Ogilvy and Mather NY’s latest spot for Time Warner Cable Sportscast, “Crazy,” directed by David Gray, asks if it’s crazy to love football so much that you do things that might be a little…unusual.
The simple :33 spot highlights a series of super-fan behaviors as a humorous way to advertise how missing a game is what would really make you crazy. The spot may have been more effective if they had went a little further out there with the “crazy” fan behaviors though, as most of them are pretty tame. The touchdown dance one, in particular, could have been replaced with something a little “crazier.” A lot of people don’t know how to dance.
Wearing the same outfit every game day? Setting up your daughter’s Brownie troop in shotgun formation? Growing a lucky beard?
In America, we use football to sell beer. In the UK, they use football (which we call soccer).
This summer Budweiser UK, an official Premier League sponsor, launched an initiative, backed by The League Managers Association, called ‘Budweiser Coach the Coaches.’ The initiative features leading professional managers spending the summer holding training sessions with non-league football clubs across England with the aim of helping non-league coaches enhance their training techniques and strategy, leading to a confidence boost heading into the season,
UK agency Octagon, prodco Spicer and Moore and Budweiser assembled footage from the campaign to share their results. At the beginning of the video, I’m informed I should be 18 years or older to watch it. This left me waiting for a boob to pop out, some gritty injury, or at least some good old-fashioned British cursing, but I was left thoroughly disappointed. Instead, Stuart Pearce talks tactics and strategy, without so much as a “bloody hell” or a “wanker.” Presumably, it’s the association with an alcoholic beverage that prompts the warning, which is quite different from here in the states, where we serve up hyper-sexualized beer ads with SportsCenter every morning. It’s interesting to note the similarities (sports!) and differences (lack of overt sexuality) in Budweiser’s UK strategy, which seems to appeal to the serious side of a game many take very, very seriously.
McDonald's and Burrell Communications update a classic Super Bowl spot from 1993, pitting Joe Flacco of the Baltimore Ravens and Colin Kaepernick of the San Francisco 49ers, the opposing quarterbacks from the big game in February, against each other in a contest for the chain's Mighty Wings. Their competition features improbable passes through distant goalposts. First one to miss watches the winner eat.
The original commercial starred Larry Bird and Michael Jordan playing a game of Horse for a Big Mac. Their increasingly crazy contest took them from a basketball arena to the top of Chicago's Sears Tower as Jordan called a fantastical shot: "Off the expressway, over the river, off the billboard, through the window, off the wall …"
That tale was self-contained, and fittingly, there was no winner, giving the impression that the two titans would battle for all eternity, ultimately bouncing balls off the moon and stars in their quest for a burger. (Luckily, McDonald's food would still be in decent condition no matter how long they played.) The reboot has two parts. The first 30-second installment (posted below) breaks on TV tonight and ends on a cliffhanger, as a power failure throws the quarterbacks into darkness—"Oh man, not again!"—and someone apparently tries to make off with their box of wings. Who could it be? Jordan and/or Bird? Tim Tebow? Miley Cyrus? (OK, we know it's not Tebow.) The revelation comes in Part 2, set to air Oct. 6.
Marlena Peleo-Lazar, chief creative officer at McDonald's USA, calls the remake "a fresh take on an idea our customers have loved, but in a sport they haven't seen us do it with." That's all well and good, and the effort is certainly getting buzz. Still, a remake with stars from a different sport was hardly necessary. And regardless of the big reveal, and even with original director Joe Pytka behind the camera, it was doomed to pale by comparison with the original commercial.
Don't get me wrong. The new ad is well-made and amusing … but Bird and Jordan, in this context, cannot be replaced. They were more than great athletes. They were transcendent figures who helped define the popular culture of their generation. Flacco and Kaepernick are gifted on-field performers, and seem like nice enough guys, but they lack the stature and quite frankly, the charisma of their predecessors. The 1993 spot felt right because you really could picture Larry and Michael playing a little one-on-one for their personal edification, sans cameras, ribbing each other for each missed shot. Flacco and Kaepernick, well, I guess they'd have a throwing contest if McDonald's paid them lots of money to do it in a commercial.
