In anticipation of tonight’s matchup between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors, ESPN is airing a new “This is SportsCenter” spot from W+K New York featuring Warriors star Steph Curry.
Curry joins SportsCenter anchors Stan Verrett and Neil Everett in the ESPN cafeteria, where he thanks two cooks for (accidentally) celebrating his recent performance on the court by serving chicken curry. The anchors try to convince Curry it’s a coincidence, but he’s not buying it, even after the cooks’ confused glances. It’s one of the more fun SportsCenter spots in a while, as, even if the premise is a little obvious, Curry plays his part well enough to make it work.
There’s also a “Kitchen Warriors” installment in which Steph squares off against his wife, Ayesha Curry, to see who can make the better chicken curry. With their daughter Riley as the judge, it soon becomes clear Steph’s skills are on the court, not in the kitchen.
Note: credits only apply to the first spot; “Kitchen Warriors” was created by the client.
Houston Rockets star James Harden takes center stage in W+K’s latest “This is SportsCenter” installation, entitled “Satellite,” which also features SportsCenter anchors Neil Everett, Kenny Mayne and Stan Verrett.
In the 30-second spot, which will run for six weeks, Harden fields a call from a mission control center as Everett and Verrett call with a technical problem on the set of SportsCenter. From here things take an unexpected turn, with a cameo by Houston Astros mascot Orbit. Without giving too much away, we can say that as far as “This is SportsCenter” spots go, this one is certainly on the stranger end. Harden, who also appeared in this memorable spot for Foot Locker a few months back, plays his part well, but we think this one will leave some people scratching their heads. (more…)
This week, the agency released an extension of that effort for the client (which is NOT to be confused with Shake Shack), helmed again by director Harold Einstein of Dummy Films.
The two new spots are very much in keeping with their predecessors. Here’s “Kung Fu Elbow”, which sounds like a very creative description of premature arthritis:
Sean Astin reprises his role as Rudy in a new spot W+K New York created to hype the new college football playoff format for ESPN.
In the spot, Astin apes his inspirational speech from Rudy, this time riling up the locker room with the promise of a playoff format for college football. When he reveals that the format won’t take effect until 2014 however, the reception falls somewhat flat. Filmed at St. Joseph High School in Brooklyn, New York, the spot takes place in 1975, the year Rudy Ruettiger played for Notre Dame. While the famously cheesy movie certainly deserved a satirical send up, W+K’s spot fails to really hit the mark and feels a bit drawn out at 90 seconds. Stick around for credits after the jump. (more…)
The Vault tapped NBA Draft prospect Dante Exum for a humorous new Foot Locker campaign.
The series of 15 second spots, entitled “Everything Changes After the Draft” highlight how things don’t change after the draft. Although Exum seems to perceive himself as a celebrity, it’s evident no one else does. The approach works best on the above “Paparazzi,” in which Exum informs friends that he doesn’t want to head to Foot Locker because “paparazzi might be there,” eliciting uncontrollable laughter from his two buddies. Other spots in the campaign take a similar approach, seeing Exum practicing his autograph, interacting with a dorky neighbor, combing through “fan mail” and making a dinner reservation. We’ve included “Reservation” and “Fan Mail,” along with credits, after the jump. (more…)
Bicoastal Arcade Edit has strengthened its roster with the addition of editors Jen Dean and Mark Paiva.
Dean joins Arcade Edit from Whitehouse Post, where since 2011 she has honed her skills for brands including Google, New York Times, Cotton, BMW, TJ Maxx and Sprint. She began her commercial editing career under Hank Corwin (Natural Born Killers, Tree of Life) at Lost Planet, where spent almost 12 years. Dean discovered her love of film while studying under legendary experimental filmmaker Stan Brakhage at the University of Colorado.
Paiva joins Arcade Edit with over 10 years of experience. Last year alone he worked with agencies including 180 Amsterdam, Droga5, The Corner and Wieden+Kennedy. Back in 2009, he helped found Poster Boy Edit, which recently merged with Toronto-based Saints Editorial, of which Paiva is also a founding member. He was recently honored with the 2013 Craft Award for editing at The Bessies?.?
“Mark is able to visualize the possibilities of a project from the early stages of pre-production to the finished product, and his collaborative nature has attracted a large client base that looks forward to sitting with him in an editing suite and exploring new creative solutions,” said Arcade Edit partner and executive producer, Sila Soyer. “Jen is a natural fit for Arcade. She has a fantastic ability to craft compelling visual stories that engage viewers with poignant emotional resonance. Their respective talents are a valuable addition to Arcade Edit.”
Today, Saatchi & Saatchi New York is launching the first ever campaign for the gun responsibility organization Evolve, encouraging people to take personal responsibility for gun safety and generally not be dumbasses.
Saatchi & Saatchi’s pro-bono campaign features a short, satirical video called “The Bill of Rights for Dumbasses.” The 1:40 video portrays Thomas Jefferson and other historical figures debating the language of the second amendment. Jefferson thinks the amendment runs a little long, and after much debate, convinces the rest of the council to remove the “as long as they aren’t being dumbasses about it” part from the amendment. While the founding fathers are debating the matter, viewers are treated to a humorous montage of gun owners engaging in questionable practices, before Jefferson concludes it’s common sense that you shouldn’t act that way with a gun. The video ends with the founding fathers playing pinata with a gun, followed by the tagline, “It’s the right to bear arms, not the right to be dumbass” and a message prompting viewers to go to takeonthecode.com and sign the code of gun responsibility.
Evolve co-founder Rebecca Bond hopes that “Humor can be a gateway to taking away the defensiveness that is the legacy of these discussions.” Joe Bond, also an Evovle co-founder, added, “We want the ‘Dumbass’ concept to catch on in popular culture the way ‘friends don’t let friends drive drunk’ did for safe driving.”
Since it’s rare to find people discussing guns without getting hysterical about it, Saatchi & Saatchi’s employment of dumb humor is somewhat refreshing. But will it really chip away at the defensiveness that gun rights activists feel when discussing anything related to guns? Or are they more likely to take offense at the video depicting gun owners, and even founding fathers, as dumbasses? Unfortunately, I doubt the video will convince many viewers to “take on the code,” because even though Evolve professes to be a “third voice” in the gun debate without political affiliation, gun rights activists will still likely view the video’s satire as an attack on them. Meanwhile, the video will appeal to plenty of gun reform proponents — people who don’t need any convincing on the importance of gun safety, and mostly don’t own guns (and therefore have no need to take Evolve’s pledge). That’s too bad, because Evolve’s responsibility code is really just common sense and something any gun owner should be able to get behind — which makes this feel like a missed opportunity. Credits after the jump.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
Bicoastal Arcade Edit has strengthened its roster with the addition of editors 