Imitation is the sincerest form of copying

Last year’s Adidas House Party film turned a lot of heads, including those of us at Sportscentric. We thought it was pretty smart. And very cool. So did lots of lots of hipsters.

The folks at Sky One in London did as well. So much so that they almost frame-by-frame (respectfuly) ripped it off. The original:



The homage:



You can also go to Adidas Originals’ page on Facebook and check out the comparisons. It’s a nice simple page and 1.5 million fans agree (PS, about 150,000 more fans than Nike).

It makes sense that one of the most original shows in the history of television, which got that way by hilariously lampooning just about every film, music and tv genre known to man, would faithfully copy an instantly classic film that touts originality. There’s a hornets nest of logic there, but it all makes sense because the Simpsons is at the heart of it.

And the biggest beneficiary is Adidas, whose coolness level gets a boost without spending a dime.

That is, until Nike makes “Bart Knows.”

Rock the boat, just don’t capsize

“There are over 400,000 NCAA athletes. And just about all of us will be going pro in something other than sports.”

How many years have ads for the NCAA been using these words in their ads? The same words, mind you, but always with different stories wrapping themselves around that interesting thought.

In contrast to the many many brands that come up with a smart idea and move away from it way too soon because a fiesty young creative gets bored with it, the NCAA is sticking to this very smart platform and keeps coming up with interesting ways to craft stories around it. Like this.



This new work is some of the most surprising they’ve done, a tribute to whoever’s the guardian of the brand at the NCAA, and to Y&R in San Francisco, who produced these ads. Same copy they’ve been using for years, and in this case, a strikingly arresting (and different) visual story.



Stick with it, all of you guys doing these ads. You’re proving that you can keep your hand on the tiller, not make any sharp turns, and still stay in uncharted waters that deliver surprising adventures. Well done.

The Blue States Prevail Again

Red or blue, if you’re a sports fan, you’ve gotta love the Prez. Especially if you’re a basketball fan. Not only is he still hooping at the age of 46, he picked tall advisers and a cabinet full of tall guys so he can have a game nearby whenever he gets a little downtime.

And he appeared on ESPN last week to do his Barack-etology, filling out his brackets for the NCAA tourney. He gives some expert commentary while staying diplomatic, picks a few minor upsets, and mostly goes with the favorites. He shows off his basketball knowledge in general by calling out certain players like DeJuan Blair and Ty Lawson. And he injects a little sports guy humor into it as well, warning Carolina “Not to embarrass me again” since he picked them last year too. No surprise there. It's a blue state.



Nothing against W, but I'm not sure he could remember any school except for the Aggies of Texas and the Missouri Sooners.

A follow-up

For those of you woho couldn't access the Puma L.I.F.T spot from this posting, here it is:

You had me at "Pavement"

Sometimes things that are awesome in small doses don’t translate so well to the longer format. Just ask The Ladies man, Stuart Smalley, Pat, and the guys at the Roxbury.

In that same vein, this new Nike spot is proof that a great print ad doesn’t automatically turn into a great TV ad just by turning on a moving film camera.

As much as I love language, and stand and cheer for smart, inspiring, compelling headlines, I wince when people try to turn a great headline into more than what it is. The headline “The road to State is paved with Pavement” is genius. When you have words that so beautifully nail a strategy, it’s tempting to want to build a campaign around them. To the very talented people at Nike and Weiden, I’d suggest more self-discipline and less self-love.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T? No, it's Tush for AVP.

Have you ever watched Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor play volleyball?

OK, yes, they look hot. They’re tall and muscular and wear thin pieces of fabric some would call clothes, others would call illegal in 12 states. Little boys in California stash volleyball magazines under their beds in anticipation of some pre-bedtime alone time.

But c’mon. That’s not what makes Kerri and Misty spectacular.

I mean, have you seen them play volleyball?

These women aren’t just incredibly talented athletes. They’re incredibly competitive talented athletes. If they were up 20-0 in a match they wouldn’t let up, and if they gave you and your really tall friend Karch a 19-0 lead they would still find a way to crush you. I never saw them play a match where I wasn’t sure they were going to win.

So I can’t imagine they’re happy to see the AVP’s new campaign, which Darren Rovell mentions in his Sports Biz blog. As a sports fan, and a supporter of equal rights for women-—especially in sports--I have to wince, too. This sets women back a few decades.

Somewhere, Kerri Walsh is wincing. And Bobby Riggs is chuckling.

Puma sticks to its knitting, wins

Why do I like this commercial? Well, it’s not a new theme.

We’ve seen many many iterations of the passage of time told through the eyes of a sexy young couple. Often, it’s for a fashion related product. This classic for Levi’s, for example. Directed by an up and coming young director (at the time) named Michael Bay.



And a different way in, and surprise, again, for Levi’s.




So it’s been done before. Benjamin Button kind of does it in reverse (and three hours and forty five minutes) and was, oddly enough, directed by another former commercial wunderkind in David Fincher.

So here, Puma gives it a shot. And I like it. Extremely fresh telling of the story. Everything is just so different. In a good way.