Plus, the blackout, echoing the one that stopped Super Bowl XLVII for 30 minutes, and the "To be continued" aspect feel like cutesy gimmicks added to compensate for the new spot's inability to match up to its inspiration.
If Bird and Jordan don't make an encore appearance in Part 2, it would be disappointing, because that's what the setup demands. If they do, it could seem pat and predictable. The original was nothing but net. So far, the remake feels like an incomplete pass.
ESPN and ESPN Deportes will kick off Hispanic Heritage Month — which is not actually a calendar month, but a month-long period from September 15 through October 15 — with a 60-minute primetime special celebrating the most renowned Hispanic athletes airing on both networks Monday, September 17 at 8 p.m.
The top 10 countdown is sponsored by Jack Daniel’s and Gillette and will include such legends as Roberto Clemente, Lionel Messi, Oscar de la Hoya, and the soon-to-be-retired Mariano Rivera. Athletes were ranked from an initial list of 50 athletes by a panel of journalists, entertainers, athletes and Hispanic community leaders. One Nación was produced in front of a live live audience in Los Angeles. The bilingual show will be hosted by ESPN Deportes’ Adriana Monsalve and SportsCenter anchor Max Bretos and features special guests unveiling the countdown.
In the social sphere, Gillette is sponsoring a live Twitter fan vote encouraging fans to choose between the number one and number two athletes while discussing the countdown, while Jack Daniel’s will sponsor a recap of the top ten during the show as the top athletes are revealed. Both brands will also be integrated through different live events and programs scheduled for the rest of Hispanic Heritage Month, including vignettes featuring Hispanic athletes such as Carmelo Anthony, Sergio Romo, Victor Cruz, and Omar Gonzalez.
Fresh from his U.S. Open triumph, Rafael Nadal comes on like the candy man in ESPN's latest tongue-in-cheek SportsCenter spot from Wieden + Kennedy in New York. Network personalities John Anderson and Bram Weinstein just can't figure out why Rafa is such a chick magnet around the ESPN offices. Could it be his tan? His dimples? Keep your shirts on, gentlemen, because the answer comes at the end, when we learn that it's the sweet, sweet stuff in Nadal's big, shiny cup that keeps them coming back for more. Roger Federer's commercial performances, even when he's pimping Lindt chocolates, are never as tasty.
Running-shoe brand Pearl Izumi recently learned, as we all must, that "Run until you kill your dog" isn't a message the public is ready to accept. This print ad, which is part of a campaign that includes a video, has been the target of much consumer umbrage since it appeared in Canadian Running magazine, and rightfully so. Images like that alienate people, and worse, they might prompt Sarah McLachlan to lecture us about giving to the ASPCA. Pearl Izumi has apologized at length, saying the ad "overstepped the bounds of good taste. A lot." The company also made a $10,000 donation to the Boulder Valley Humane Society.
A Wisconsin golf course posted an apology on Facebook late Monday for a newspaper ad pledging to commemorate 9/11 with an offer of "9 holes with cart for only $9.11." The ad for Tumbledown Trails Golf Course, which reportedly ran in Monday's Wisconsin State Journal, offered the $9.11 rate (or $19.11 for 18 holes) only on Wednesday, Sept. 11, to honor the 12th anniversary of the terror attacks on New York and Washington.
As the ad spread online, critics came out in droves, sparking two apologies from the business on Facebook. First, the course said it would raise the rate back to normal and donate the difference to the National September 11 Memorial. A follow-up comment pleaded, "We are a family owned business & proudly support all local charities and have always gave 20% off everyday to all Police, Fire, Emergency, Military, etc. Please accept our apology." Finally, in a third Facebook update, the course said it might simply close on Wednesday because "we are now worried about what people will do/say to our staff & do not want anything to happen or get out of control."
Love it or hate it, Sportscenter has always been good at maintaining a certain tone across its ad campaigns. They’ve been running with the “star athletes in the ESPN office” schtick for what seems like forever, and it seems to be an infinitely adaptable formula. The latest in this long line of ads is the new 30-second spot “Candy Dish,” from Wieden + Kennedy New York, featuring U.S. Open champion Rafael Nadal, fresh off his defeat of Novak Djokovic last night.
