Time Out for a laugh

Despite all kinds of basketball and hockey free agent news, the Cubs playing a pivotal series against the Brewers (please call me if you'd like to give me tickets for Saturday's game), and lots and lots of travel baseball in my world, let's take a breather from sports to enjoy a good guffaw.



This is what makes this country great. Happy fourth of July.

In awe of Lance

Once again, Nike and Lance Armstrong have found a way to inspire us.



Powerful. Gripping. The images are singular and relentless in their ability to make you feel sympathy for these courageous people; the music grabs your heart and twists and wrenches it, as it climaxes with pounding drumbeats. The ending is surprising and compelling.

It provides a fascinating contrast to a thematically similar commercial done several years earlier, also featuring Lance and with Nike as it’s sponsor.



No music that builds to a climax, no images of anyone battling a terrible disease. Just a very vulnerable, very determined young athlete.

But so powerful. So inspiring.

The twist here, of course, is that he did exactly what he promised, despite cancer in his testicles, abdomen, lungs, and brain. He beat the disease, he rode again as a professional cyclist, and he did pretty well.

More inspiring than the new spot? Who’s to say. They’re both amazing. But I will say this:

In the new spot, the tone in his voice feels different. His attitude towards humanity feels different. He just seems tired.

In each of the spots, Lance is at the center of what inspires us. And he does inspire us.

But in the new spot, his voice seems affected by his years of being chased by paparazzi, accused of doping, and living the life of a true rock-star-dating, tabloid-filling celebrity, who has left cycling behind and transcended the world of sports to become a bigger than life figure, for better or worse.

And it comes off as just slightly less sincere. To me, it doesn’t seem as fresh as this spot, done as part of the same campaign.



Now, don’t get me wrong. I am awed by Lance Armstrong and the things he has accomplished since his cancer announcement of October, 1996: he won the Tour de France seven times, and he raised both awareness and enormous sums of money for cancer and cancer research. He ran the New York and Boston Marathons.

And perhaps most incredible, he fathered a son, Max, through natural conception, just under a month ago, even though it was assumed that it could never happen.

This guy is incredible. He is truly special.

But being the sportsguy that I am, the Lance Armstrong I like most is the less famous, pre-Sheryl, more hard-core athlete. The guy who did a This is Sportscenter commercial that’s arguably one of the best ever made.



Not in the same class as the ads above, but for people who create great sports marketing, work this good is pretty damn inspiring.

Thank you, sports

Sports has the power to make you smile like an idiot.

Bloopers and amazing plays, no-hitters pitched and broken up, diving catches, ridiculous dunks, moves that can’t even be described. Favorite teams winning championships after long draughts (a Cubs fan can dream, can’t he?). Little else can make us grin from ear to ear as consistently. Or as stupidly.

There’s so much crap in the world, and there’s plenty of it in the world of sports. But for the most part, sports saves us.

So I forgive this spot all of its faults and thank EA sports for making me smile.



I forgive the cliched track, and the poorly obscured faces, and some pretty shaky mattes and composites.

Because I love the magic they created. Especially the casting and the wardrobe.

I love the mother and daughter who beat the Williams sisters and I love their Sunday-at-the-public-courts outfits. Ditto with Steve Nash and his hoodie-wearing teammate who couldn’t win a game of HORSE at a nursery school. And the kid skating with unbridled purpose and joy in the Red Wings sweater and blue jeans.

Nobody in the cast would’ve made it anywhere near callbacks for a Gatorade commercial but they’re perfect for a spot that makes us all believe we can play with the big boys and girls.

It all just makes me feel good.

I admit that the music, while cliched, gets the goosebumps going. And there are inspired effects-created moments, like when Ben Roethlisberger rubs his hand on our bearded friend's head.

And the way the product is introduced is smart, especially snuck into the middle of all the feel-great celebrations.

We could all use as much joy as possible these days. I want me as much as possible. Thank you, sports. Thank you, EA.

Just Das It

When it comes to sports brand icons and their TV commercials, more often than not, I’m impressed by Nike, perplexed by Gatorade, and fascinated by Adidas.

While Nike continues to blast down the road of consistently strategic and surprising work, and Gatorade rambles along a twisty turny highway in search of the Holy Grail of millenial connection, Adidas keeps crossing the street and trying different routes.

They tell the story of Adi Dassler, the founder of Adidas, and the true origins of the company, to stake a claim as an authentic original. And they do it via a 3 minute film. In claymation.

And they make a House Party spot with David Beckham, Missy Elliott, and other funky friends, to celebrate 60 years of Adidas originals.

Adidas does a lot of really interesting, entertaining work. I usually like it quite a bit. Case in point: Two new shoe ads featuring Derrick Rose (he of the phantom SAT test)…



…and Dwight Howard (he of the perhaps-overthrowing King James tonight)…



They look and sound different, which is good (voiced by Chali 2na from Jurassic 5). And they do a pretty clever thing: They talk about the power and efficacy of the clothes and shoes in the context of the power and efficacy of the athlete. I thought this was a smart way to surround the info they so desperately want to convey.

So in terms of breaking through the insanely crowded communications clutter, I’d say they’re successful.

But they’re not as strong as the new Nike work.

For me, the Adidas work doesn’t resonate as much as the new Nike puppets with Kobe and LeBron, for a simple reason: Even the most sports-astute marketers often forget how great it is to just watch amazing athletes do amazing things. It's why I love this spot so much.



You get humor, you get personality, and you get authenticity. While Adidas has cool technique, Nike 180’s that and goes anti-cool; you can’t get much more low tech than felt puppets.

I’m not saying the Adidas work isn’t good. It’s pretty darn cool. It just doesn’t feel as spot-on authentic as the Nike work. Am I wrong? Am I too Old School? Am I on the Nike payroll?

