ESPN released new creative promoting the new 2020 NFL season on 4 September led by a heart-lifting (and slightly tongue-in-cheek) ‘Ready for Football’ commercial debuting across the sports broadcaster’s own platforms.
For this year’s season coverage, rather than asking fans if they are ready for football, ESPN acknowledges what it sees as a truth that fans are, now more than ever, ready for football.
To capture that sentiment, ESPN teamed up with creative agency Arts & Letters Creative Co and with musician Celine Dion for an ad that invites football fans to celebrate the upcoming season by singing along to her classic ballad ‘It’s All Coming Back To Me Now’.
The creative features ESPN on-screen talent, plus plenty of NFL fans, players and coaches who are joined by characters from the Disney universe.
NFL stars include Titans running back Derrick Henry, Seahawks linebacker Shaquem Griffin and cornerback Shaquill Griffin, Jaguars quarterback Gardner Minshew and Saints defensive end Cam Jordan, who appear along with cartoon cameos from Remember the Titans, Family Guy and The Lion King, plus a guest appearance from Grammy Award-winning producer DJ Khaled.
“Anticipation for the upcoming NFL season is running hot, and we are incredibly excited to celebrate the return of the NFL with the entire sports community,” said ESPN enior VP Of Marketing Laura Gentile.
“The message behind ‘Ready for Football’ rings especially true this year given the intense emotional journey fans have experienced these past several months. Our creative approach reflects how we are all – now more than ever – feeling, as we crave football and show fans, players, coaches, teams, and ESPN all coming together to rejoice, reflect and exhale.”
“As huge NFL fans ourselves, we always count down the days until football season kicks off, but we can all agree that this year brings a whole new level of anticipation,” added Arts & Letters Creative Co Founder and Executive Creative Director Charles Hodges.
“Together with ESPN, we wanted to bottle that excitement and were fortunate enough to find the only song in the world that could appropriately capture our collective feeling of the returning of something so important to so many.”
The campaign was created for an ESPN marketing team led by Senior Vice President Marketing Laura Gentile, Vice President Sports Marketing Emeka Ofodile, Senior Director Sports Marketing Curtis Friends, Manager Sports Marketing David Dessau, Sports Marketing Manager Lauren Gorajek, Sports Marketing Coordinator Carly Rotatori, Talent Production Director Chantre Camack and Talent Production Associate Director Sharee Stephens by a team at Arts & Letters Creative Co.
The creative agency team included ECD Charles Hodges, Creative Director Molly Jamison, Creatives Scott Hayes, Eric Steele, Tanner McColl and Dixon Muller, with Director of Production Letitia Jacobs, Executive Producers Keith Jamerson and Rebecca Wilmer, Assistant Producer Griffin Morrow, Managing Director Rich Weinstein, Business Director Theo Abel, Business Manager Martin Madriaga, Director Of Strategy
Andy Grayson, Strategist Zach Wootton, Director Of Business Affairs Lenora Cushing, Business Affairs Jennifer Kmetzsch, plus Editors Pat Blumer and Matt Doe, ASssistant Editor Sho Kellam, Executive Producer Whitney Green, Producer Libbie Crane and Assistant Producer Ryan Dunstan.
The production company was Superprime, with Director The Malloys, Managing Director/EP Rebecca Skinner, Managing Director / Head Of Sales Michelle Ross, Executive Producer Charlotte Woodhead, Head Of Production Matt Sanders, Line producer Alexandra Lisee, with colour/finishing by Madbox Made and audio mix by Overcoast Music + Sound.
Outcome:
Since it was posted across ESPN Marketing’s social channels on 4 September the hero spot has generated 61k YouTube views.
Comment:
After a scarce sporting year, this is arguably the most anticipated season in recent memory for the USA biggest league and the campaign is paired with a song that (unfortunately) has certainly lived long in our memory.
The idea here is that US sports fans haven’t had many reasons to get excited in 2020 with so many pillar properties and tournaments cancelled and seasons delayed or curtailed by the pandemic.
But, just like the NBA and the MLB, even sports which seem to be back on a path towards something approaching normality, new Covid-19 infections make each subsequent week uncertain and that, of course, applies to the NFL too as its prepares for its 10 September start.
Like other US leagues, the NFL has introduced a variety of infection-control measures – from on-field bans on cheerleaders and mascots, to no (or limited) spectators in stadiums – and several star players have announced they plan to sit out the season so it won’t quite be like business as usual.
Football fans, like all sports fans around the world, will take what they can get (for a while at least).
So it is fair to question whether the song choice is really a perfect fit for the reality.
Perhaps this spot is as much tongue-in-cheek as it is emotionally cathartic?
Links:
ESPN
https://www.youtube.com/user/ESPN
https://www.instagram.com/espn
https://www.facebook.com/ESPN/
Arts & Letters Creative Co
https://artsandletters.xyz/
NFL
http://www.nflshop.com/source/bm-nflc…
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