In the spot, Sportscenter host John Anderson and ESPNNews anchor Bram Weinstein wonder what makes Nadal so popular in the ESPN office (especially with the ladies). Is it his good looks? His tan? His accent? Or could it be that U.S. Open trophy he’s using as a candy dish? If you ask me, I think it’s the sweatband. Who doesn’t love a good sweatband?
This is the second This is Sportscenter spot to be released in both English and Spanish, following the clever Robinson Cano“Handshakes” spot. The Spanish-language version swaps out Anderson and Weinstein for ESPN Deportes anchors Alvaro Morales, Jorge Eduardo Sánchez and Carolina Padrón. Personally, I prefer the Spanish version (featured below). Because, well, everything sounds better in Spanish.
On the field, Calvin Johnson earns his “Megatron” nickname by dominating defenses with a robotic efficiency. He’s bigger, faster, stronger, and at times, it looks like a Transformer is playing against humans. However, off the field, and more specifically, in the ESPN offices, Johnson uses his transforming powers to trick a different kind of opponent (for anyone who cares and watches too much ESPN, it’s Kevin Negandhi).
The latest “This is Sportscenter” ad is par for the course: short, funny, and off-beat. The work comes once again from W+K New York (which has been handling SportsCenter work for nearly two decades), an agency that has no problem taking sports material and making it accessible to audiences. And for Megatron, he may want to think about outsourcing his Transformer duties over to Diddy, or Johnson, or whatever Nike wants to call him.
“For some people, fantasy football feels real. For others it is real.” So claims Tough Season, The Onion’s new fantasy football series, developed in cooperation with DigitasLBI and Lenovo. Most of us, I think, know someone for whom this is true. Someone who loses sleep over the draft, and talks about NFL players as “my guys.” Someone like Tough Season’s Brad Blevins. Brad takes fantasy football way too seriously, despite the fact that his team, Brad’s Awesome Team, never wins his league. But he’s convinced, of course, that this season will be different.
Brad’s creepy rival Harris is focused on humiliating him, but Brad is intent on avoiding “The Watermelon Dance” (You really have to watch to see this one, I won’t give it away) at all costs. As the owner of three consecutive championships, Huge Giant Robots is the team to beat, with their mysterious owner Mr. Z. keeping his identity a secret. Episode one of the show flashed back to last season, with Brad’s tearful goodbye to Matt Forte and end-of-season humiliation. Episode two focuses on the draft.
There’s a very fine line between stupid funny and annoying, a line that Old Spice is willing to tightrope for miles and miles. Their “Unnecessary Freshness” campaign, created by W+K Portland, will hit screens starting Thursday night for the season opener. As you might expect, there will be plenty of shenanigans that don’t make sense. But, at least that’s the point.
Three new spots starring Denver Broncos wide receiver Wes Welker might make you shake your head, laugh, or both (there’s also a fourth spot featuring New England Patriots linebacker Jerod Mayo, possibly a pity commercial since Welker darted for Denver). However, since each ad is less than 20 seconds, it’s easy to stomach the goofy jokes and images of lizards eating Welker’s legs. If commenters take to the site to rip W+K, Welker, football, me, AgencySpy itself, or a number of other things that exist, and therefore, should be ridiculed incessantly, they can hopefully agree that the running time is a plus. And, if you believe that a majority of people in America are stupid and these spots are stupid funny, then maybe W+K is onto something brilliant. Maybe.
Credits and some more unnecessary freshness after the jump.
I don’t have to describe the stereotypical girl who wears UGG boots, because you’re already familiar with the trope. You can practically hear the rubber soles scraping against the ground as she walks by, and most likely, you are judging her because of her fluffy boots.
