DraftKings Summons a Daft Doctor to Cure What Ails Fantasy-Football Fans

If you're suffering from silly-sounding, made-up ailments related to fantasy sports, the DraftKings doctor will see you now. That's Dr. Aftkings (see what they did there!?), who stars in a series of ads from Deutsch that began rolling out last week. In the spot below, the doofy doc dispenses a daffy diagnosis to a distraught dude suffering from lamentably low fantasy-football earnings: [kickout id="1"] Are we sure that guy went to medical school? "These spots use humor to connect to our young, male demo and make our educational messaging more entertaining," Don Lane, senior vp of brand and creative at DraftKings, tells AdFreak. (This is the client's first work under Lane, formerly a long-time executive at Arnold Worldwide, where his tenure overlapped for many years with that of current Deutsch North America creative leader Pete Favat.) Dr. Aftkings' prescription stays pretty much the same in other ads that deal with maladies like "Draftitis," "Loseonic Plague" and, um, "Winnerhea." [kickout id="2"] [kickout id="3"] [kickout id="4"] "For fantasy-football players, season-long leagues just don't have enough action," explains Deutsch New York creative chief Dan Kelleher. "There's only one draft, one game a week, that's it. We realized this fantasy deficiency was leading to symptoms of depression and apathy across a wide range of players. Lucky for them, we had the cure"—that would be Dr. Aftkings—"the only man who can treat players suffering from fantasy withdrawals, and keep them playing all season long." The deadpan/bedpan central performance by actor Vyto Ruginis and director Wayne McClammy's deft comic touch elevate the material, though you'd think medical science or creative directors would have eradicated the doltish-disease trope by now. Still, while Dr. Aftkings' schtick may not constitute a breakthrough, his antics are diverting and on-brand. So, Hippocratically speaking, at least he does no harm. DraftKings is also launching a separate series of "Play" spots (see below), which consist mainly of monochrome slow-mo game footage and big-ass text—"A week one win can be huge!"—flashing on screen. Dr. Aftkings doesn't appear in those. Maybe he was on the links that day (talk about tired tropes!), or summoned to appear before the state medical board. [kickout id="5"] CREDITS Client: DraftKings Agency: Deutsch —DraftKings "Dr. Aftkings" Campaign Deutsch Office: New York Chief Creative Officer, North America – Pete Favat Chief Creative Officer, New York – Dan Kelleher Executive Creative Director – Pete Johnson Art Director – Krish Karunanidhi Copywriter – Justin Lee, Jim LeMaitre, Jonathan Mackler Director of Integrated Production – Joe Calabrese Executive Producer – Shane Smith Director of Integrated Business Affairs – Maria Taris Group Director, Integrated Business Affairs – Stacy Schwartz Head of Digital Strategy & Invention – Rachel Mercer Sr. Strategist – Sidney Henne Sr. Strategist, Digital – Rachel Gruber Project Manager – Sean Gilleylen Account Director – Andrew Arnot Account Supervisor – Emily Doll Account Executive – Mina Mukherjee Client, Client Contact: SVP, Brand & Creative – Don Lane VP, Brand & Sports Marketing – Michael Shonkoff Creative Director – Scott Salsbury Director of Design – Thibault Kim Senior Marketing Acquisition Associate – Ethan Shibutani Strategic Partnerships – Gregory Sbardella Marketing Specialist – Rob Hanson Senior Manager – Josh Levin-Scherz Production Company: Hungry Man Director – Wayne McClammy Executive Producer – Mino Jarjoura Line Producer – Dave Bernstein Director of Photography – Bryan Newman Editorial: Cutting Room Editor – Chuck Willis Managing