Anomaly launched a new spot for Dick’s Sporting Goods, expanding on the brand’s “Sports Matter” campaign, now in its second year.
The “Sports Matter” program launched last year as an effort on the part of Dick’s to raise both awareness and funds for youth sports programs in the U.S. Last year, the program raised around $4 million, which it used to help fund 184 teams around the country. Anomaly’s latest effort for Dick’s focuses on the newest beneficiary of the program, Harlem Lacrosse, with the very personal story of one of the team’s players. The spot focuses on how lacrosse has helped him deal with the recent loss of his mother and how Harlem Lacrosse is helping him “get better as a player and as a student” so that he can prepare for college. It’s hard not to be moved by the emotional ad, which does a good job of showing the importance of sports and how Dick’s’ “Sports Matter” program helps organizations like Harlem Lacrosse improve young people’s lives. It ends with the message that “By 2020, 27% of U.S. public schools could be without sports” (according to Up2Us Sports), followed by a promise by Dick’s to spent $25 million on helping youth sports programs this year. The 60-second spot made its debut yesterday during a panel discussion in New York which included New York Jets wide receiver Brandon Marshall, ESPN analyst Jon Gruden and actor Michael B. Jordan.
“At the end of the day, we focus in on amateur sports,” Dick’s brand director Frank Igrec told AdAge. “The root of our belief is that we believe sports make people better. That’s our brand philosophy.”
“It’s very refreshing to be able to tell a story that feels so true to both what we’re trying to do with Sports Matter and Dick’s Sporting Goods in general,” added Anomally senior copywriter Barry Katz.