DirecTV ambassador and tennis super star Serena Williams battles bots and future criminals in a new four-part animated story by DC Comics for the US direct broadcast satellite service provider.
Created from an idea by agency Critical Mass, ‘Serving Up Justice: Featuring Serena Williams & Wonder Woman’ is an illustrated adventure comic book from DC Comics which is the central creative asset anchoring a new digital outreach promotion for DirecTV’s new streaming service.
The socially conscious comic sees Williams finds herself ‘on the other side of the multiverse where families are being torn apart by RetroBots who arrest people based on the potential for future crime’.
A classic ALL CAPS cartoon copy and animated story sees the comic open with Williams’ Wonder Woman slamming a backhand winner (THWAP!) as the crowd erupts (CLAP! CLAP! YAY!) when they hear strange sounds (RUMBLES! and CRAAACKS!).
Fans can read the comic on DirecTV’s bespoke hub here.
The initiative also includes a custom ‘Wondrous Serena’ emoji triggered by the hashtags #GetYourTVTogether and #DirecTVStream, while a Snapchat AR portal launched as a platform takeover on 6 October timed to promote the comic’s third instalment.
“Wonder Woman has always been a cultural icon for equality. As we crafted the comic, it was particularly important to make sure the story aligned with both DirecTV and Serena’s values—and reflect the real-life superhero that she is. It mirrors Serena Williams story so well: She’s worked so hard to rise to the top while standing up for representation in sports,” explained Critical Mass group strategy head Jen Goldberg. “Serena and Wonder Woman are icons to women everywhere,” Goldberg adds, “and it felt like an unmissable opportunity to celebrate women trailblazers in every way we could. And it’s not just in the story; the DC team behind the art is an incredibly talented group of women.”
The campaign was created for DirecTV’s Marketing department led by Vince Torres ( Chief Marketing Officer), Kendall Thaker (VP, Advertising and Go-To-Market), Mandy Martin (AVP, Marketing Management), Sheri Holmes (Director, Product Marketing Management), Nick Bianchi (Director, Social Media), Jenn Wang (Lead Product Marketing Manager), Jessica Elizardo (Lead Product Marketing Manager) and Tracy Threlkeld (Lead Product Marketing Manager).
Launched on 21 September, author Amanda Diebert and illustrator Cat Skaggs led creative development with original artwork from DC Comics, alongside a team from creative agency Critical Mass which included Val Carlson (Chief Creative Officer), Andrew Lavery (Group Creative Director), James MaClean (Creative Director), Meghan O’Neil (Associate Creative Director), Javier Olivares (Associate Creative Director), Megan King (Senior Art Director), Ryan Mesnchuk (Senior Art Director), Taylor Lumley (Art Director), Ana Benitez Duarte (Designer), Melissa De Sa (Senior Copywriter), Peter Lagosky (Senior Copywriter), Daisy Swain (Copywriter), Jen Goldberg (Group Strategy Director), Kyle Bottoms (Strategy Director), Maria Hodgeson (SVP Client Partner), Lauren Rappaport (VP Client Partner), Andrew Burke (Account Director), Haley Dodd (Senior Account Manager), Sydney Woodman (Executive Producer), Ashleigh Fehmie (Senior Producer) and Vicky Patel (Senior Producer).
Comment:
The animated story book follows on from Williams’ appearance as Wonder Woman in a late August DirecTV commercial leveraging the 2021 US Open: a commercial which was the first in a series of movie-themed ads starring tennis legend and DirecTV ambassador Williams by TBWA\Chiat\Day LA.
What Are You Binging?
— DIRECTV (@DIRECTV) September 1, 2021
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