It’s been a while since we’ve seen a great ESPN spot from W+K, hasn’t it? Don’t get me wrong, I got a few good chuckles in while watching last year’s “Jumbotron Marriage Proposal.” But, I still yearn for the days when I would hear things like “Yeah, the game was boring, but did you see that new ESPN/SportsCenter spot they aired during the commercial break? It almost made watching that travesty worthwhile.”
“Shake On It” marks a subtle new take on W+K NY’s long-running “It’s Not Crazy, It’s Sports” campaign. In the past, we’ve seen spots showcasing fanatics doing outrageously flamboyant things in the name of sports because they want to. In the above spot, we see these people doing similar stupid feats because they have to. After all, it’s written in the Man Handbook that “If you make a bet and lose, you have to accept the consequences.” If you bet that you’d dance around in a dangerous part of town while wearing a diaper and bonnet if you favorite team lost, then you have to do it. That’s what being a grownup is all about.
And, before you say that these kinds of extreme bets rarely happen, I give you this poor bastard’s thigh tattoo of centaur Tim Tebow as evidence otherwise. Credits after the jump.
Creative Directors Stuart Jennings, Brandon Henderson
Copywriter Dave Canning
Art Director Cyrus Coulter
Producer Cheryl Warbrook
Account Team Brandon Pracht, Casey Bernard, Brian d’Entremont, Mark Williams
Executive Creative Directors Ian Reichenthal, Scott Vitrone
Head of Content Production Gary Krieg
PRODUCTION
Production Company Biscuit
Director Aaron Stoller
EDITORIAL
Editorial Company Mackenzie Cutler
Editor Ian Mackenzine
Assistant Editor Nick Divers
Post Producer Sasha Hirschfeld
MIX
Sound Lounge