Patriots star quarterback and perennial life-winner Tom Brady is very different from that girl. As far as brand spokespeople go, Brady is a safe bet with the ability draw males and females to a product. For whatever reason or however much money, Brady has been the UGG For Men spokesman for quite some time now, and the company has launched a fat campaign with plenty of close-ups on his face and feet, titled: “For Gamechangers.” I’m not sure if men are rushing to order their UGG shoes, but the 60-second spot is a quality effort from M&C Saatchi LA. The ad has the moody beat of a more athletic brand, and although it runs a bit long, the shoes on display don’t look half bad. It almost makes you forget about that trope-y girl walking by, until of course, the brand name flashes at the end of the spot.
You can watch a behind the scenes video after the jump. continued…
For the third year in a row, Nissan is helping college football-obsessed viewers imagine what it would be like if Heisman Trophy Winners all lived in the same house for some reason.
Why would these former star college athletes live in the same house? Is it because traditionally, Heisman Trophy winners go on the middling (or worse) NFL careers that, in the best case scenario, are ignored when ESPN College Gameday offers them a job as a special correspondent? Or is it just because the “imagine the conflicts that would arise if X kind of people were forced to live together” formula still tantalizes us two decades after the Real World debuted. TV viewers love reality show parodies, after all.
Anyway, starring in the first spot for this year’s run are former Baylor Bear and current Redskins QB Robert Griffin IIIteaming up with former Oklahoma Sooner and current Rams QB Sam Bradford to portray themselves as two young cool kids who race around in expensive cars and blast hip-hop. Of course, the idea that Bradford is cool in any way, or imagining him routinely participateingin this sort of activity may be the funniest aspect of this commercial. Sorry, Sam, but you’re like the Billy Joel of the NFL—beloved, respected and skilled, but not exactly “cool.”
Starring as the aging veterans are Oklahoma State Cowboy, Barry Sanders, joined by former Michigan Wolverine and current ESPN NCAA football anchor Desmond Howard, who in tandem remind us how far away the late ’80s/early ’90s seem now. Those were the days, huh? Finally, playing the even older guys are the legendary former Texas Longhorn Earl Campbell and Pittsburgh Panther Tony Dorsett, both new to the campaign this year. The campaign, which will feature a traveling Heisman House that will visit college campuses throughout the country, will run through the rest of the NCAA season. Also, Ron Dayne will be in one of these episodes, which I must mention as a Wisconsin Badger fan.
What if an entire country was built around the theme of a sports team? Every wall, building, and inch of space would be swathed in team colors and logos. While some European cities may resemble this set up (as does Green Bay, Wisconsin), there’s nothing as extreme as the land of FC Barcelona, a fictional place created by 180 Amsterdam that brings together one of the best soccer teams in the world with its sponsor, Qatar Airways, for a light-hearted spot.
Everything seems rather cheery in the land of FCB. I’m not sure of crime rates, prison systems, recidivism, or income inequality, but I do know that Lionel Messi teaches soccer performing arts. Pique works at an airport. And Carles Puyol walks around with his long locks waiting to head falling potted plants. Even if the ad is a little corny, there are a few smart, subtle easter eggs, like streets named Tiki and Taka. Although, I imagine the quick movements on those roads makes for some queasy driving.
Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki, clad in his uniform and flip-flops, horses around in this parody of Geico's "Hump Day" commercial, strutting through the team's administrative offices and asking various cube-jockeys, including the team's equine mascot Champ, to "Guess what day it is?" Dirk is stoked because it's game day, unlike the original ad's talking camel, who was more of a Wednesday fan. The spoof's punch line, also playing off the Geico ads: How happy are folks who buy Mavs' season-ticket packages? Happier than Dirk on a game day! It's a cute spot, and Dirk finds the perfect mix of goofy charm and self-deprecation. And while we're on the subject of music—sorry, my transition game is off today—Dirk's also amusing in this beat-boxer clip co-starring wacky German D.J. Flula and a couple of Mavericks dancers. Oh, he can't match Kobe Bryant's mad classical piano skills, but still, check it out. "Satisfaction" guaranteed!
Lenovo has moved on (at least for the moment) from comparing itself to Apple to having Kobe Bryant play Beethoven on the piano with symphonic accompaniment for no reason. Really. There's barely a connection made between Lenovo's product line and Kobe in this Chinese spot, though there are worse things in life than gratuitous piano playing. For those of you who are surprised that Kobe had this talent, check out his six-second video that was the inspiration for the ad. He has said the Moonlight Sonata, in particular "calms me down when I reach my breaking point."
