Thursday Night Football Is the Only Thing That Matters in High-Octane Campaign Helmed by 'I, Tonya' Director

Just over one year ago, Wieden + Kennedy painted college football fandom as a war of rival tribes in its debut campaign for Fox Sports. The exhaustive work ultimately encompassed 17 spots, including an anthem, two ads dedicated to specific games and 14 deep dives into the cultures of particular schools. This week the agency joined the pros with a series of spots promoting Fox's Thursday Night Football lineup, promoted by Bud Light and starring the 2018 NFL season's top matchups. Much like the earlier work, these new spots frame individual week-to-week matches as epic battles, with clan loyalty seeping into every moment of a fan's life. Anthem "Now It's a Game" highlights the quality of the match-ups on Fox's lineup. [kickout id="1"] The rest of the ads in the series dig into those games, week by week, team by team and mega-fan by mega-fan. First, a dentist's work finding a decayed tooth can't compete with an intense interest in the Vikings/Rams game. [kickout id="2"] Similarly, one mechanic is so dedicated to his Patriots that an exasperated customer can't help but play second fiddle to Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. [kickout id="3"] The most forceful explanation of one game's significance may come from this diner waitress, who takes only a few seconds to explain why the Giants vs. Eagles will "come down to the wire." (We might mention that Philadelphia won the Super Bowl last year while New York went 3-13, but she was on a roll.) [kickout id="4"] Three additional spots adopt the perspectives of two schoolkids on a bus, a couple stuck with a very talkative cabbie and a Cowboys fanatic who very clearly deserves to be in first class. [kickout id="5"] [kickout id="6"] [kickout id="7"] Production company MJZ enlisted acclaimed director Craig Gillespie of I, Tonya fame to deliver the energy these spots demanded. "The spots’ fast-paced editing reflects the hard-hitting energy of Thursday Night Football,” Gillespie said. "We wanted to do something that felt creatively unique and different, but is also authentic to the voices of people who love the game—fans, players and broadcasters—in their everyday environments." "This is year one of the broadcast on FOX, and we wanted a campaign that was distinctive to our voice, but also true to what we plan to deliver to NFL fans as the network home of this franchise," added Robert Gottlieb, Fox Sports evp and head of marketing. Stay vigilant, football fans. CREDITS Agency: Wieden+Kennedy New York Client: Fox Sports, Thursday Night Football Campaign: “Now It’s A Game” Fox Sports EVP, Marketing: Robert Gottlieb SVP, Marketing: Bill Battin VP, Creative: Blake Danforth VP, Marketing: Keith Hritz Senior Brand Director: Keri Gajewski Creative Director: Javier Castillo Director of Production: Claudina Mercado Production Assistant: John Tyler Osborn Associate Producer: Andrew Harwood W+K New York Executive Creative Director: Karl Lieberman Creative Directors: Gary Van Dzura, Laddie Peterson Copywriters: Matt Herman, Matt Mulvey Art Director: Lawrence Melilli Head of Integrated Production: Nick Setounski Executive Producer: Alison Hill Producer: Jacob Lincoln Fox Talent Producer: Dom Tunon Group Account Director: Mike Welch Account Director Matt Angrisani Account Supervisor: Liz Lindberg Project Manager: Yann Samuels Director of Business Affairs: Patrick O’Donoghue Business Affairs: Lindsey Timko Traffic: Sonia Bisono Production Company: MJZ Director: Craig Gillespie Executive Producer: Emma Wilcockson Line Producer: DebTietjen Director of Photography: Joost Van Gelder Editorial Company: Spot Welders Editor: Haines Hall and Paul Sabater Post Producer: Dustin LaForce and Carolina Padilla Managing Partner: David Glean Managing Director/Executive Producer: Carolina Padilla Editor: Paul Sabater and Haines Hall Assistant Editors: JC Nunez, Austin Lewis, Luke McIntosh, Alexa Vallejo, Tim Forster Producer: Dustin LaForce and Carolina Padilla Finishing: Bonfire Conform: Brendan O'Neil Anthem Finishing: SHIPPING+HANDLING Managing Director: David Glean Creative Director: Casey Price Flame Artist: Renée Tymn Executive Producer: Scott Friske Producer: Dustin LaForce Telecine Company: Company 3 Colorist: Tom Poole Producer: Alexandra Lubrano Mix Company: Sound Lounge Mixer: Tom Jucarone Senior Producer: Becca Falborn Sound Design Company: Sound Lounge Sound Designer: Marshall Grupp Senior Producer: Becca Falborn

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Thursday Night Football Is the Only Thing That Matters in High-Octane Campaign Helmed by 'I, Tonya' Director

Wieden + Kennedy and Fox Sports cater to the hardcore fans

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