Here’s Heat’s New Brotastic ‘Born to Madden’ Spot

Although you have to wonder how necessary advertising the next Madden game really is, considering how football/gaming bros pretty much spend all summer salivating in anticipation of the pigskin franchise’s next release, Heat has put together a pretty brolarious spot for EA Sports’ 25th anniversary of the franchise.

In the second spot of the “Born to Madden” campaign (following the Arian Foster/Marshawn Lynch opus), directed by Wayne McClammy, it is revealed that the real inspiration for the NFL careers of Colin Kaepernick and Russell Wilson was a summer camp pact made in their youth to one day beat each other in Madden, as each other. The spot highlights some of the hardcore training Kaepernick and Wilson underwent, all so they could make the NFL, rise to star status, and play Madden NFL 25 against each other. So far Kaepernick and Wilson’s Madden sessions have led to only minor injuries, including a mild concussion suffered by Wilson from a stray thrown controller.

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Arian Foster, Marshawn Lynch Get Generational for ‘Madden 25?

Madden is turning 25 this year. That means decades of video game football obsessions have now been around long enough to be passed from parents to children and then some. To kick off the game’s promotional campaign, EA Sports debuted “Running Back Sons” yesterday, a minute-long spot about the origins of star running backs Arian Foster and Marshawn Lynch. While you might expect their motivation to come from supportive families, inspirational coaches, and the love of the game, it turns out that their success can be traced back to a friendly battle of brinksmanship between their fictitious fathers, Darian Foster and Marshawn Lynch Sr.

Fathers Foster and Lynch (played by the actual Foster and Lynch, respectively) spend all of their time playing Madden in unusual places as their sons train for football. At one point, young Marshawn even spins around a bear, establishing the beginning of “Beast Mode.” Finally, now that Arian and Marshawn are millionaires, their fathers can play Madden in the pool, which sounds about as dangerous as training with a bear.

This spot is sure to get plenty of airtime in the next few months, especially considering Foster and Lynch have decent acting chops when it comes to commercials. As Marshawn Sr. says, that’s that beast mode right there (raspy old-man laugh) Credits after the jump.

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Arian Foster and Marshawn Lynch Play Their Own Fathers in Hilarious Ad for Madden 25

EA Sports goes back to the future with this dumb-in-a-funny-way spot by ad agency Heat for Madden 25. In the '80s, we're told, two guys playing an early version of the football video game decided to spawn offspring whom they'd be able to use in the game somewhat. Thus were born current Houston Texans running back Arian Foster and Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch. (The fathers, "Darian Foster" and "Marshawn Lynch Sr.," are played, of course, by Foster and Lynch themselves.) It's a somewhat convoluted concept that comes across as well done, right on target for sports and video game obsessives, and a nice way to celebrate the Madden franchise's 25th anniversary—even if the kids' gym workouts are over the top in a way that feels a little like Old Spice's Terry Crews was their personal trainer. Credits after the jump.

CREDITS
Client: EA Sports' Madden 25

Agency: Heat
Creative Directors: Warren Cockrel, Anna Rowland
Senior Art Director: Mark Potoka
Senior Copywriter: Ben Salsky
Content Producer: Vera Kacurova
Account Director: Eddie Garabedian
Senior Strategist: Daniel Teng

Production Company: Hungry Man
Director: Wayne McClammy
Executive Producer: Dan Duffy
Line Producer: Rachel Curl

Post Company: Arcade Edit
Editor: Christjan Jordan
Executive Producer: Damian Stevens

Visual Effects Company: The Mill
Visual Effects Supervisor: John Leonti

Music Company: Beacon Street Studios
Composer: Andrew Feltenstein