Hasta La Creative!

The outpouring of support has been impressive for NBA player Jason Collins, the first openly gay male athlete in a major U.S. professional sport. Marketers, though, have been largely silent about Collins since yesterday—except for Nike, of course, whom he already endorses. (In a statement, the company said: "We admire Jason's courage and are proud that he is a Nike athlete. Nike believes in a level playing field where an athlete's sexual orientation is not a consideration.") About an hour ago, though, JetBlue posted an image created by its ad agency, Mullen, showing a rainbow image of the "i-people" from the company's "You Above All" brand campaign—to show support for Collins. "Thanks Jason, today we're all on the same team," reads the caption on the image, which was posted to Twitter and Facebook. Response has been mixed, with many fans and followers lauding the airline for supporting Collins and others wishing it had stayed "neutral." The brand's courage here is but a shadow of the player's courage, but it's brave nonetheless. Have other brands come out in support of Collins? Let us know in the comments.

The red-hot pitching arms in Cincinnati are costing one local pizza chain a pretty penny. LaRosa's Pizzeria has already given away $100,000 worth of pizza this season (can't be good for the bottom line) through its "Strikeouts for LaRosa's" campaign with the Reds. The challenge, which is promoted on the Reds scoreboard, is simple enough. Anytime Reds pitchers combine to strike out more than 11 batters in a game at home, every ticket holder gets a free eight-inch pizza valued at $6.79. Not sure which mathematician worked out the algorithm, but 11 K's doesn't seem like much when you have stud starters like Johnny Cueto, Mat Latos and a freak like Aroldis Chapman closing games out. Hope you're hungry, Ohio. Last season, in the first year of the campaign, the Reds had a total of 13 free-pizza games. But this year, just 15 home games into the season, Reds pitchers have K'ed more than 11 batters seven times already. At this rate, it wouldn't surprise me if Ohioans petition to change the Reds logo into a giant pizza.

Following the bombings in Boston on Monday, New York City's 5 Boro Bike Tour is swiftly pulling all posters advertising its own May 5 race—because of now-inappropriate imagery showing pyrotechnics going off at the starting line. "We had these ads all over the city, and beginning today, the MTA is removing all of them," the group's CEO, Ken Podziba, told Gothamist on Wednesday. "We were getting phone calls and emails from people who thought the ads were inappropriate, and we agreed. The last thing in the world we want to do is offend anybody in a time of tragedy." Podziba said the ad space will probably be left blank—"which I guess is a message in and of itself," he said. "Our hearts go out to the victims and their families. We're in solidarity with them."

We've been in love with taxonomies ever since the agency-name infographic a few months ago. Here's one that's truly stunning to behold—Pop Chart Lab's new Chart of Collegiate Sports Teams. For sale (at $30 a pop) as a 2- by 3-foot poster, the chart claims to offer "a taxonomic breakdown of every collegiate sports team in the United States. From Division I to Division III, from Banana Slugs to Little Giants, there are over 1100 schools charted in six square feet of higher learning." (My beloved Bears of Washington University in St. Louis are represented. Shout if your school's team isn't represented.) There sure are a crapload of Eagles and Tigers and Bulldogs, oh my. But the real gems are found in offshoots like Professions -> Resource Extraction and Self-Referential -> Abstractions. Best place to examine this masterpiece in more detail is on the Pop Chart Lab site itself.

Via Co.Design.

Here's a fun toy for obsessive baseball geeks: the new "Mission Control" installation at MLB's "Fan Cave" space in downtown New York. There, each year, a selection of the sport's most die-hard fans are paid to watch every game and crank out social-media content about the experience, part of a Lord-of-the-Flies-esque competition to get to the World Series. This year, the space also features a custom multi-screen computer rig, built by Breakfast, that's designed to pull in and display a wide range of data about the upcoming baseball season. The smaller screens on the left and right include video feeds of stadiums from American League and National League teams (even when the games aren't in progress). The toggles on the bottom calls up information like weather conditions and wind speeds at each location, as well as relevantly tagged Instagram and Twitter posts about the ballparks and their home teams. The dashboard meters measure stats like total games played and total number of hits for the season. The central monitor connects to a camera that can be used to record and broadcast video clips of the sports stars and other celebrities who stop by for concerts and other events, and of the "Fan Cave" marketing program's less famous participants. Why? Because all you've ever wanted since you were a little kid was to be a professional baseball commentator and astronaut at the same time. If that doesn't ring true, you're probably not invited.

