Hi, I’m Alex Norling,
a Creative Director
in Los Angeles who
loves making work
worth people’s time.
I started in New York at Mother and Anomaly before joining Highfield as its first creative, helping lead the agency to become one of Adweek’s Fastest Growing in 2019.
Today I’m the Global CD at Rivalry, where I’ve helped build and scale the creative department from the ground up and was named one of Business Insider’s Rising Stars of Brand Marketing in 2024.
Feel free to holler for a good time.
Rivalry.com
Vote With
Your Fists
To launch Rivalry in Australia, a new esports betting brand, we created PMFighter, a browser game timed with the federal election. Aussies could box as their preferred prime minister candidate, then place bets on the actual outcome.
Play the game here.
Collaborators: BearEagleFire, T&DA.
Awards: One Show x2, ADC x1
GANT
Turns out 85% of videos on Facebook are watched without sound, and looking buttoned-up in a GANT shirt is enough to make people believe what they see. So we made it more real by making it fake, partnering with NowThis to create a series of ‘fake news’ videos that racked up over 7 million views.
Look Like You Know What
You’re Doing
Riot Games x Amazon Gaming
To help VALORANT break out of niche gaming circles and reach a broader cultural audience, Riot Games partnered with Amazon Gaming to create WW.FEST: a six-hour live-streamed music and arts festival that drew over 50K concurrent viewers.
First Person
Pop Culture
Shooter
Rivalry
As the leading esports betting brand in the Philippines, Rivalry looked to break into traditional sports. We launched their own card packs, each containing rewards to boost bets. The packs were unlocked by betting on basketball and seeded to top partners across the country to unbox on livestream.
Breaking Into Traditional
Sports
Adidas
We helped develop the social extension of Adidas’ global Change Is a Team Sport campaign, bringing their audience closer to real game changers. In the first episode, we spotlighted the female-first basketball collective, Hoop York City.
Change Is A
Team Sport
Rivalry
In Brazil, to show how Rivalry’s newly launched features, which may seem small at first glance, can have a big impact, we created an exaggerated campaign with the country’s biggest Counter-Strike collective. Each concept was tailored to their personalities.
A Sportsbook
Built Different
E! Entertainment
E! had lost its credibility in fashion and wanted to reestablish its place at NYFW. Since the week is only fun for a select few, we created a series that took their audience behind the red ropes, one person at a time for five days straight. The project ran for five seasons and eventually made it to broadcast.
Content Series Turned TV
Rivalry
The Philippines’ biggest MLBB star, Dogie, had been away from the game for a while, and many were doubting his return. Ready for a comeback, he partnered with Rivalry to tell his story with a launch video announcing the partnership. The video earned over 2 million organic views in its first week.
The Return
Of A Legend
Amazon Gaming
At the height of lockdown, Amazon set out to develop original formats for their channels, and that’s how Clicksport-1 was born. The show mixed paid gaming tournaments with pre-recorded skits and live segments, hosted by Fantastic Beasts actor Dan Fogler. It ran for three nights straight, averaging 50,000 concurrent viewers per evening.
Esports Meets Comic Con
Rivalry
When tariffs hit Canada, we took a look at the local competition and found that 90% of them, unlike Rivalry, weren’t even Canadian. By asking people to bet local, we saw the biggest spike in activity to date, and it hasn’t slowed down since.
Ever Heard Of “Shaft Kings?”
GANT
To launch Gant’s new Tech Prep shirts, made with fabric designed for young professionals on the go, we met them where they live: on their phones. Playing off the then boomerang trend, our videos earned over 3 million views and drove a 400% spike in e-comm traffic.
Social Savvy
Shirts
Rivalry
For Rivalry’s move into Brazil’s Counter-Strike scene, we partnered with the country’s biggest CS2 collective. In the launch video, Rivalry’s mascot, the chicken man, recruits the new members and sends them off to the next Major. Their nicknames were inspired by Jogo de Bicho, an infamous Brazilian underground lottery.
Recruiting
Rio’s Roughest
Red Bull Music Academy
Red Bull Music Academy asked us to document a new wave of underground artists. We created two video concepts, Sacrifice Everything and Under the Influence, to reflect the grit and raw ambition behind their stories.
RIP Chynna.
Heard Them
Here First
Highfield
During the height of the mystery box craze, we brought Canal Street to the rest of the world with a holiday drop filled with questionable gifts and familiar fakes. All profits went to Womankind, a local charity supporting survivors of gender-based violence.
Gasmask Bongs for Christmas
Rivalry
Big Brains
Big Bucks
