ESPN 360 part deux

College Edition. Wait for the naked boys...!

ESPN360 BAM!

As you may or may not know, ESPN is my advertising/brand/channel passion and lover. If I could work for any company/brand it would be ESPN in any department or way, whether it be for Martin on the account or at ESPN. One of many reasons... amazing advertising. Here's the lastest and greatest (saw it this morning):




Brilliant and relevant... things we should all strive to be.

Way to capture our... hearts?

Saw this Trojan spot after the gator game on ESPN. Kind of in shock from the audacity.

Listen up sports fans...

ESPN will get exclusive rights to the Bowl Championship Series starting in the 2011 season!! This includes the Fiesta, Orange, and Sugar Bowl as well as the Title game (the Rose Bowl is under a separate contract with ABC). This mean FULL integration of the BCS through ESPN's multiple networks and programming (including Deportes and ESPN International), radio, and digital (rights to the BCS website and simulcasting games on ESPN360.com and through Mobile TV). They are also going to have a show on Sundays to unveil each weeks rankings (yay!).

ESPN president George Bodenheimer:
"The BCS will thrive on ESPN. Our slogan is 'College Football Lives Here' and the BCS will now top college football's best regular-season and studio coverage, the sport's top awards shows, Bowl Week and other national championships all carried on our family of networks. This is a proud day for ESPN and an exceptional day for this great sport and its passionate fans."

And, for those skeptics who say "what about those of us who don't have cable?" A) go to a bar or friend's house and B) "ESPN is available in just over 98 million U.S. homes, which is 86 percent of all households with televisions, according to Nielsen. Swofford expects that number to grow by 2011. Of the people who watched the BCS title game on Fox last season, 95 percent had cable or satellite, ESPN said."

Read more - full article from ESPN.com

Karma Police end Turf War

As you may already know, ESPN/Monday Night Football AstroTurf boards were placed on bus shelters and billboards here in NYC. I instantly fell in love with the campaign. But shortly after they were posted... they began to disappear. I will admit I told a fellow Wizard to steal the turf for his apartment... but it was gone before any attempt was made. It would be a great piece of creative advertising history.

Today ESPN's W+K team fought back with new paper posters seen below:

(click for a larger picture so you can read it)

W+K played the guilt trip card but I guarantee the thieves won't feel any guilt, but proud that their efforts were recognized and continue to brag about it.

They said Heisman Trophy! Drink!

Yay! College football is here!

Looks like we might be able to run the ball this year, which would be good, being that Tim Tebow did not look impressive at all.

Defense looks better. They're getting there.

But anyway, a few of us went to Gin Mill to watch the game. And being the advertising junkies we are, we were pissed that they played random 80s music during the ads. There were a few that we specifically wanted to be able to hear. So, as promised, I give you these commercials, 80s music free (though the song in the Dr. Pepper commercial is somewhat dated).

the nerve...

So, I had a little break from work and decided to do a little light reading about Michael Phelps kicking Olympic (and well general) ass. Then, I found this...

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/summer08/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=3525843

It's an article by Pat Forde who writes for ESPN.com. It begins as an innocent enough article about the opening ceremonies in terms of dress mostly. Then, the low blow... #1 of the top 10 worst dressed countries in the Olympics: Denmark for wearing jean shorts... fair enough, but he compares this to Gainesville. I kid you not:
"• The 10 worst-dressed teams:
1. Denmark. Jean shorts. JEAN SHORTS?! This isn't Gainesville, Fla.; this is the Olympics."

WTF?