As we mentioned in our Tuesday Odds and Ends post, 180 LA is rolling out a new campaign for Sony Electronics that builds on last year’s HDNA effort. Little did we know, though, that one of the components would include a TV spot featuring a sporty Justin Timberlake and Peyton Manning, two superstars in their respective professions whose best work as of late has been on SNL’s Digital Shorts.
In the spot, which also features the now-infamous ESPN reporter Erin Andrews, the Colts QB and the pop singer square off in a game of ping-pong, replete with headbands, blue unis, trash talk and all. The ad is part of a campaign which also includes other peculiar spokespeople like New York media maven Julia Allison (as Gawker reported), who hopefully can stimulate demand for Sony products like Blu-Ray players, TVs, camcorders and more despite this little recession we’re having.
180 LA’s ECD William Gelner tells the New York Times, “It’s tough out there. That’s why we did the campaign, the reason it exists: to give people a clear reason to choose Sony.”
180’s budget is reportedly between $70 and $80 million for the campaign, which with the addition of Timberlake is begging for some sort of modified, consumer electronics-focused redo of “Dick in a Box.”