Let’s be honest, the Super Bowl wasn’t that great. The game was an abomination, and the ads weren’t much better (save for a few gems, including Bud Light and HBO’s amazing mashup and the NFL’s own 2-minute love letter to football).
Network promos tend to be pretty horrible as well. They have the biggest audience on the planet, yet they let a chance to be unique go right by the wayside.
But in the midst of all of that mediocrity came one CBS promo that actually caught my attention. It was a mold-breaker that I rewound on Ye Olde DVR because I couldn’t believe that I was actually seeing a good network promo.
If you didn’t see it (likely, since the game was such a dog), it was all about CBS’s iconic eye logo set to some of the network’s most popular and famous shows dating back to almost half a century. The playful approach was a reminder that these promos don’t have to be dull and boring, and it was created by M content studio MDC’s Hecho Studios (formerly Hecho en 72 at 72andSunny). Also worth noting that it’s never a bad idea to have a good agency behind you to help build a brand in what is traditionally the most boring slot (see: Wieden + Kennedy and SportsCenter).
The best part was picking out the shows represented. Some folks of a certain age knew about older titles like I Love Lucy, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Carol Burnett Show, 60 Minutes and The Price Is Right. But more modern picks like How I Met Your Mother, the Late Show with Stephen Colbert and The Big Bang Theory found a spot in there, along with the network’s lead NFL announcer, Jim Nantz.
And it all came to life pretty quickly, too, in collaboration with CBS who selected, edited and licensed the sounds clips in the promo.
“The idea started as a sketch,” said Gui Borchert, Hecho Studios’ executive creative director. “Within the hour it became a 5-slide presentation that literally opened with ‘hey, nice logo.’ That afternoon we were prototyping it. And it all grew from there until it landed on The Big Game celebrating the brand in a really vibrant and fun way.”
Indeed it was, Gui. Now let’s get to working fixing those Magnum P.I. promos.