As the NFL preseason nears and training camp is in full swing, it’s tradition for players to promise their team’s fans a Super Bowl title by the end of the year. While these empty promises are typically spoken to local reporters who blow up the offhanded remarks into front page stories, it’s rare that we seen an athlete actually pay to get his guarantee in the paper.
Perhaps inspired by the Albert Pujols’s exhibition of gratitude to St. Louis fans or Kevin Youkilis’s (not real) love letter to Boston in Juggs, Carolina Panthers center Ryan Kalil decided to publish his Super Bowl-sized promise in today’s edition of the Charlotte Observer. His essay, titled “Why the Carolina Panthers will win Super Bowl XLVII, employs a simple, clean style of art direction that David Ogilvy would no doubt be celebrating over Twitter were he still alive at over 100. Just look at that bold, attention-grabbing headline and classic serif font. And, if you have some bored copywriting interns, challenge them to re-write the ad to make it more engaging. Then, laugh in their faces when they can’t outdo a football player.
For non-sports fans, here’s some context via Deadspin: “Kalil didn’t tell any of his teammates before taking out the ad, and he’s probably going to come in from mockery today. But fuck that noise. The Panthers and their fans deserve to be enthusiastic, after many years without even a whiff of optimism. They’ve finally got a quarterback, and they’re putting the appropriate pieces around him, and if you can’t go into a season mentally prepared to go all the way, what’s the point of playing the game in the first place?”
Too true, Deadspinners. Media people, how much do you think a full-page ad in the Observer runs for these days? For the rest of you, do you think Kalil employed the likes of a Charlotte-area agency to help him out? Or, do you think this guy is just a natural talent? Critique away in the comments.