Football, Commercials & Getting Old
I have always thought that a sure sign of aging was when one starts discussing commercials. As a kid I would constantly be subjected to my parents laughing with their friends about dumb commercials — saying things like “have you seen the one where…”
Just the other day, while I was watching my Cleveland Browns lay-the-smack-down on the defending Super Bowl champion New York football Giants, I found myself drooling over a Nike advert. I paused the game and sat down at my computer to get another look at the ad on YouTube. The Wieden + Kennedy produced commercial titled Fate: Leave Nothing, was directed by the respected filmmaker David Fincher (Fight Club, Panic Room, Zodiac, etc.) for Nike Football. The attention grabbing spot (note the action on the ultrasound in the first scene) is one of the best I have seen in some time. I must be getting old.
Fate: Leave Nothing starring the San Diego Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson and Pittsburgh’s Troy Polamalu. The song is a remixed version of Jay-Z’s Blueprint 2.
Michael Mann’s Nike Commercial — in the same vein — starring San Diego’s Shawn Merriman and St. Louis’ Steven Jackson.
Not necessarily commercials, but short films with the product as the center piece, a few years back BMW (as well as Mr. David Fincher, again) tapped Clive Owen and several well respected directors to put together a two season series titled BMW Films: The Hire.
