How The NFL Gave Back to Las Vegas Artisans With Origins Merch Pop-Up

Walanya Vongsvirates considers herself and her small business, Love, Hand and Heart, part of the Las Vegas downtown arts community. She often sets up local pop-ups there to sell her colorful, handmade jewelry. She was surprised last year when she got an unexpected email from the NFL, asking if she'd be interested in creating official NFL merchandise for Super Bowl 58. "You should have seen my face when I saw that email," Vongsvirates told ADWEEK. "I was like, 'No way. How?'" She made approximately 300 pairs of earrings and 200 keychains to sell at the NFL's Origins pop-up shop in Las Vegas over Super Bowl weekend. "To have this opportunity, to be able to bring handmade art at this scale, was just unbelievable. So they reached out I knew and no matter what it took, I really wanted to make sure that I could make a handmade collection for this," she said. "I spent probably like November, December, really doing nothing else but creating." The NFL partners with local artisans to sell custom merch The Super Bowl draws tens of thousands of visitors to its host cities each year, creating a boon for local businesses in the game's vicinity that benefit from more foot traffic. The Origins pop-up extends that economic impact to local artisans. Its annual event is a platform where they can sell custom Super Bowl-branded gear and receive national attention. The NFL sanctions the merchandise and runs marketing campaigns for its chosen artisans. "Origins and NFL Collection is an ongoing collaboration program that provides an opportunity for local designers in NFL event host cities to create and sell Super Bowl-themed merchandise that highlights their creative process and connection to the community," said Xaimara Coss, the NFL's director of licensing and retail. The NFL set up its first Origins pop-up at Super Bowl 56 in Los Angeles. Last year, Origins returned at Super Bowl 57 in Arizona, and again this year at Super Bowl 58 in Las Vegas. Last spring, Coss worked with Ashley Daniel, a senior marketing manager at the NFL, to hand-pick the three artists featured at the Las Vegas event. They considered each brand's footprint, community impact and ties to Las Vegas. There was Feature—a multi-brand boutique founded by three Las Vegans; the sneaker resale and consignment shop, Urban Necessities; and Vongvirates' Love, Hand and Heart. "We selected brands that we felt weren't too big. We want to help these brands grow. That's the idea of Origins—leaving these brands in a better place when when the NFL leaves their city," Coss said. The experience is different for every artisan. While the opportunity came to Vongvirates unexpectedly, Kim Johnson, a member of Feature's creative team, had pursued an NFL partnership. "There was a lot on my plate, but I wanted everything to have a different story," he said. He tied all the partnerships together with a shared theme—the Las Vegas experience. A crowd gathers to purchase handcrafted Super Bowl merchandise at the NFL Origins Pop-up. Marketing this year's Origins NFL merchandise The NFL connected the three local businesses with its Origins agency partner of three years, Six Degrees. It's known for attracting big brands and artists, including Foot Locker and Lil Baby and Amazon Music and Doja Cat. Every location is unique. "To be honest, I think Origins takes on the energy of the city," Six Degrees co-founder Brian “Bwrightous” Wright told ADWEEK. It strategically sets up "off the beaten path,"Coss said. "We had an opportunity to do it in one of the hotels, and we didn't want that. We wanted to make sure that there was foot traffic and it was an area where [people are] walking [and] biking [could] come on in and experience it." Get Married in Cheetos Chapel and Walk the Chip Strip: Inside Frito-Lay’s Super Bowl Experience in Las Vegas Six Degrees showed off Vongsvirates' creative process by displaying her clay and craft materials on a table inside the Origins space. "We just want it to be authentic to their brand, and Six Degrees did an amazing job of taking their thoughts and putting it to life," said Coss. Leading up to the event, the NFL partnered with production company Basewood Productions to release three vignettes—one for each of the artisans. "The first two hours or so, the line was completely non-stop," Coss said. "People were buying merch, and we were happy with the outcome based on what we saw," said Coss. Vongsvirates and Johnson are almost sold out of merchandise, but will continue selling their remaining products on their websites. Encouraged by the almost sold-out pop-up, Johnson is now looking at partnership opportunities with the Las Vegas Raiders.