After 13 years playing for the Boston Red Sox, David Ortiz will retire at the end of the 2016 baseball season. And he's contemplating some unusual plans for his next career.
In a thank-you ad from Red Sox sponsor JetBlue, the designated hitter and nine-time All Star finds work at different children's birthday parties—whacking the literal stuffing out of their piñatas.
MullenLowe created the 45-second commercial, which serves its purpose well. Ortiz, aka Big Papi, creams each papier mâché animal with a single swing as kids and parents look on in horror, and candy rains down on distant neighbors.
It's a fun, simple spot, briskly paced and well acted, with nice little touches. The casual, self-satisfied manner in which he snatches and gobbles a cupcake while swaggering out of an event he's just ruined perfectly sums up the self-deprecating gag about the challenges he's looking forward to taking on next.
Then again, if he were to wear a blindfold like everyone else, it might be a little harder—even for him.
CREDITS
Client: JetBlue
Agency: MullenLowe
Creative
Chief Creative Officer: Mark Wenneker
Executive Creative Directors: Tim Vaccarino, Dave Weist
Creative Directors: Amy Ferguson, Julia Neumann
Copywriter: Chris Gilbert
Art Director: Dan Pappas
Production
Execkutive Director of Integrated Production: Liza Near
Director of Broadcast Production: Zeke Bowman
Producer: Matt Polski
Senior Digital Producer: Louise Lloyd Owen
Production Supervisor: Kristine Ring-Janicki
Senior Art Producer: Jessica Manning
Senior Production Artist: Julie Sforza
Project Manager: Christina Gratton
Senior Business Affairs Manager: Amy Keddy
Account Management
Executive Director: Drayton Martin
Account Director: Molly Bluhm
Account Executive: Beba Rivera
Strategy
Group Strategy Director: Ellie Gogan-Tilstone
Senior Strategist: Mike Patrick
Media
Senior Vice President, Group Digital Director: Jade Watts
Associate Digital Media Supervisor: Tracy Barahona
Associate Media Director: Kelly McGowan
Digital Media Supervisor: Shoshana Levine
Senior Media Planner: Lauren Meyers
PR, Social
Senior Vice President, PR Account Director: Jaclyn Ruelle
PR Account Supervisor: Brittany Topham
PR Assistant Account Executives: Kelsey Labrot, Meg Weldon
Production Company: Arts & Sciences
Director: Matt Aselton
Executive Producer: Marc Marrie
Producer: Zoe Odlum
Editing: MackCut
Editor: Ian Mackenzie
Assistant Editor: Mike Leuis
Executive Producer: Sasha Hirschfeld
Producer: Sabina-Elease Utley
Color: Company 3
Colorist: Tom Poole
Animation, Graphics: Method
Executive Producer: Angela Lupo
Visual Effects Producer: Matthew Engel
Sound Design, Mixing: MackCut
Mixer: Sam Shaffer
Music: Storefront Music