Come football season, the locker room spot proves too irresistible to pass up for brands and agencies across the country, with a spate of such ads arriving as reliably as colder nights and changing foliage.
BBDO’s latest for AT&T is no exception, mining the locker room pep talk speech trope to promote ditching cable in favor of DirecTV.
“It’s not what champions do, it’s what champions don’t do,” a coach tells his team, in a familiar-sounding inspirational speech. He goes on to explain that champions don’t give up and don’t quit, adding, to his team’s surprise, “except for cable.”
“Locker Room” is well shot by director Taiki Waititi (Team Thor, Thor: Ragnarok) and the writing is solid enough within the limits of the trope. The problem is that the ubiquity of ads with a similar premise mutes the ad’s comedic impact as it’s easy to see the lead up to a reveal of some sort from the beginning of the ad.
The campaign follows the introduction of BBDO’s “More for your thing” brand positioning for AT&T earlier this year and a series of follow-up ads this summer.
Credits:
AGENCY: BBDO
CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER BBDO WORLDWIDE: David Lubars
CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER BBDO NEW YORK: Greg Hahn
EVP, GROUP EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Matt MacDonald
EVP, EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTORS: Dave Cuccinello, David Povill
CREATIVE DIRECTORS: Katie Brinkworth, Mike Costello
ASSOCIATE CREATIVE DIRECTOR/ART DIRECTOR: Will Lindberg
ASSOCIATE CREATIVE DIRECTOR/WRITER: Josh DiMarcantonio
GROUP EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Julie Collins
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Angela Narloch
DIRECTOR OF INTEGRATED PRODUCTION: David Rolfe
BUSINESS MANAGER: Meg Foley
EVP, MANAGING DIRECTOR: Doug Walker
EVP, MANAGING DIRECTOR: Rachel Nairn
SVP, SENIOR DIRECTOR: David McKenzie
ACCOUNT DIRECTOR: Patrick Jones
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE: Alex Petosa
VP, DIRECTOR OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT: Colin Vidika
EVP, HEAD OF BRAND STRATEGY: Tim Millar
EVP, HEAD OF INTEGRATED PLANNING: Angela Jones
COMMUNICATIONS PLANNING DIRECTOR: Mac Russell
MEDIA AGENCY: Hearts & Science
PRESIDENT, HEARTS BBDO TEAM, AT&T: Ralph Pardo
HEARTS & SCIENCE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: A.J. Storinge
HEARTS & SCIENCE, EXECUTIVE BUS. DIRECTOR: Tavo Castro
HEARTS & SCIENCE, SENIOR DIRECTOR: Ben Tiernan
HEARTS & SCIENCE, MEDIA DIRECTOR: Andres Torrente
HEARTS & SCIENCE, EXEC. DIRECTOR, INVESTMENT: Jon Kaiser
HEARTS & SCIENCE, SR. DIRECTOR, INVESTMENT: Larry Hunt
HEARTS & SCIENCE, ACCOUNT DIRECTOR, SPORTS: Melissa McDevitt
HEARTS & SCIENCE, DIRECTOR, SPORTS: Robert Rizzo
HEARTS & SCIENCE, EXEC. DIRECTOR, DIGITAL: Mike Venables
HEARTS & SCIENCE, SENIOR DIRECTOR, DIGITAL: Theresa Fromm
HEARTS & SCIENCE, DIRECTOR, DIGITAL: Matt Lamers
HEARTS & SCIENCE, ASSOC. DIRECTOR, DIGITAL: Gabie Carrafiello
PRODUCTION COMPANY: Hungry Man
DIRECTORS: Taika Waititi
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Mino Jarjoura
LINE PRODUCER: Mala Vasan
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Rachel Morrison
PRODUCTION DESIGNER: Bruce McCloskey
PRODUCTION MANAGER: Peter Owen
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR: Ali Strobel
CASTING COMPANY: Elevator Casting
CASTING DIRECTOR: Edward Flores
EDITORIAL COMPANY: Cartel Edit
EDITOR: Andy McGraw
PRODUCER: Lauren Bleiweiss
VISUAL EFFECTS COMPANY: The Mill
PRODUCER: Hillary Thomas
SET SUPERVISOR/LEAD FLAME: Tim Rudgard
COLOR COMPANY: The Mill
COLORIST: Adam Scott
PRODUCER: Liza Kerlin
MUSIC COMPANY: Beacon Street
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER/CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Andrew Feltenstein
PRODUCER: Leslie DiLullo
SOUND DESIGN & MIX: Lime Studios
ENGINEER: Rohan