MRB Openers Set the Stage

LOS ANGELES While some companies advertising in the Super Bowl are counting seconds, MRB Productions is counting minutes.This Sunday the Hollywood production company boasts both a show opener and a game opener, each with embedded marketing, according to a company principal."This is most likely the final opening ever featuring Hank Williams Jr. singing," said Matt Brady, MRB's executive producer, filling in for MRB director Mark Teitelman, who typically shot the Williams pieces, but was shooting his own open. "I think it's one of the best openings ever, amazing pyro[technics], dancers, good spirits."Brady's opener includes a GMC Yukon in a background of singers, dancers, confetti and fireworks, and Williams lip-syncing to lyrics tailored to the game itself. GMC was a major sponsor of ABC's Monday Night Football this past season. Teitelman traveled to five cities in the last two weeks to shoot an opener based on a Dr. Seuss verse featuring former National Football League stars Roger Staubach, Bart Starr, Jerry Rice, Franco Harris and Joe Montana. Each of the players will recite stanzas from "Oh, the Places You'll Go," written by Theodore Geisel as a commencement address. The poem includes incidental allusions to football such as "And the magical things you can do with that ball will make you the winningest winner of all," said Teitelman.The open also features Harrison Ford, whose movie Firewall premieres Feb. 10 and is a likely candidate for Warner Bros. to advertise during the game. Ford and the players were shot on green screen and composited into a virtual Suess-like computer-generated environment by Eric DeHaven at the effects shop Rhythm & Hues in Marina del Rey, Calif."If he had to be dressed as a character from the movie, for instance, we would have to say no," said Teitelman, who shot the controversial promo for Desperate Housewives in which Nicolette Sheridan disrobes in front of NFL player Terrell Owens in a locker room. "The idea or conceit of the piece is the most important. It has universal appeal. I'm optimistic that it will look different than everything else that will air on Sunday."Teitelman came up with the concept of the poem read by athletes. "Somebody gave me the book when I graduated high school, and then I thought it was stupid present," he said. "I was cleaning up years later and came across it, read it and was blown away. It's wonderful." Brady said his roster of six directors has become a "boutique in sports-themed commercials" for clients like Upper Deck and DirecTV because MRB directors (which include former NFL player Rico Labbe) have a touch with athletes. "With a few exceptions, it's hard to get a good performance out of them," said Brady. "Rico and Mark specialize in that."

Brand Marketing

MRB Openers Set the Stage

Gregory Solman

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Gregory Solman