Teddy Goalsevelt–aka Havas Chicago ACD Mike D’Amico–returned to our screens this morning after nearly a year, holding a “press conference” to announce that he will be running to replace the recently departed Sepp Blatter as President of FIFA.
Here’s the video:
As before, D’Amico (who is also a board member of the Chicago chapter of US soccer fanatics the American Outlaws) worked with some of his agency colleagues on the project. When the first round of Goalsevelt videos launched last summer, all participants were employed by Chicago’s Cavalry. Now, however, they’ve all moved on: the video above was created by D’Amico, Chad Ingram of Leo Burnett, Director Logan Hall of Optimus, and current freelancer/former Cavalry ACD/Copywriter Dan Jordan.
Jordan tells us that “Since timing is so crucial for these projects, we crafted the idea Tuesday, [and] shot and edited yesterday…we want to start our Goalsevelt For President campaign today. Not only is FIFA in the news every day, the Women’s World Cup starts this weekend.”
Jordan says that the purpose of the project is “getting noticed,” and the team certainly succeeded on that front the first time around. According to Jordan, the quartet wants to see “how far we can take this”; he described their strategy as a “shoot first, ask questions later kind of thing.”
Regarding the larger FIFA organization and its pending election, Jordan says Goalsevelt is “obviously not a viable candidate, but he’s probably better than the options they have.”
The team has larger ambitions: Jordan spoke of a plan to make a “30 for 30”-style documentary that would be “unrelated to the video that went live yesterday” and told us that future work could include signs, buttons, and other campaign paraphernalia.
Regarding the character, Jordan says, “he has kind of become the iconic face of U.S. soccer. [The people responsible for marketing the league] seem to think so.”
When asked whether those involved in the project plan to use it in their portfolios, Jordan said they would certainly do so if it turns out to garner as much press attention as the previous campaign. He added, “if it isn’t [successful], then this never happened.”