A story told through modern dance, done by two dancers who aren’t the archetypical gorgeous, model bodied Broadway hoofers. He’s skinny and lanky, she’s muscular and sexy.

A wonderfully odd music track with the lyrics “A pretty girl/boy in his/her underwear...”

The mix of post effects and real staging to create many different fantasy worlds that combine with the dancers’ movements to tell the story.

And a great ending with the tag “light injected airness” and the product featured in an understated way that one-ups Nike, by showing the trademark jumping Puma as well as a pretty cool looking shoe.

And that’s what they’re selling, right? Coolness. Cool track, story, movements, backdrop. Not performance. Not show features. Have you ever worn Pumas? They're not real big on support. I think “light injected airness” is a cooler way of saying “Fashion over function.” A smarter way.

Puma isn’t trying to be anything but exactly who they are: a fashion brand for hipsters. Sell the shoe to them and the rest of the world will follow, from the time you meet til the day you die. Or at least until you need better arch support.

Puma vs. Nike, Pt 1

Sports and marketing never slows down, even as blog writers get busy. I've been a bit overwhelmed to write lately, but here's something worth watching. They're not trying to be Nike. Nor is their brand. Well done, Puma.

Do you think it'll sell shoes (assuming light injected footwear actually is shoes)? I do. I'll tell you why tomorrow.

Be Like Nike?

As hard as it must be to be Nike because of the demands for them to be excellent every time they make something, it’s harder to not be Nike. Trust me. We felt it on Gatorade.

But Gatorade is a functional beverage. And while we had opportunities to major in emotion and minor in function, we mostly had to find ways to give people the functional reasons why they should drink it, and still make it cool (thank you, Keith Jackson).

On TV, Nike basically just does pure brand advertising. They sell coolness and authenticity. Anyone who tried to go down that route has to live up to their standards. And they quickly find out how hard that is.

So here comes Dick’s with a need to sell a shoe that helps you perform.



They don’t talk a whole lot about the shoe or the properties that help you perform. They just make a point that this shoe may feel good, but it performs like a champ. And that baseball’s not about feeling good, it’s about performance.

Huh?

OK. Strange logic gap aside, I give them credit for not making another oversaturated high speed film about shoes that help you terrorize the ball and dramatically slide into third with a triple every time you come up to bat.

It’s a funny spot. But it falls short when it comes to the coolness and authenticity that Nike chasers crave.

They use Jimmy Rollins, which is a nice surprise. Especially since he has nice comedic timing. He makes the spot good. And do you know how I knew it was Jimmy Rollins? Because one of the guys says, loudly and clearly, “JIMMY ROLLINS!!”

YES IT IS. AND THERE ARE FOUR GIANT DICK’S SIGNS AND A NIKE SWOOSH IN THE BACKGROUND TOO. And there are a lot of Nike shoes, too. And today is Thursday.

Listen. If you’re a baseball fan, you know that’s Jimmy Rollins. If you don’t know it, you’ll find out. Too bad Weiden & Kennedy, the agency that’s done so much great Nike work, often featuring athletes who you don’t know (yet), couldn’t convince Dick’s to stop taking their obvious pills. They felt the need to make sure everyone knew who this potentially anonymous looking baseball player is, since they were paying the former MVP a lot of money to stand in their store and get hit by baseballs.

Wait… are those really baseballs? Could’t be, right? They wouldn’t really do that. But the way I saw it, they looked fake. If I’m wrong, tell me. But they look like foamy rubber balls bouncing off his chest, and Nike would’ve found a way to make sure they didn’t look fake.

Hey Dicks, are you sure you want to Be Like Nike?

Larceny X 2

Sportscentric isn’t the only marketing entity to appreciate the genius behind the Miller delivery guy. The good folks at Alpo dog food and Fallon liked the Miller campaign so much, they pretty much ripped it off sideways.



I like the piece. It’s a clever little film. It should be. It’s a dog version of the Miller guy, just slightly in reverse. The Miller guy takes away the beer from a bunch of corporate wonks at a skybox and says “I need to smell me a hot dog to know I’m alive.” The Alpo hander-outers visit doggy spas and says “These dogs have lost their dogness.” They run around promising “ Meat!”

The Miller guy gives real beer to real folks who appreciate the real high life. The Alpo hander-outers give out Alpo to real dogs who need some real meat.

Problem is, the product doesn’t deliver. It’s barely meat. It’s mostly made from tons of fillers that are bad for dogs. It even makes their poops up to 60% bigger.

So an ad promising Real Meat is pissing people off. Click on the link to Youtube and read some of the comments, which range from “Very stupid and misleading advertising” to “I can't believe they didn't disable comments, like they think people don't know that Alpo is shit.”

Youtubers aren’t the only ones to take Alpo and Fallon to task, as evidenced by this article from sfgate.

And as if ripping off a great campaign to sell a crappy product wasn’t enough, for good measure, they ripped off Chipotle’s font as well.

Maybe they could have Tom Bodett do some radio spots and make it a perfectly larcenous 3 for 3 .