The New York Giants Had the Time of Their Lives Making This Dirty Dancing Super Bowl Tribute

There’s no time like Super Bowl Sunday to fall back into the warm, comforting embrace of a well-worn cultural touchstone.

The NFL did not disappoint on that front this year with its Big Game brand spot, which aired during the third quarter and starred those lovable losers, the New York Giants.

The campaign, created by agency of record Grey New York and titled “Touchdown Celebrations to Come,” offers a look behind the scenes at one of the 30 NFL squads that didn’t make the Super Bowl this year.

Last week’s teasers didn’t quite reveal the team’s top-secret off-season project—but now it seems that Eli Manning, Odell Beckham Jr. and the rest of the crew retreated to their New Jersey practice facility to pay tribute to that late ’80s coming-of-age Borscht Belt classic, Dirty Dancing.

The team faithfully recreated certain key moments of the film’s final dance sequence starring Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze with the help of Tony Award-winning Hamilton choreographer Stephanie Klemons.

Offensive linemen Brett Jones, John Greco, Chad Wheeler, D.J. Fluker and John Jerry earn a credit for supporting roles as the backup dancers, and safety Landon Collins encourages the young romantics to take flight with a reassuring “Let them dance.”

“Celebrations were a highlight of this season, and we had so many breakout moments where players showed their creativity together,” said NFL CMO Dawn Hudson. “We wanted to keep that fun going for the Super Bowl and give our fans something to smile and laugh at that was just about football and how awesome it is to be part of a team.”

Indeed. Now we’ll leave the Giants to look toward the 2018 season with Hungry Eyes.

CREDITS

Agency: Grey New York
Client: NFL
Campaign: “Celebrations To Come”

Worldwide Chief Creative Officer: John Patroulis
Deputy Chief Creative Officer: Jeff Stamp
Group Creative Director: Joe Mongognia
Creative Director: Mike Cicale
Creative Director: Cam Miller
Project Director: Hank Romero
EVP/Global Account Director: Brian Weston
SVP/Account Director: Courtney Berry
Senior Account Executive: Lucy Hallowell
Assistant Account Executive: Natalie Costa
Production Company: Biscuit Filmworks
Director: Aaron Stoller
Partner/Managing Director: Shawn Lacy
Executive Producer: Holly Vega
Producer: Kim Bradshaw
Head of Production: Mercedes Allen-Sarria/Rachel Glaub
Directory of Photography: Jody Lee Lipes
Production Designer: Thomas Ambrose
Choreographer: Stephanie Klemons

Editorial: Arcade Edit
Editor: Geoff Hounsell
Assistant Editor: Micah Chase
Sr. Post Producer: Gavin Carroll
EP/Partner: Sila Soyer

Color: Tom Poole at Company 3

Mix: Glen Landrum at Sound Lounge

Online Artist: Tristian Wake at Arcade
Online Assistant: Mark Popham at Arcade