What's more American than mom and apple pie? Or, as Bob Dylan asked in Jeep's Super Bowl spot, "What's more American than America?"
One possible answer is the National Football League.
Professional pigskin may be the United States' most popular sport by a mile (or at least 100 yards), but it has never made a paid appearance in the Olympic games ... until now.
The NFL debuted its first Olympics ad in the opening days of this year's games with "One Team," created by Grey New York. The work was developed in collaboration with the NFL, the U.S. Olympic Committee and some very dedicated groundskeepers.
The campaign reinforces the workmanlike appeal of the NFL while simultaneously casting its 32 teams as proxy representatives for the the entire country during a summer when Americans from coast to coast have united to watch our athletes compete in Rio. As the tagline reads, "Football Is Family," no matter how big that family might be.
This ad's real star may be St. Vincent's reimagining of the Star Spangled Banner, which updates Jimi Hendrix's classic 1969 Woodstock rendition with the help of some overdubs and at least one very active whammy bar.
"One Team," which debuted on Saturday, will run in 30- and 15-second versions across NBC's properties (Bravo, CNBC, The Golf Channel, USA) until the games end on Aug. 21.
CREDITS
Advertiser: NFL
Spot Title: "One Team"
First Air Date: August 6, 2016
Creative Agency: Grey New York
Chief Creative Officer: Andreas Dahlqvist
Executive Creative Directors: Leo Savage and Jeff Stamp
Group Creative Director: Joe Mongognia
Creative Director/Copywriter: Evan Benedetto
Creative Director/Art Director: Mike Cicale
Svp, Account Director: Alan Perlman
Senior Account Executive: Lucy Hallowell
Production: NFL Films
Directors: Rob Gehring, Bob Angelo, Shannon Furman, Brian Rosenfeld and Samantha Kordelski
Line Producer: Liz Leafey
Production Coordinator: Jeff Stupak
Camera: Andre Labous, Kevin Simkins, Dave Sharples, Steve Skinner
Executive Production: Townhouse
Executive Producer: Alison Horn
VP, Producer: Bruce McDonald
Assistant Producer: Alex Litke
VP, Music Producer: Zach Pollakoff
Editorial: Final Cut
Editors: Ashley Kreamer and Chris Rizzo
Original Rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" performed by St. Vincent