If Gatorade's latest commercial from TBWA\Chiat\Day seems vaguely familiar, that's because it treads some of the same ground as Element 79's mid-'00s work for the brand, recounting the drink's 1965 creation in a lab at the University of Florida. From there, the TBWA spot mixes stock footage and new clips of Peyton Manning, Michael Jordan, Dwyane Wade and others as it assesses the brand's place in the history of modern sports. This heady concept works best in a pop-culture context. Gatorade is a beloved and ubiquitous game-day fixture, itself iconic, sloshing around in small plastic cups and giant buckets, ever ready to drench the winners in sparkling showers of limey-electrolyte glory. Sure, Gatorade might help gifted athletes—and by extension, you and me—win on the playing field. But more important, the brand is synonymous with triumph and superior achievement overall. That status gives Gatorade a shared meaning that transcends its sporty origins and helps ads like these appeal to anyone hoping to catch lightning in a bottle.

Nike a décidé de collaborer avec Joe Carlino, Brad Kremer et Justin Hostynek afin de créer 3 courts métrages de snowboard, filmant des exploits à travers différents paysages. Dans cette bande-annonce teaser du Nike Snowboarding Project, voici des images des trois futurs court-métrages à sortir dans les prochains mois.

Joe’s Sports and Outdoors has announced that it will be closing down all 31 shops, ending 57 years of business in what is obviously a cause from the continued economic downturn hitting the world today. A massive, Going-Out-of-Business sales event starts storewide Friday, April 10th.

“This historical event will mark the end of an era,” said Thomas Lonabocker, a principal at Gordon Brothers Group. “Consumers will find great values on all merchandise at every store location. Those who arrive first will be able to choose from the broadest selection.”

Joe’s has lowered prices on its entire inventory, which includes team sports apparel; fan gear; fitness equipment; indoor & outdoor games and equipment; backpacks; sunglasses; watches; fishing, camping and hunting gear; and much more. Consumers can find incredible values on top brands that include Adidas, Coleman, Columbia, Sketchers, The North Face, and more.

(Source) Press

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pArnold today launches a pleasingly goofy campaign for a href=”http://www.ESPN360.com”ESPN360.com/a starring Billy Mays, the bearded infomercial guy usually seen shilling for OxiClean. a href=”http://adweek.blogs.com/adfreak/espn360-billy-mays.html”See all four ads here/a. This genre’s been parodied to death, but the ESPN spots score by being even dumber than we’ve come to expect. They’re almost parodies of parodies, so unrelentingly stupid that they’re amazingly effective. Mays is no different here than in any of his other ad gigs as he shouts exuberantly about the ESPN360 service, which lets you to watch your favorite teams online, “anywhere, anytime!” The “secret,” Mays confides, is the Internet connection. In the ad below, his wife and daughter are seen with thick black beards just like his. Nice! Their grins and gestures seem forced, and their line deliveries are as insincerely sincere as possible. Now that’s great bad acting! Also noteworthy is the dead-eyed office drone who robotically explains that with ESPN360, “My job is way less soul-crushing.” Hey, we need ESPN360 at AdFreak! Ow, my aching soul! brbrem—Posted by David Gianatasio /em/p

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Bushnell makes all kinds of yummy optics and cool electronic gadgets. From binocs, to laser range finders to GPS units to scopes to trail cameras. You know what a trail camera is don’t you? You attach it to a tree somewhere deep in the forest and it waits patiently until it senses movement. Then it clicks off a few frames. The idea is to photograph nature without all that human intervention stuff. Sometimes the results are pretty interesting. Like the photo of the raccoon who decided to take a ride on the back of the boar.

Now comes the report that Bushnell seems to be preparing to offer a cool million to the first person who can capture indisputable proof of the Sasquatch with one of their trail cameras. As noted, the Sasquatch is an advertising favorite and probably deserves a spot here.

In any case, a tip of the hat to our friends at Bushnell. The promotion is coming soon. The buzz is starting now.