Great cover of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Designed by Emmet Smith and Michael Tribble.
(and the appropriate song):
Tag: sports
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The Voice of God
Newsman John Facenda was the famous voice behind NFL Films for almost 20 years. It was he who could make a mundane game appear to be a battle for the ages. I just learned that it all began by chance in 1964, when John was watching football at bar and he
…started to rhapsodize about how beautiful it was. Ed Sabol, the man who founded NFL Films, happened to be at the bar. He came up to me and asked, ‘If I give you a script, could you repeat what you just did?’ I said I would try.
NFL Films won’t allow us to embed but you can hear that stentorian voice here.
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We. Are. Alive!
Desedo fam Jordan and Brad went out to Red Rocks and shot this gorgeous commercial for McDonald’s. They worked with Abe Froman Productions and the ad agency R+W. The song, which is quite happily stuck in my head, is by Hungry Cloud.
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V-Games : Football
A promo we made for HBO’s True Blood season 2 with transmedia agency Campfire. Three friends toss the football around with their vampire pal.
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The World According to James
9SiQKxja79M The popcorn, jokes, and testosterone zing around the room with all the patience of an electron. Across town the same scene is amplified in a crowded bar, long and skinny, the popcorn substituted with beer. In both rooms the flicker of television screens — rhythm — and the dance between sports and advertising provides the meter by which the hours will unfold. Where elbows and dripping bottles crowd one space, coasters and crumbs crowd the other. It is the job of Lebron James to communicate above the din in both these spaces. If, during commercial breaks, he can do just half of what his body does during the game many millionaires not pictured on the screen sweating and chest-bumping will be just as enthused.
LeBron James, the icon, comes to form before our eyes. We see, just a bit sharper in Nike’s new spot “Chalk.”
And was that Lil Wayne mugging from the courtside seats? Indeed, we’re not sure if the cameo will help sell more albums to sports fans or sneakers to hip-hop fans, but the will is there. He’s even blogging for ESPN. Guess who he talks about most?
LeBron James was a junior in high school when he first appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated. His senior season’s games were broadcast nationally on ESPN. Now a six-year pro and gold medalist, the table is set for him to become a legitimate media personality, or, as Nike once put it, for us to Witness.
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Chad Ocho Cinco
So Bengals WR Chad Johnson has legally changed his named to Chad Ocho Cinco – and now his jersey will reflect that. I love this sly win for individuality within a massive corporation, sometimes maligned as the “No Fun League”. @ the end of the day, Chad knows that he is businessman, not just a sportsman, and is remixing the ways in which he can capitalize on his brand. Reminds me of Joe Namath, Muhammad Ali and of course Rod Smart, aka He Hate Me, from the XFL.
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Payback, Baby
The ad world just received a huge bonus last night.
Kevin Garnett has been as reliable a performer in commercials as any athlete. By turns his stunning physique, comedic talent, and sheer charisma vibrate from the screen; no athlete has starred in as diverse a reel of spots. In fact, Garnett’s participation in high-profile campaigns has been, I dare say, Jordanesque. All with the niggling caveat that he had yet to become a champion.
The thread running through all sports commercials, of course, is the attraction to that most addictive of binaries: winning. And while it is probably the dream of every commercial director to work with a singular kind of screen talent such as Garnett (and certainly the budgets that advertisers are willing to attach to his likeness), all are ultimately inconsequential with respect to his own dreams. Dreams we do not live, but experience as if they were our own through Gatorade, Adidas, and nba.com. In winning a championship last night Garnett has been able to pay back the promise of all of those ad dollars spent. And, uniquely to his profession, we were able to witness that great screen talent unleash his perspective on winning in as compelling and dramatic a fashion as the camera allows.
Here follows a brief recap in spots and ESPN’s authoritative document of The Moment:
F3dSjO-eH1E rL0IvmOm9nI 4OmWrsp435U “You have no idea,” Garnett mumbles midway through the above interview. Congratulations to you, Kevin. We don’t.
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Here’s Garnett splitting time with the other athlete-king of commercials, Peyton Manning.