Partner – Susan Willis Executive Producer – Anna Petitti Telecine: Company 3 Senior Colorist – Tim Masick Visual Effects: Light of Day Creative Director/Partner – Colin Stackpole Flame Artist – Pete DeAndrea Music/Licensed Music Tracks: Extreme Music Track – XCD070_01 SUPERBAD Audio Post: Duotone Executive Producer – Greg Tiefenbrun Audio Engineer – Andy Green End Tag Animation/Graphics Company: Light of Day Creative Director/Partner – Colin Stackpole Flame Artist – Pete DeAndrea —DraftKings "Play" Campaign Deutsch Office: New York Chief Creative Officer, North America – Pete Favat Chief Creative Officer, NY – Dan Kelleher Director of Integrated Production – Joe Calabrese Director of Print and Art Production – Sarah Manna Executive Print Producer – Jeanette Luis Print Producer – Melissa Betancur Associate Producer – Marieme Sall Executive Creative Director – Pete Johnson Creative Director, Art – Marques Gartrell Creative Director, Copy – Heather English Art Director – Krishnan Karunanidhi Director of Integrated Business Affairs – Maria Taris Group Director, Integrated Business Affairs – Stacy Schwartz Head of Digital Strategy & Invention – Rachel Mercer Sr. Strategist – Sidney Henne Sr. Strategist, Digital – Rachel Gruber Director of Project Management – Clara Kim Account Director – Andrew Arnot Account Supervisor – Emily Doll Account Executive – Mina Mukherjee Client, Client Contact: SVP, Brand & Creative – Don Lane VP, Brand & Sports Marketing – Michael Shonkoff Creative Director – Scott Salsbury Director of Design – Thibault Kim Senior Marketing Acquisition Associate – Ethan Shibutani Strategic Partnerships – Gregory Sbardella Marketing Specialist – Rob Hanson Senior Manager – Josh Levin-Scherz Production Company: Gentleman Scholar Directors – William Campbell & Will Johnson Creative Directors – William Campbell, Will Johnson, Chace Hartman Executive Producer – Christina Roldan Head of Prodution: Rachel Kaminek Line Producer – Robert Morales Director of Photography – Claudio Miranda Production Designer: Peter Kirkegaard Art Director – Trish Janovic CG Supervisor – Adam Burke Producer – Gregory Behrens Designers – Chris Finn, Macauley Johnson, Cam Floyd, Hana No, Hana Eunjin Sean, Andy Lyon, Leah Evans, Vin Kim, Christina Liang, Juna Kwon, Juan Carlos Cuadra 2D Animators – Jaewoo Park, Juan Monasterio Compositors – Joseph Brigati, Ari Reisner, Victor Torres, Kristjan Zaklynsky Flame Artists – Kieran Walsh, Jamie Scott Storyboards – Iain Slack Riad Represents Photographer – Thierry des Fontaines Line Producer – Adele Thomas Digital Tech – Alexander Quel First Assistant – Wayne Hoecherl Second Assistant – Mackenzie Walker Editorial: Whitehouse Post Executive Producer – Caitlin Grady Editor – James Dierx Assistant Editor – Sam Omenn Steelhead Executive Producer – Jeff Morgan Senior Motion Designer/Editor – Juan Guzman Editor – Matt Mullen Motion Designer – Yui Uchida Post Producer – Samantha Addy Telecine: Carbon VFX Senior Producer – Paul O'Beirne Colorist – Milan Boncich Music/Licensed Music Tracks: Original Music and Sound Design by Human World Wide "Week to Week" Composer(s) – Matthew O'Malley & Thomas Keery "Leagues" Composer(s) – Jon Collins & Thomas Keery "Perfect Lineup" Composer(s) – Michael MacAllister & Thomas Keery "Winning" Composer(s): Andrew Bloch & Thomas Keery Audio Post: Post Human Executive Producer – James Wells Senior/Post Producer – Craig Caniglia Creative Lead/Sound Design – Mike Jurasits Post Engineer – Albert Leusink Assistant Post Engineer – Robert Suchecki

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DraftKings Summons a Daft Doctor to Cure What Ails Fantasy-Football Fans

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