Dads With Daughters Will Love This Christmas Ad from Dick’s Sporting Goods

In this holiday spot from Dick's Sporting Goods, part of the chain's "Gifts That Matter" campaign, a father buys his young daughter a basketball hoop, presumably for Christmas. Through the years, it becomes part of the family's daily life and a focus of neighborhood activity during pickup games, parties and even bittersweet goodbyes.

There's a basic truth at the core of the minute-long clip—from Anomaly—that makes it especially appealing and, for most, I assume, instantly relatable. We all have certain possessions, which often enter our lives as gifts during childhood, that play important though at times almost invisible roles in our development. At best, these things help us mature and can shape our outlook about the world and ourselves. Sometimes they simply provide a few minutes of happy diversion when we're feeling down.

Such connections are especially strong when the items in question are sports related, owing to the physical nature of games and the shared experience they provide.

Given this dynamic, the commercial, well directed in montage style by Jake Scott through RSA Films, can't avoid some sentimentality. Even so, when it comes to illustrating the transcendent, transformative power of gifts that really matter, this spot's all net.