NFL and MLB legend Deion Sanders makes his commercial debut for US life insurance giant Aflac alongside Alabama coach Nick Saban and the brand’s ubiquitous duck mascot in a college football campaign called ‘Coach Prime’ focused on unexpected medical expenses.
Launched ahead of the start of the college football season – which kicked off on 28 August and will culminate with the National Championships on 10 January 2022 – the campaign is built around a set of TV commercials in which Sanders and Saban meet the duck and which include jokes about ‘wingspans’ and earning an ‘Aflacket’ (a reference to coach Saban’s signature blue blazer).
Created by agency Dagger and directed by JJ Adler of Ruckus Films, the campaign features a marching band and a multicultural cast alongside the former two-time Super Bowl winner and 14-season NFL star (where he played for the Atlanta Falcons, San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, Washington Redskins, and Baltimore Ravens) and 8-season MLB player (where he played outfield for the New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds, and San Francisco Giants).
The campaign’s ‘Coach Prime’ title is a play on Sanders’ NFL ‘Prime Time’ nickname and it rolls out as he begins the season in a new role as the head football coach at Jackson State University.
The ads run through the college football season on ESPN/ABC, the ACC Network, the SEC on CBS, and other stations showing college football and are backed by social media support and on-the-ground, local activations.
“Coach Prime is not only a world-class athlete and coach, but also a father, teacher, and advocate for Black opportunity,” said Dagger Creative Director Brandon Hampton. “He stands in the gap of education for HBCUs while Aflac stands in the healthcare gap for its policyholders. He [Saban] is straightforward, no-nonsense. How do you contrast that on camera with another personality? The name that bubbled and rose to the top was Coach Prime. The coaches had a chance to meet the morning before the shoot. It was so interesting to watch them interact with each other—there was an immediate friendship and the mutual respect was palpable. So much so, in fact, that when Coach Prime was called to set, he said, ‘Next person that interrupts me and Coach [Saban] while we’re talking football is going to get it!’ We all cracked up!”
The campaign was created for and briefed in by Aflac’s marketing team which included Chief Brand & Marketing Officer Shannon Watkins, VP Brand Marketing Garth Knutson, Senior Brand Manager (Connections) Mallory Hartline, Senior Brand Manager (Experiential) Michele McMullin, Senior Manager (Corporate Communications) Amy Persons, Senior Brand Manager (Content) Kaci Stewart, Brand Manager Alex Santos, Sean Kelly, Lisa Malone and Tod Meisner and Multimedia Manager John Helms.
It was created by a group at agency Dagger which included Chief Creative Officer Al Patton, Creative Director Brandon Hampton, Associate Creative Director Aaron Konter,
Art Director Cleo Bess, Senior Copywriter Ransom Haywood, Copywriters Emily Turner, Cristian San Emeterio and Brittany Lazaroff.
The media agency was Spark Foundry, the experiential agency was MELT Atlanta and B”B was handled by Manifest.
Comment:
The Sanders and Saban double act is a leftfield approach to advertising around closing the gap for customers with unexpected medical bills that health insurance doesn’t cover.
Former double-threat Sanders grabs the major starring role, but one can only wonder what it says about American sports marketing when a coach with 256 career wins and seven national championships as a college head coach ends up staring down a duck.
Is that really what makes America great?
Aflac is also using the campaign to call attention to historically black colleges and universities, as well as communities of colour. Not only are the uniforms and attire customised designs that exemplify HBCU spirit, but the marching band in the commercial – ‘Flockwave and the Incomparable Tailfeathers’ – features authentic HBCU musicians and dancers performing a game-day arrangement of ‘Must Be The Money’: which was Sanders’ walk-on song during his playing days.
Indeed, Aflac’ own campaign PR copy states that the company’s commitment to diversity dates back to its first TV spot, ‘Park Bench’, from 2000.
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