the weight of the subject, reach past just the guys on the course, and make room for the men who get hit hardest and left out of the conversation. Every creative decision after that traces back to this page. That is what a north star is for.
what the campaign becomes:
From that brief, the work almost builds itself. A short-form documentary series follows the four friends as their lives have changed, culminating in a remake of the 2016 round. Social content carries the real conversations about fatherhood, pressure and staying close. A digital hub points men toward actual mental health resources. And AT&T's golf ambassadors anchor a partnership activation timed to Men's Mental Health Month in June, with teasers rolling out around the summer's biggest tournaments. Feel-good, with a real job to do.
why i made it:
The easy version of a men's mental health campaign is heavy, and men tune heavy out. The harder, better version earns the serious part by making you laugh first, then landing the point when your guard is down. Golf, and this specific friendship, is the way in. I wanted to show that a feel-good idea can still be rigorous underneath, and that you can take the subject seriously without taking yourself too seriously. When the strategy and the heart pull in the same direction, the work takes care of itself.
the storyboard:
This is where the brief was always pointing. The round these guys have been trying to reschedule for years. One of them can't make it in person, so he rides along on FaceTime from the golf cart, because that is what connection actually looks like now. There is a kids-tattling-mid-backswing bit, a dad-bod callback to the 2016 video, a quiet moment on the 18th where they say out loud how thankful they are for each other, and a closing wink: one friend late for T-ball, another pulling up shirtless in a cart with the music blasting, asking if anyone wants to play another eighteen. Here it is, frame by frame.
