Agency Siltanen & Partners is bringing Sketchers back to the Super Bowl and taking baseball’s all-time hits leader Pete Rose along for the ride.
Rose stars in a 15-second ad for the brand, which sat out last year’s game after placing ads in the previous four Super Bowls. The spot plays on Rose’s exclusion from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and failed attempts at reinstatement. In the spot, which also features Rose’s fiancée Kiana Kim, we learn that even at home he’s not supposed to walk the hall. While it’s a bit of a one-trick pony, the spot is not without its charm, as Rose makes light of himself and his much-discussed Hall of Fame ineligibility.
“Pete isn’t just a baseball legend, he’s an American icon—and there’s no better place for an American icon than the Super Bowl,” Sketchers President Michael Greenberg said in a statement. “Besides, what better place is there for Pete to state his case for the Hall? Maybe the hundred million plus people watching will turn the tide.”