Hasta La Creative!

Those who follow the saga of Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch’s media interviews know he is notoriously a man of few words.

Whether it’s answering every question with a laid-back “Yeah” or just thanking the press instead of uttering a real response, Lynch has unceremoniously been fined several times for his refusal to talk to journalists. However, not one but two brands—Skittles and Progressive—have now managed to get the tight-lipped athlete to talk.

Skittles, a first-time Super Bowl advertiser, staged a mock press conference with Lynch as part of the teasers for its in-game ads. He answers questions like whether he prefers cat or dog videos, if he wishes he could rush for a 200-yard touchdown, and if he’d rather arrive to the game in a blimp or a jetpack. There’s also handfuls of the candy available for Lynch to chomp down on, which is probably why he looks uncharacteristically joyful during the stunt.

Separately, Lynch also sat down to chat with sports reporter Kenny Mayne for Progressive in the amusingly off-kilter video below. They mostly just play word association, although at one point Marshawn shares his love of Progressive’s spokeswoman, purring, “I’m all about that Flo, boss.”

The Progressive campaign is also raising money for Lynch’s charity, Fam 1st Family Foundation. The running back has signed a pair of cleats, which will be sold on eBay—with all proceeds benefiting the foundation.

Please keep being you, Beast Mode.

DDB has created a series of print and banner ads for Skittles celebrating the Seahawks in anticipation of the Super Bowl.

The straightforward ads claim that the “S” on Skittles (pictured in green in the ads) now stands for Seahawks. These ads continue the brand’s celebration of the Seattle Seahawks and their star Marshawn Lynch. Last night, Skittles began a charitable auction to benefit Lynch’s the Fam 1^st Family Foundation. The auction’s three lots include “24 packs of Skittles Seattle Mix (one of them signed by Marshawn Lynch) and one unique Skittles covered item, such as a football, a helmet or a megaphone.” The bidding began at $100, with one of the lots’ current high bid at $5,700. DDB’s print campaign will run “tomorrow in the Seattle Times, and on Saturday in the Tacoma Tribune and The Olympian, and they will take over Skittles’ entire existing digital media buy starting today.”

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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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