For the entire 2013 NFL season, Pepsi will be asking football fans to ramp up their fandom. For some people, those people who treat Sunday as religious but not because of church, there is no questioning whether they are fan enough. Those obsessed fans may want to turn down the fandom a few notches, like Barry Lemke, a kooky New York Giants supporter who tries to prove his dedication to Big Blue wide receiver Victor Cruz. Lemke can’t find his Giants jersey, but he does have a separate bed from his wife covered in Victor Cruz sheets, among other paraphernalia.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have Dirk and Jill Mulroy, Bengals fans who will do whatever it takes to impress Cincinnati quarterback Andy Dalton. I don’t want to ruin the gags, let’s just say Andy Dalton Fragrance and leave it at that for after the jump. Both spots feature heavy product placement even though the plots don’t have anything to do with Pepsi. The writing and acting makes for a really potent combination. A lot of commercials try too hard to be funny – these two try and succeed.
If the NFL is a dictatorship (in addition to being a comparative kleptocracy), then “RGIII: The Will to Win” looks like the league’s latest piece of propaganda. This movie is the sort of self-serving piece of content that is more of a long commercial with some candid footage than an actual documentary. And my feelings on this have almost nothing to do with Robert Griffin III, his knee rehabilitation, my love of the New York Giants, or TBWA\Chiat\Day LA, the agency that worked on five respectable spots advertising the ESPN “doc.”
The above ad offers a quick and quintessentially underdog take on a comeback story that isn’t really a comeback story, since as RGIII puts it: “how can you come back if you were never gone?” The line is so perfect, it’s almost like someone wrote it for him…There’s nothing wrong with promoting whatever this piece of content is, but there is something wrong with Gatorade, ESPN, and the NFL all taking part in something that would be more interesting without their intrusions. RGIII news has gone from creation myth to creation scripture, written by Roger Goodell and network executives. It’s too disingenuous for its own good, but most of us will end up watching it anyway.
ESPN is launching a new campaign celebrating College GameDay’s four hour debut this Saturday at Clemson University. The first short spot, “Get Up For 9 A.M,” which for some reason features music from The Lion King, clearly is targeted at older fans, since college students don’t wake at 9 A.M. for anything, especially on a Saturday (when they are hungover or otherwise recovering from Friday night).
The second spot, “Anthem,” which you can check out after the jump, features highlights of the kind of mishigas you can find on the show. This includes, but is not limited to, commenters holding a variety of guest animals and Brian Wilson playing the trumpet. They pack as much craziness as they can into 31 seconds, in the hopes that they’ll convince you to roll out of bed and tune in on Saturday morning. An extended version of “Anthem” will also run on social media.
At this point, Nike and AOR W+K are just showing off. Their latest spot, “Possibilities,” is a fat, splashy kick-off to the 25th anniversary of its ubiquitous slogan, “Just Do It.” These type of Nike ads have always had a mythical quality, compared to other sports brands – like certain BBDO Foot Locker commercials – that are solid and funny. Nike is serious. W+K Portland is serious. Nike, Inc. is set to earn $25 billion in revenue this year, meaning we must be serious, too, when it comes to our purchases.
Being serious does not preclude Nike from a certain playfulness if you look hard enough. For “Possibilities,” the lightness comes from some Bradley Cooper voiceover that makes the viewer want to just do it, even though said viewer knows he/she can’t do it as well as professional athletes. That’s where stars like footballer Gerard Piqué and basketballer LeBron James come in, cameos that are almost taking the money out of your wallet before you know it.
For LeBron, the unofficial king of the summer, Nike has been creatively pumping out his spots for a few years now. This one may be a joint venture, but he subtly dominates the end with some clever winking done in the form of a fake dunk content. LeBron has never entered the NBA dunk contest. Maybe this is a hint for 2014? Or maybe it’s just smart marketing? Plenty of possibilities to choose from.
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