Maybe, probably, and definitely not. But you tell me.

It's a good time for the great ads of McDonald's

It’s not often that we at Sportscentric step away from sports. And never before have we left the fields of play to enter a fast food emporium. But two wonderful new films from McDonald’s have forced us into their waiting arms.

Did somebody say McDonald’s?

Sorry.

But yes, it’s McDonald’s with two new pieces of human communication that tickle your fancy and just plain made you smile and feel good. Isn’t that what McDonald’s is supposed to do?

Waitasec. On second thought, we can talk about McDonald’s and sports. They joined together in one of the most famous TV commercials in history.



First of all, MICHAEL: WHAT ARE YOU WEARING?!?!

Sorry. Lost myself for a second there in the dizzying array of colors in MJ's shortpantsuit.

It’s classic McD's advertising. Just kind of makes you smile and feel a warm fuzziness for the brand. Kind of like this new interactive billboard in London's Picadilly Square.



It’s whimsical, surprising, and engaging. I watched it a couple of times. I could've watched it more. I'm sure many people will.

And while the London billboard is the future of marketing, there’s always room for a good ole TV commercial. Especially silly ones that just make you giggle.



This work is good for people from 5 to 50. I first saw the fish spot over my son’s shoulder on his computer. It does what great McDonald’s advertising—and in this day and age, what any great advertising should do:

Connect people of any race creed shape age or gender to their product. When it comes to the work McD’s is doing, they’re hitting nothing but net.

And PS, I'll pay 100 bucks for MJ's shortpantsuit.

A meandering continuum

Of Kobe, LeBron, Willie Tyler and Lester, $20 Chinese food, and the great Circle of Life in sports and marketing.

Let’s start in the present.

Apparently, Nike is assuming that the Laker and the Cavs are going to meet in the NBA finals. At least that was their best guess when they made this spot, which had to have been produced before the playoffs began (and before the Rockets took LA to tomorrow’s Game 7).



I am highly amused by this premise: LeBron and Kobe are roommates. Kobe is the Rat Pack-like elder statesman, wearing shades and sweater right out of Ocean’s 11 (the original). LeBron is the kid playing video games with the hip hop styling. Love the puppet representations, love the apartment in which they live. This all makes sense, because Kobe has won three titles over a long career and LeBron is still looking for his first.

Fun stuff.

I also love the voices. It was amazing to see how many people beefed about not getting the real voices, including Darren Rovell’s SportsBiz blog. I say it’s much funnier with the actors who do the VO—I’m sure the scripts were great but you can hear the improvisation. Plus, puppet mouths don’t match real words, so they can say just about anything they want. Rumor has it David Allan Grier and Kenan Thompson were Kobe and LeBron, but that’s not confirmed.

But I digress.

Watching this ad, I was immediately reminded of the great Lil Penny ads Nike did at the height of Anfernee (Penny) Hardaway’s fame in the mid-‘90’s.



Yes, that’s Chris Rock as Lil Penny. And yes, he is very very funny. Too bad Big Penny’s knees crapped out on him. He could’ve been one of the greats. His ads were great and part of it was due to his understated comedic performance. Not easy being straight man to a puppet.

Unless you’re Willie Tyler and you’ve got Lester on your lap.



But again, I digress.

Penny Hardaway was a terrific basketball player. All-Star games, NBA Finals alongside Shaq for the Magic, Olympic Gold Medal…if he could have avoided injury, he could’ve been a legend…much like, say, LeBron.

Too much of a stretch? Maybe. But at a time when Michael was playing baseball and just returning to basketball, Penny filled a superstar void.

In addition to his basketball skills, he was good in front of the camera, as evidenced by the Lil Penny ads. Who knows how high his star could have risen? In fact, he could’ve been making commercials like this.



One of my favorite spots of the past several years. The music, the magic, the hero and the real people, all coming together. LeBron’s signature, iconic move. It’ll go down as an all-time Nike classic. It’s already spawned dozens of Youtube parodies. And enabled Nike to parody itself.



Ah, so we’re full circle on our meandering continuum. I like this spot even better than the “Three Rings” spot above (although it did seem like it could have been a :30 or at most a :45). What the hell does “$20 Chinese food!” mean? I don’t know, but it’s funny.

So there you have it. Proof that everything that goes around comes around. And if nothing else, you found out that Willie Tyler and Lester are still ventriloquizing, online! Who knew?

The best sports campaign. Possibly ever.

Anybody feel like laughing? Go here. Check the continuous playback button, and enjoy.

Thank goodness for This is Sportcenter. Arguably the best, longest running campaign on TV.

Thank you for mascots in the bathroom, gymnasts cartwheeling through cubicles, and 7’7” basketball players trying to dance to hip hop.

Thank you for getting to the heart of what a brand should do: connect to their target in a memorable, ownable way.

Thank you for getting to the essence of great advertising: finding an insight and bringing it to life in an unexpected way.

Thank you for selling us your product in a way that we can’t help but love it. The product, of course, being the anchors, who portray themselves as funny and human and silly and just gosh darn likeable. People who we’d want in our living rooms every night.

After fifteen years and hundreds of spots, the campaign is still not stale. In fact, it's fresher than ever. I felt compelled to write about the campaign when I saw this spot on TV.



And thank you for this one, from 1997. One of my favorites:



As long as there’s sports, there’s fodder. And with annoying sports news like Manny getting busted, Brett dangling his arm in front of the NFL, and LeBron sauntering to his official coronation, I’ll say it again:

Thank goodness there’s This is Sportscenter.

I find it especially useful in October when the Cubs do their thing, and I really need something to laugh at.