Sponsors Land Cameos in ESPN's College Football Playoff Campaign
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As a roadside convenience, the Pilot brand meshed nicely with the crossroads metaphor, said Sean Hanrahan senior VP-brand and marketing solutions, ESPN. “The convenience store lies at the intersection of all the different roads leading to the playoff,” Mr. Hanrahan said. “Naturally, that setting is a perfect place to showcase so many of the College Football Playoff sponsors in a seamless, organic integration.”
Unlike last season’s campaign, which focused on the college football world’s collective desire to knock off Ohio State — the Oregon Duck looked positively murderous — this year’s more inclusive effort at times elevates the ordinary fan at the expense of the mascots. For example, rather than shine a spotlight on Stanford’s goofy, justly-derided Tree, the “Crossroads” spot depicts a Cardinal supporter buying an entire display of redwood-shaped car air fresheners. And no, those Auburn students staggering under their payload of toilet paper aren’t suffering from IBS, they’re gearing up to revive the campus tradition of “rolling the oaks at Toomer’s Corner.” (Besides, with three other tiger mascots on hand, an appearance by Aubie would’ve felt like big-cat overkill.)
An extension of ESPN’s original “Who’s In?” campaign from 2014, the latest CFP initiative gathers representatives from the teams most likely to vie for a spot in the Jan. 9 National Championship Game in Tampa. Defending champs Alabama cast a long shadow — literally — from their perch inside a crimson monster truck, while preseason No. 2 Clemson roars into the frame in a tricked-out Ford Mustang. In fact, only a handful of teams in the preseason AP Top 25 poll aren’t featured in the “Crossroads” spot.
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