One of the unique challenges of working with an NFL client is that he spends most of his career with his face hidden. If he plays for a unsuccessful team in a small market, the challenge of building his brand becomes greater still.

But when we started working with running back Steven Jackson in the summer of 2008, we knew we had a client with tremendous untapped potential. In 2006, Steven had put up what remains the sixth most yards from the line of scrimmage in NFL history and had been named to the Pro Bowl. In the years that followed, he had rushed for at least 1,000 yards each time (twice playing only 12 games), yet further Pro Bowl honors had eluded him. He was, at that point, a hidden gem.

The home page of Steven's web site, www.sj39.com.

When we developed Steven's branding campaign, we discovered that he was not only of one of the NFL's best running backs -- he also possessed character traits and a personal story that were incredibly compelling. Qualities like integrity, loyalty, a relentless work ethic and a fierce desire to win, often cliches for many athletes, were characteristics that his career clearly reflected, from college through the NFL. He was devoted to his family and Las Vegas, the city where he was born and raised. He had a love of fashion and art. There was a lot to work with.

Steven's web site was introduced on ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown and was a 2009 Webby Awards Honoree.

We began by developing a brand identity that highlighted his number, SJ39, and launched a web site presence in conjunction with it. The aesthetic emphasized the raw power Steven brought to the playing field with grainy video game footage, and juxtaposed it with stylized images that showcased the sophisticated, intelligent person he was off the playing field. When the web site was featured on ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown shortly after it launched, fans and the media were introduced to one of the most dynamic running backs in the NFL, seeing him in a way that they never had before. The site also was a 2009 Webby Award Honoree.

Steven talking about "In the Life with Steven Jackson" on Fox Business News (2009).

Working off the momentum Steven developed, we took his branding a step further in the summer of 2009 with In the Life With Steven Jackson. On the surface, the four-part web series chronicled Steven's off-season training in the Las Vegas, Nevada, but each episode delved into a different part of his story -- from growing up in Las Vegas and his high school career there through his relationship with his father.

After it launched on Steven's web site, it was featured nationally in television, print, and online, including USA Today, Yahoo Sports, ESPN, Fox Business News, and more. Aspects of Steven's story related through In the Life began to find their way into the stories written about him -- about his rigorous offseason weight training, his incomparable work ethic, his ability to battle through injuries that sidelined his peers. By the end of the 2009-10 season, despite playing on a team that won a single game, Steven was named to the Pro Bowl for the second time in his career.

In the 2010-11 season, Steven grew his social media following on Twitter and Facebook through a combination of original content and the ArchiTix Contest, a weekly trivia challenge and ticket giveaway that revolved around his love of local St. Louis architecture. He also participated in the most ambitious project in our company's history, a documentary that would chronicle his life during a week of the NFL season.

Aspects of Steven's story -- told for the first time in our documentaries -- became regular components of the stories written about him.

A Week in the Life was profiled by the Wall Street Journal in an article and a video interview.

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