Carhartt put the stadium's construction workers in the ad, not football stars — and saw a fivefold jump

Carhartt, the 135-year-old American workwear brand, has released the latest installment of its "Made Possible" ad series. The 30-second spot skips sports stars entirely, instead spotlighting the construction workers and tradespeople who built Highmark Stadium, the Buffalo Bills' new home, which opened ahead of the 2026 season.

Norma Delaney, the company's vice president of marketing and creative, says the campaign's strength comes from staying true to the brand: "We've always stayed focused on our customer and what they need. Staying true to that lets us start an interesting conversation about the work happening around us right now." In other words, rather than pitching the product directly, Carhartt introduced the brand organically through its audience's everyday life.

A separate two-minute segment tells the personal story of former Bills player Termaine Thomas, whose construction company installed the stadium's seating; in it, he gives current cornerback James Cook III a tour of the arena. This isn't new territory for Carhartt — the brand shot a similar video about construction workers with the same subject last fall.

The results bore this out: during the campaign, traffic to the brand's "Join the Trades" page, which promotes trade schools and apprenticeship programs, rose fivefold compared to the same period last year. Delaney credits this to a full-funnel strategy that included short-form social videos — the brand managed to spark not just attention, but real, action-driving interest.