With the FIFA World Cup set to kick off next week, the ESPN marketing onslaught continues, this time starring U.S, National Team midfielder Michael Bradley, who co-stars alongside the WWL’s anchor Bram Weinstein in the latest SportsCenter spot from W+K New York. In the :30 clip above, Bradley’s accompanied by a little sidekick as he makes his rounds throughout the Bristol campus of ESPN, which holds the English-language rights for the World Cup, which takes place place as you might know in Brazil.
This latest effort marks the 400th-plus “This is SportsCenter” spot from the network, which also marks its eighth World Cup broadcast. It’s a more subdued than previous ads, though the tinge of dry humor remains intact, and yes, this one’s for the kids (after all, the little ones accompany each player in the pitch). O Positive director David Shane once again returns to the fold, following up his Bubba Watson-starring SportsCenter spot from two months ago with a well-timed piece that has chanting USA ahead of the world’s biggest stage.
Creative Directors Brandon Henderson, Caleb Jensen
Art Director Dan Oliva
Copywriter Scott Mahoney
Executive Producer Temma Shoaf
Account Team Casey Bernard, Alex Scaros
PRODUCTION
Production Company O Positive
Director David Shane
Executive Producer Marc Grill
Line Producer Marc Grill
Director of Photography Dave Morabito
EDITORIAL
Editorial Company Mackenzie-Cutler
Editor Ian Mackenzie
Assistant Editor Mike Leuis
Post Producer Sasha Hirschfeld
Post Executive Producer
VFX
VFX Company The Mill
Producer Clairellen Wallin
Assist Brandon Danowski
Jamin Clutcher
MIX
Mix Company Heard City
Mixer Philip Loeb
Producer Gloria Pitagorsky