Students Try to Understand Why People Watch Sport and Nike? October 19, 2009
Posted by pknox in : Uncategorized , trackbackEver sat and wondered why do we really watch sports? I mean really why we watch? Is it the thrill of the game? the comraderie with other fans? the escape from daily life? Or is it much deeper than that. Masters students in Dr. Todd Crosset’s Socio-Historical Foundations of Sport class have been exploring among other things we really watch sport. Recently, teams of students (including myself) created fake Nike commercials in an attempt to appeal to various audiences and explore various reasons we watch. Below you will find links to these commercials as well as comments from Dr. Crosset on why these commercials work. Let us know what you think.
Overview of the assignment – students are given one week to create an idea and produce a rough commercial or Ad (or series of commercials or ads). In the ad they MUST appropriate a “hard core” social world or sub world of sport (fan or athlete (e.g tailgating, ESPN junkies, sport betting, college football, high jumping)) to sell the product or line. The ad must appeal to a sophisticated audience. Students are asked to make liberal use of free floating signifiers, humor, irony, etc. to enhance the authenticity quotient of the brand.
This year’s crop was quite good. Here are my three favorites with a bit of commentary. Enjoy and let us know what you think of the ads. What works and what doesn’t.
1) Ping http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHdjIJA8nv8
This ad pulls you in. What’s going on? It is fun and funny. The joke music extends the joke. It plays on the distinctive sound of college baseball – ties the brand with college baseball. (arguably the apex of aluminum bat ball) and thus endears the brand to hard core fans and college baseball athletes—but more importantly to the economic buyers of baseball equipment for youth sport. This is an effective ad to move into a market where other brands have little media exposure.
2) The Pitcher. http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=97756820db10555fe5c3dee5769931eca5828ff61d7cd5c5c95965eaa7bc68bc
Counter posing instrumental music with still images of a work horse pitcher with voice over poetry read in an English (actually Aussie) accent is brilliant. The combination is unexpected but not jarring. The poetry adds a flow to the commercial made up of still images. Using stills invites the viewer to fill in the gaps and to read the images. The poetry and accent add a touch of class to a hard rock and hard throwing closer. For the super fan there is much “to get” — the relationship between Rivera and the music, the number 42 and the inside joke of Posada signaling for a cut fast ball. And the commercial is enjoyable even if you don’t get it on that level. And the final line of the poem endears the brand to all those who have played baseball on a high level and experienced “understanding too late”.
Who does it?You do It. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUlDWQYSYZ0
The challenge here is that the creators don’t begin in the ad with customary/expected imagery of a transcendent ad. Usually the images reflect our best “aspirational” selves. Here they start with dark imagery and a rather sad sack of a character. But what pulls us in is the humor/puzzle of the change message on the TV and in the music. Additionally “Taking a walk on the wild side” refrain plays with the “Just do it” slogan. I find the deep breath imagery the most effective in getting viewers to embrace the lead. They could have just end there with the opening of the door to go out into the world to exercise. The ending is as challenging as the start. When our lead character “just does it” – he is joined by community –most transcendent ads embrace the individual struggle.
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I personally love sports and specially NFL. So, watching it is like treating myself with some good times!
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